Italian destroyer Espero was one of eight Turbine-class destroyers built for the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) during the 1920s. She was named after a westerly wind, Espero, or Ponente, common in summer in the Mediterranean. Completed in 1928, Espero was sent to Shanghai after the Shanghai Incident on 28 January 1932. After encountering heavy seas, she had to stop at Saigon, French Indochina, then stayed in the Far East even after a truce had been negotiated between China and Japan.