Lepanto was an Azio-class minelayer of the Italian Navy. She was reclassified as gunboat in 1934 and remained in Italian service in the far east from 1933 to 1943, when she was scuttled in China, during World War II. She was then recovered by the Imperial Japanese Navy and taken into service as Okitsu, spending the remainder of the war escorting convoys. She was surrendered to the Republic of China after the end of the war and served for a further ten years with its navy as the Hsien Ning.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Italian. (June 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Italian article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 3,067 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Italian Wikipedia article at [[:it:Lepanto (cannoniera)]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|it|Lepanto (cannoniera)}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. You can help expand this article with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (June 2021) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 3,705 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:興津 (砲艦)]]; see its history for attribution. You may also add the template {{Translated|ja|興津 (砲艦)}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Quick Facts History, Italy ...

Lepanto at Yokohama in 1938
History
Italy
Name	Lepanto
Namesake	Battle of Lepanto
Builder	Cantieri Navali Riuniti (CNR), Ancona
Laid down	1925
Launched	22 May 1927
Commissioned	1927
Fate	Scuttled 9 September 1943 at Shanghai
Japan
Name	Okitsu (興津)
Namesake	Okitsu-juku
Builder	Navy 1st Construction Department at Shanghai
Acquired	8 November 1943
Commissioned	1 March 1944
Decommissioned	30 September 1945
Fate	Surrendered to Republic of China on 15 September 1945
Republic of China
Name	Hsien Ning (咸寧)
Namesake	Xianning
Acquired	15 September 1945
Commissioned	1946
Decommissioned	1956
Identification	Pennant number: 79
Fate	Scrapped in 1956
General characteristics as Lepanto
Class and type	Azio-class minelayer
Displacement	615 long tons (625 t)
Length	66.0 m (216 ft 6 in) (overall)
Beam	8.7 m (28 ft 7 in)
Draft	2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
Propulsion	2 × Yarrow three expansion stages reciprocating engines 2 × water tube boilers 2 shafts, 1,500 shp
Speed	15.0 knots (27.8 km/h; 17.3 mph)
Complement	66
Armament	2 × 102 mm (4.0 in) naval guns 1 × 76 mm (3.0 in) 76/40 Ansaldo Mod. 1917 AA gun 2 × machine guns 80 × naval mines
General characteristics as Okitsu
Class and type	Gunboat
Displacement	700 long tons (711 t) standing
Length	62.18 m (204 ft 0 in) Lpp
Beam	8.69 m (28 ft 6 in)
Draft	2.60 m (8 ft 6 in)
Speed	13.7 knots (25.4 km/h; 15.8 mph)
Complement	approx. 80
Armament	2 × 76.2 mm (3.00 in) L/40 AA guns 10 × Type 96 25 mm AA guns 36 × depth charges 2 × Type 94 depth charge projectors 2 × depth charge throwers 1 × Type 93 active sonar 1 × Type 93 hydrophone
General characteristics as Hsien Ning
Type	Frigate
Armament	in 1950 2 × 3-inch/50-caliber guns 2 × 1.1-inch/75-caliber guns 4 × 20 mm AA guns

Close

After remaining inactive at the Italian naval base in Tianjin^[1] since 1940, Lepanto was scuttled at her moorings by her own crew on 9 September 1943, after Italy's surrender to the Allies.^[2]

On 8 November 1943, Lepanto was refloated by Naval 1st Construction Department (海軍第一工作部, Kaigun Dai-1 Kōsaku-Bu) of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). By 1 March 1944 repairs were completed, and she was registered in the IJN, and renamed Okitsu. She was sent to Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to have her armament fitted, which was finished by 14 May.

Starting 5 June, she started escorting convoys in the Shanghai area. She was fitted with radar at the Sasebo Naval Arsenal in April the following year. On 17 July 1945, she shot down three North American P-51 Mustangs and one North American B-25 Mitchell at Shanghai.

On 15 September 1945, her crew surrendered to the Republic of China, being decommissioned on 30 September.

In 1946, the vessel was renamed Hsien Ning (咸寧). Her known career in the Republic of China Navy from that point was fairly uneventful, except for the capture of a British merchant ship in July 1950. Some time in 1956, she was decommissioned.

• IJN Okitsu on 18 June 1945
• ROCS Hsien Ning around 1956