The RN Gabbiano (C 11) was the first ship of her class to enter service on 3 October 1942. She would see a long operational history from World War II until the post-war period. She was part of the 1st Corvette Squadron during World War II. Before the armistice, she went on 102 missions of which 18 were hunting enemy submarines and 22 escort missions to convoys or isolated ships. On 24 April 1943, she destroyed the British submarine HMS Sahib near Milazzo. After the cessation of hostilities in May 1945, the corvette RN Gabbiano was in the port of Naples. It was brought to Taranto arsenal in 1947 for various maintenance works and was later christened Gabbiano F-571, which became part of the first group assigned to the Commando School in 1948. Eventually, it was replaced, along with other aging corvettes, by the new Albatros-class in 1955, and later by the De Cristofaro-class corvettes in 1966. The Gabbiano F-571 was placed in reserve to be later decommissioned on 1 November 1971, by Decree of the President of the Republic of 14 January 1972.

The RN Gabbiano was introduced in Update "Direct Hit". It is a corvette with a poor speed that limits its manoeuvrability and ability to dodge torpedoes and enemy hits. The armament, on the other hand, is very good because you can use it against almost any target you will encounter. With the 100 mm gun, you can damage enemy destroyers, while the 20 mm is very useful against light targets and aircraft.