"Cicogna" – the Italian "Gabbiano" class corvette

The "Gabbiano" class (Italian: "Seagull") is a class of corvettes of the Italian Navy. A total of 60 such ships were ordered during World War II. Their main tasks were escort and anti-submarine warfare. Since 1940 the Regia Marina used a variety of ship types to protect convoys from Italy to North Africa, including World War I destroyers and torpedo destroyers. In 1941, it was decided to build a large number of relatively simple and therefore quickly built corvettes. The “Gabbiano”-class corvettes, with a displacement of around 700 tons and heavy armament, were equipped with diesel engines, electric auxiliary engines and anti-submarine sonar. The ships were built in five series or subclasses in various Italian shipyards. Of the 60 ships planned, 29 were commissioned from 1942. Three corvettes were lost before the armistice on 8 September 1943. Seven ships were later taken over by the German Navy, and another 21 were completed in German-run shipyards. A further six corvettes were not completed by the end of the war. The acquisition of two units was cancelled due to the end of the war, and two ships were launched only after the war. A total of 22 “Gabbiano”-class corvettes were taken over by the Italian Navy after 1946. Initially, sixteen units were modified for minesweeping tasks. Large-scale renovation and modernization work was carried out in the 1950s. Eleven ships then mainly performed anti-submarine tasks, while the other eleven units specialized in anti-aircraft defense. In this configuration, they served until the late 1960s and early 1970s, when they were replaced by the “Albatros” and “De Cristofaro”-class corvettes. The “Gabbiano”- class corvette “Cicogna” sank the British submarine HMS “Thunderbolt” near the coast of San Vito lo Capo on 14 March 1943. On 24 April 1943 "Gabbiano" participated in the sinking of the submarine HMS “Sahib". On August 25, 1943, the corvette "Ibis" of this class shot down the British destroyer de Havilland "Mosquito".

A small, but very complex, well-designed and very richly detailed model of a warship, painted in colorful camouflage (1943) for only medium-experienced and experienced modelers. Some large ship models have as many details, as this 30 cm dwarf. There is a very symbolic color reserve, the text assembly instructions are large and detailed in Polish and English, the graphic ones are simply huge, informative, easy to read and both of them will really help a lot in the process of gluing the model.