Partenope-class Cruiser

The class was a group of eight torpedo cruisers built for the Italian (Royal Navy) in the 1880s and 1890s. The class comprised , , , , , , , and . Based on the earlier cruiser , the class represented a temporary embrace of the , which emphasized the use of cheap torpedo-armed vessels as a means to defeat the much more expensive ironclad battleships of the day. To fulfill their intended role, the vessels were armed with five or six torpedo tubes.

The ships of the class primarily served in the main Italian fleet throughout their careers. Their time with the fleet was spent conducting training exercises, along with occasional travels to foreign countries. In late 1900s, and were converted into minelayers and and were sold for scrap. Several of the vessels saw action during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, primarily conducting shore bombardments in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Three more vessels—, , and —were sold in the later stages of the war or shortly thereafter. laid minefields in the Adriatic Sea after Italy entered World War I in 1915, and was later sunk by a German U-boat in March 1918. and survived the war and were sold for scrap in 1921 and 1920, respectively.

Design

The design for the class was prepared by Engineering Inspector Carlo Vigna, and was based on the earlier torpedo cruiser , the first modern vessel of the type built by Italy. The development of torpedo cruisers in Italy in the mid-1880s represented a shift away from the emphasis on large capital ships that had been built for the previous decade and toward the ideas of the , which emphasized small, fast, torpedo-armed vessels that could damage or destroy the much larger battleships at a fraction of the cost. The class were followed by the , the last class of torpedo cruisers built by Italy.

General characteristics and machinery

The ships of the class were long between perpendiculars and long overall. They had a beam of and an average draft of . They displaced from normally. Their hulls were steel-built and had a ram bow. The ships had forecastle that ran the first third of the ships' length, thereafter stepping down to the main deck that extended for the rest of their length. The forward conning tower was erected atop the forecastle, and a smaller, secondary conning tower was located further aft. The ships had a crew that ranged from 96 to 121.

Their propulsion system consisted of a pair of horizontal triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single screw propeller. Steam was supplied by four coal-fired locomotive boilers that were trunked into two widely spaced funnels. They were initially fitted with a fore and aft sailing rig with two masts to supplement the steam engines on longer voyages, but the rigging was later removed.

Specific figures for each ship's engine performance have not survived, but the ships of the class had top speeds of from . Coal storage amounted to , which provided a cruising radius of about at a speed of .

Armament and armor

The -class cruisers, with the exception of , were armed with a main battery of one 40-caliber (cal.) gun that was carried in a single pivot mount on the forecastle. Defense against torpedo boats was provided by a secondary battery of six 43-cal. guns mounted singly. They were also equipped with three 20-cal. guns in single mounts. instead had two 120 mm guns, four 57 mm guns, and two of the 37 mm weapons. s second 120 mm gun was placed at the stern. The ships' primary offensive weapon was their torpedo tubes; and had five tubes, while the rest of the class had six.

The ships were protected by a curved armored deck that was up to thick; the deck was flat over the longitudinal center and sloped down at the sides to connect to the outer hull plating. Their forward conning towers were armored with the same thickness of steel plate on the sides.

Modifications

All eight ships had their sailing rig replaced with a pair of light pole masts. ''Partenope'' and ''Minerva'' were reboilered in 1906–1908 and 1909–1910, respectively, with new oil-fired models. ''Partenope''s performance after the refit was from , while ''Minerva'' was faster, at from . During their refits in the late 1900s, ''Partenope'' and ''Minerva'' were converted into minelayers. Their armament was revised significantly, and now consisted of a pair of guns, four 57 mm guns, and two 37 mm guns. ''Partenope''s forecastle was completely rebuilt, significantly increasing her freeboard. ''Partenope'' was equipped to carry sixty naval mines, with a bank of thirty mines on a platform on each side of the ship; the details of ''Minerva''s mine handling equipment and storage are unknown.

Ships

Service history

For much of the ships' careers, they were assigned to the main Italian fleet, where they were frequently occupied with conducting training exercises. These exercises frequently gamed attacks by the French fleet, such as the maneuvers conducted in 1893, which simulated a French attack on Naples. In 1895, joined a squadron that visited Great Britain, and later that year took part in an international naval demonstration off Crete in an attempt to defuse tensions between Greece and the Ottoman Empire. took part in a similar demonstration, again off Crete, in 1897; this was a reaction to the Greco-Turkish War that had broken out that year. Between 1906 and 1908, was converted into a minelayer, and underwent a similar conversion in 1909–1910. Two ships, and , were discarded in early 1907.

During the Italo-Turkish War, operated off Libya, bombarding Ottoman troops and supporting Italian forces. escorted a troopship convoy to North Africa and then conducted shore bombardments. was stationed in the Red Sea at the outbreak of the war, and she briefly engaged the Ottoman cruiser . , joined by in early 1912, thereafter participated in bombardment and blockade operations against Ottoman ports in the area. was assigned to the 4th Division at the time, but did not see action during the war. Three more members of the class were sold for scrap after the end of the war, with and being stricken in 1912 and being discarded in early 1913.

and laid a series of defensive minefields in the Adriatic Sea after Italy entered World War I in 1915. They did not see action for much of the rest of the war, owing to the cautious strategies adopted by Italy and its enemy across the Adriatic, Austria-Hungary. On 24 March 1918, the German U-boat torpedoed and sank north of Bizerte, Tunisia. and survived the war and were discarded in December 1920 and May 1921, respectively.

Notes

References

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External links

Partenope
Marina Militare website

{{Italian torpedo cruisers