Italian cruiser Puglia
Puglia in 1901
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History | |
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Italy | |
Name | Puglia |
Namesake | Apulia (Italian: Puglia) |
Builder | Arsenal of Taranto |
Laid down | October 1893 |
Launched | 22 September 1898 |
Commissioned | 26 May 1901 |
Fate | Sold for scrap, 22 March 1923 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Regioni-class protected cruiser |
Displacement |
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Length | 88.25 m (289 ft 6 in) |
Beam | 12.13 m (39 ft 10 in) |
Draft | 5.45 m (17 ft 11 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) |
Range | 2,100 nmi (3,900 km; 2,400 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 213–278 |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Puglia was a protected cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy). She was the last of six Regioni-class ships, all of which were named for regions of Italy. She was built in Taranto between October 1893 and May 1901, when she was commissioned into the fleet. The ship was equipped with a main armament of four 15 cm (5.9 in) and six 12 cm (4.7 in) guns, and she could steam at a speed of 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).
Puglia served abroad for much of her early career, including periods in South American and East Asian waters. She saw action in the Italo-Turkish War in 1911–1912, primarily in the Red Sea. During the war she bombarded Ottoman ports in Arabia and assisted in enforcing a blockade on maritime traffic in the area. She was still in service during World War I; the only action in which she participated was the evacuation of units from the Serbian Army from Durazzo in February 1916. During the evacuation, she bombarded the pursuing Austro-Hungarian Army. After the war, Puglia was involved in the occupation of the Dalmatian coast, and in 1920 her captain was murdered in a violent confrontation in Split with Croatian nationalists. The old cruiser was sold for scrapping in 1923, but much of her bow was preserved at the Vittoriale degli italiani museum.
Design
Puglia was slightly larger than her
Her propulsion system consisted of a pair of vertical
Puglia was armed with a
Service history
Puglia was built by the new Regia Marina shipyard in
Puglia was immediately deployed to East Asian waters following her commissioning. In July 1901, she was in Australia during the visit of the British Prince George, Duke of Cornwall, son of then-King Edward VII.[6] After almost two years away, visiting Australia, America and the Far East, she returned to Italy in January 1903, and went through a refit.[7] The ship was back in China as of 1904.[8] Puglia was present in Rio de Janeiro in January 1908 when the Great White Fleet arrived in the port. She greeted the American fleet with a 15-gun salute. The German cruiser SMS Bremen was also moored in the harbor at the time, as was the Brazilian fleet.[9]
Italo-Turkish War
At the outbreak of
In early 1912, the Italian Red Sea fleet searched for a group of seven Ottoman gunboats thought to be planning an attack on Eritrea, though they were in fact immobilized due to a lack of coal. Puglia and Calabria carried out diversionary bombardments against Jebl Tahr, and Al Luḩayyah, while Piemonte and the destroyers Artigliere and Garibaldino searched for the gunboats. On 7 January, they found the gunboats and quickly sank four in the Battle of Kunfuda Bay; the other three were forced to beach to avoid sinking as well.[12][13] Puglia and the rest of the Italian ships returned to bombarding the Turkish ports in the Red Sea before declaring a blockade of the city of Al Hudaydah on 26 January. The cruiser fleet in the Red Sea then began a campaign of coastal bombardments of Ottoman ports in the area. A blockade was proclaimed of the Ottoman ports, which included Al Luḩayyah and Al Hudaydah. The Ottomans eventually agreed to surrender in October, ending the war.[14]
World War I
Italy declared neutrality at the start of
The closest Puglia came to engaging a hostile vessel came on 27 January 1915, when while patrolling off Durazzo, she encountered the Austro-Hungarian scout cruiser Novara, but the Austro-Hungarian ship retreated without either vessel firing a shot.[16] In late February 1916, Puglia, the cruiser Libia, and the auxiliary cruisers SS Cittá di Siracusa and SS Cittá di Catania covered the withdrawal of elements of the Serbian Army from Durazzo. On 25 February, the Italian vessels entered the harbor to bombard Austro-Hungarian forces to delay their advance while Allied transport vessels evacuated soldiers from the city. The battle between the Italian cruisers and Austro-Hungarian artillery batteries continued through the following day, and late on the 26th, the transports completed the embarkation of Italian and Serbian troops before departing for Valona. Shortly before departing, Puglia opened fire on the warehouses storing munitions in the harbor, setting them on fire to destroy the equipment stored there.[17][18] She was converted into a minelayer later that year. She entered service in this role on 1 July, and she remained on active duty through the early 1920s.[3]
After the war, Puglia had been assigned to patrol the
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Fraccaroli, p. 349.
- ^ Weyl, p. 34.
- ^ a b Fraccaroli, pp. 349–350.
- ^ Fraccaroli, p. 258.
- ^ Fitzsimons, p. 1764.
- ^ Twentieth Century Impressions of Western Australia, p. 57.
- ^ "Naval & Military intelligence". The Times. No. 36982. London. 20 January 1903. p. 4.
- ^ Garbett, p. 1429.
- ^ Matthews, p. 90.
- ^ Beehler, pp. 10, 47–48.
- ^ Langensiepen & Güleryüz, p. 15.
- ^ Robinson, pp. 166–167.
- ^ Beehler, p. 51.
- ^ Beehler, pp. 51, 60, 70, 95.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 140–142, 150.
- ^ Halpern, p. 158.
- ^ Hurd, pp. 69–74.
- ^ Klein, p. 389.
- ^ The Contemporary Review, p. 514.
- ^ Domenico, p. 54.
References
- Beehler, William Henry (1913). The History of the Italian-Turkish War: September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. OCLC 1408563.
- Domenico, Roy Palmer (2002). Remaking Italy in the Twentieth Century. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 0-8476-9637-5.
- Fitzsimons, Bernard, ed. (1978). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons and Warfare. Vol. 16. New York: Columbia House. ISBN 0-8393-6175-0.
- Fraccaroli, Aldo (1979). "Italy". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 334–359. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Garbett, H., ed. (1904). "Naval Notes". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLVIII. London: J. J. Keliher & Co.: 1418–1434.
- Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-352-7.
- Hurd, Archibald (1918). Italian Sea-power and the Great War. London: Constable & Company.
- Klein, Henri P. (1920). "War, European – Italian Campaign". The Encyclopedia Americana. Vol. XXVIII. New York: The Encyclopedia Americana Corporation.
- Langensiepen, Bernd & Güleryüz, Ahmet (1995). The Ottoman Steam Navy 1828–1923. London: Conway Maritime Press. ISBN 978-0-85177-610-1.
- Matthews, Franklin (1909). With the Battle Fleet: Cruise of the Sixteen Battleships of the United States Atlantic Fleet from Hampton Roads to the Golden Gate, December, 1907 – May, 1908. New York: B. W. Huebsch. OCLC 12575552.
- Robinson, C. N. (1912). Hythe, Thomas (ed.). "The Turco-Italian War". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 146–174.
- The Contemporary Review. 118. London: A. Strahan. 1920. OCLC 1564974.)
{{cite journal}}
: CS1 maint: untitled periodical (link - Twentieth Century Impressions of Western Australia. Perth: P. W. H. Thiel. 1901. OCLC 5747592.
- Weyl, E. (1896). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). "Chapter II: The Progress of Foreign Navies". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 17–60.
External links
- Puglia Marina Militare website (in Italian)