Italian ironclad Regina Maria Pia
![]() Regina Maria Pia c. 1870
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History | |
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Name | Regina Maria Pia |
Namesake | Maria Pia of Savoy |
Laid down | 22 July 1862 |
Launched | 28 April 1863 |
Completed | 17 April 1864 |
Stricken | 1904 |
Fate | Broken up |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Regina Maria Pia-class ironclad warship |
Displacement |
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Length | 81.2 m (266 ft 5 in) |
Beam | 15.24 m (50 ft) |
Draft | 6.35 m (20 ft 10 in) |
Installed power | |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 12.96 knots (24.00 km/h; 14.91 mph) |
Range | 2,600 nmi (4,800 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement | 480–485 |
Armament |
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Armor |
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Regina Maria Pia was the
Regina Maria Pia took part in the Battle of Lissa during the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866. She attacked the unarmored frigates in the Austrian second division, and damaged two vessels. Her career was limited after the war, owing to the emergence of more modern ironclads and a severe reduction in the Italian naval budget following their defeat at Lissa. She was rebuilt as a central battery ship some time after Lissa, and was modernized again in the late 1880s. Regina Maria Pia was eventually broken up for scrap in 1904.
Design
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4d/Regina_Maria_Pia_%281863%29_Plan.jpg/220px-Regina_Maria_Pia_%281863%29_Plan.jpg)
Regina Maria Pia was 81.2 meters (266 ft 5 in)
The ship's propulsion system consisted of one single-expansion
Regina Maria Pia was a
Service history
Regina Maria Pia was built at the French shipyard
Rear Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff brought the Austrian fleet to Ancona on June 27, in an attempt to draw out the Italians. At the time, many of the Italian ships were in disarray; several ships did not have their entire armament, and several others had problems with their engines. Regina Maria Pia was one of the few ironclads fit for action, so she, Castelfidardo, San Martino, and Principe di Carignano formed up to prepare to attack Tegetthoff's ships. Persano held a council of war aboard Principe di Carignano to determine whether he should sortie to engage Tegetthoff, but by that time, the Austrians had withdrawn, making the decision moot. The Minister of the Navy, Agostino Depretis, urged Persano to act and suggested the island of Lissa, to restore Italian confidence after their defeat at the Battle of Custoza the previous month. On 7 July, Persano left Ancona and conducted a sweep into the Adriatic, but encountered no Austrian ships and returned on the 13th.[4]
Battle of Lissa
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/Battle_of_Lissa_-_1866_-_Initial_Situation.svg/170px-Battle_of_Lissa_-_1866_-_Initial_Situation.svg.png)
On 16 July, Persano took the Italian fleet out of Ancona, bound for Lissa, where they arrived on the 18th. With them, they brought troop transports carrying 3,000 soldiers; the Italian warships began bombarding the Austrian forts on the island, with the intention of landing the soldiers once the fortresses had been silenced. In response, the Austrian Navy sent the fleet under Tegetthoff to attack the Italian ships.
The next morning, Persano ordered another attack; four ironclads would force the harbor defenses at Vis while Regina Maria Pia and the rest of the fleet would attempt to suppress the outer fortifications. This second attack also proved to be a failure, but Persano decided to make a third attempt the next day. Regina Maria Pia and the bulk of the fleet would again try to disable the outer forts in preparation for the landing. Before the Italians could begin the attack, the
Shortly before the action began, Persano decided to leave his flagship Re d'Italia and transfer to Affondatore, though none of his subordinates on the other ships were aware of the change. They were thus left to fight as individuals without direction. More dangerously, by stopping Re d'Italia, he allowed a significant gap to open up between Vacca's three ships and the rest of the fleet. Tegetthoff took his fleet through the gap between Vacca's and Persano's ships, in an attempt to split the Italian line and initiate a melee. He failed to ram any Italian vessels on the first pass, so he turned back toward Persano's ships, and took Re d'Italia, San Martino, and Palestro under heavy fire. The Austrians quickly inflicted serious damage on Re d'Italia and Palestro. While Tegetthoff's ironclads were attacking Persano's division, Riboty's division, including Regina Maria Pia, engaged Anton von Petz's division of unarmored steam frigates. In the melee, Regina Maria Pia collided with San Martino, damaging the latter's ram bow.[8]
After Palestro withdrew, the Austrian ironclads turned their attention to the ships of Riboty's division. By this time, Re d'Italia had been rammed and sunk, and Palestro was burning furiously. Persano broke off the engagement to consolidate his forces, but his ships, low on coal and ammunition, and with badly demoralized crews, could not be rallied by Persano's half-hearted attempt to launch an attack. The Italian fleet began to withdraw, followed by the Austrians; as night began to fall, the opposing fleets disengaged completely, heading for Ancona and Pola, respectively. Regina Maria Pia had had one iron plate destroyed, and another had a steel shot lodged in it. She had been badly burned, and the flames had nearly reached her powder magazine.[9] In return, she had damaged the Austrian ship of the line SMS Kaiser and the ironclad Prinz Eugen.[10] After the battle, Vacca replaced Persano; he was ordered to attack the main Austrian naval base at Pola, but the war ended before the operation could be carried out.[11]
Later career
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d3/Italia_battleship_1880_01.jpg/220px-Italia_battleship_1880_01.jpg)
For the rest of her long career, Regina Maria Pia served in a variety of roles, both in the main fleet and in
By October 1871, Regina Maria Pia had been stationed in
Between 1888 and 1890, the ship had her barque rig replaced with military masts. By this time, she had been rearmed with eight 150 mm (6 in) guns in the casemate and several smaller guns for close-range defense against
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f g Fraccaroli, p. 339.
- ^ Sondhaus, p. 1.
- ^ Greene & Massignani, pp. 217–222.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 216–218.
- ^ Sondhaus, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 219–220.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 222–225, 232.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 233–238, 247.
- ^ Wilson, pp. 238–245, 250.
- ^ Ordovini, Petronio, & Sullivan, p. 343.
- ^ Wilson, p. 251.
- ^ Ordovini, Petronio, & Sullivan, pp. 343–344.
- ^ Fraccaroli, p. 336.
- ^ Dupont, pp. 424–425.
- ^ Torunoğlu, Berke (2009). "Murder in Salonika, 1876 : a tale of apostasy turned into an international crisis": 67.
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(help) - ^ Fitzgerald, p. 138.
- ^ Garbett 1895, p. 89.
References
- Dupont, Paul, ed. (1872). "Notes sur La Marine Et Les Ports Militaires de L'Italie" [Notes on the Navy and Military Ports of Italy]. La Revue Maritime et Coloniale [The Naval and Colonial Review] (in French). XXXII. Paris: Imprimerie Administrative de Paul Dupont: 415–430.
- Fitzgerald, Charles (1897). Life of Vice-Admiral Sir George Tryon, K.C.B. London: William Blackwood and Sons.
- 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. (1895). "Naval and Military Notes". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XXXIX (203). London: J. J. Keliher & Co.: 81–110. OCLC 8007941.
- Greene, Jack; Massignani, Alessandro (1998). Ironclads at War: The Origin and Development of the Armored Warship, 1854–1891. Pennsylvania: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-938289-58-6.
- Ordovini, Aldo F.; Petronio, Fulvio & Sullivan, David M. (December 2014). "Capital Ships of the Royal Italian Navy, 1860–1918: Part I: The Formidabile, Principe di Carignano, Re d'Italia, Regina Maria Pia, Affondatore, Roma and Principe Amedeo Classes". ISSN 0043-0374.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-034-9.
- OCLC 1111061.
External links
- Regina Maria Pia Marina Militare website (in Italian)