Pisa-class cruiser
foremast added in the 1920s
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Pisa |
| Operators |
|
| Preceded by | Giuseppe Garibaldi class |
| Succeeded by | San Giorgio class |
| Subclasses | Georgios Averof |
| Built | 1905–1909 |
| In commission | 1909–1952 |
| Completed | 3 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Scrapped | 1 |
| Preserved | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Armored cruiser |
| Displacement | 9,832 t (9,677 long tons) |
| Length | 140.5 m (460 ft 11 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 21 m (68 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 6.9–7.1 m (22 ft 8 in – 23 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 vertical triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed | 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) |
| Range | 2,500 nmi (4,600 km; 2,900 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement | 32 officers, 652–55 enlisted men |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
The Pisa class consisted of three
The two Italian ships participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 during which they supported ground forces in Libya with naval gunfire and helped to occupy towns in Libya and islands in the Dodecanese. They played a minor role in World War I after a submarine sank Amalfi shortly after Italy joined the war in 1915. Her sister ship, Pisa, became a training ship after the war and was broken up for scrap in 1937.
Design and description
The Pisa class was designed in 1904 by Italian engineer Giuseppe Orlando, who attempted to replicate on a smaller scale the armament and armor of the Regina Elena-class battleships then entering the service of the Regia Marina. The Italians classified large armored cruisers like the Pisas as second-class battleships. For ships of their displacement, they were considered to have been heavily armed, but inferior to battlecruisers, a type introduced during their lengthy construction time.[2]
The Pisa-class ships had a
Propulsion
The ships were powered by two
Armament
The main armament of the two Italian Pisa-class ships consisted of four
The Italian ships mounted eight
For defense against
During World War I, Pisa's 76 and 47 mm guns were replaced by twenty
Protection
All three ships were protected by an armored belt that was 200 mm (7.9 in) thick amidships and reduced to 90 mm (3.5 in) at the bow and stern.[4] The armored deck was 51 mm (2.0 in) thick. The conning tower armor was 180 mm (7.1 in) thick. The 254 mm gun turrets were protected by 160 mm (6.3 in) of armour while the 190 mm turrets had 140 mm (5.5 in).[3]
Ships
| Name | Builder[3] | Laid down[6]
|
Launched[6] | Completed[6] | Fate[6] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pisa | Orlando, Livorno | 20 February 1905 | 15 September 1907 | 1 September 1909 | Discarded, 28 April 1937 |
| Amalfi | Odero, Genoa-Sestri Ponente | 24 July 1905 | 5 May 1908 | 1 September 1909 | Sunk, 7 July 1915 |
| Georgios Averof | Orlando, Livorno | 1907 | 12 March 1910 | 16 May 1911[11] | Poros Island , 1952–1983
Museum ship, 1984 |
Careers
Two of the three Pisa-class armored cruisers were originally built for the Regia Marina. The third ship was built on speculation and was sold to Greece and completed as Georgios Averof, named after a wealthy Greek businessman who had left a sizeable legacy for the increase of the Greek Navy in his
The ship was seized by rebels during the failed
Pisa and Amalfi both participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, during which Pisa supported the occupations of Tobruk, Libya and several islands in the Dodecanese while Amalfi briefly blockaded Tripoli and supported the occupation of Derna, Libya. The sisters came together in 1912 and they bombarded the fortifications defending the entrance to the Dardanelles in July.[18] After the end of the war, Amalfi escorted the Italian king and queen on the royal yacht to Germany and Sweden during a 1913 visit.[19]
After Amalfi was sunk by the submarine
Notes
- caliber, meaning that the gun is 45 times long as it is in diameter.
Footnotes
- ^ Carr, p. 9
- ^ a b c d Gardiner & Gray, p. 261
- ^ a b c Fraccaroli, p. 32
- ^ a b Silverstone, p. 290
- ^ Friedman, pp. 236–38
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Gardiner & Gray, pp. 261, 385
- ^ Friedman, p. 73
- ^ Friedman, p. 239
- ^ Campbell, p. 382
- ^ Friedman, p. 242
- ^ Carr, p. 70
- ^ a b c Gardiner & Gray, p. 385
- ^ Carr, pp. 74–76, 124–136, 145–150, 165
- ^ Newbolt, pp. 152–172
- ^ Carr, pp. 234–238
- ^ Carr, pp. 258–63, 265
- ^ Carr, pp. 9, 340–354, 357–368
- ^ Beehler, pp. 19, 30, 67–68, 71; Stephenson, pp. 115–116, 262–265
- ^ "Kaiser and King of Italy meet in Kiel at regatta". The Christian Science Monitor. 21 July 1913. p. 2.
- ^ Halpern, pp. 148, 151, 176; Sondhaus, p. 289
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.
- Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
- Carr, John C. (2014). R.N.H.S. Averof: Thunder in the Aegean. Barnsley, UK: Pen and Sword Maritime. ISBN 978-1-47383963-2.
- Fraccaroli, Aldo (1970). Italian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0105-7.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Gardiner, Robert & Gray, Randal, eds. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
- Halpern, Paul S. (1994). A Naval History of World War I. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-352-4.
- Newbolt, Henry (1996). Naval Operations. History of the Great War Based on Official Documents. Vol. IV (reprint of the 1928 ed.). Nashville, Tennessee: Battery Press. ISBN 0-89839-253-5.
- Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918: Navalism, Industrial Development, and the Politics of Dualism. OCLC 59919233.
- Stephenson, Charles (2014). A Box of Sand: The Italo-Ottoman War 1911–1912: The First Land, Sea and Air War. Ticehurst, UK: Tattered Flag Press. ISBN 978-0-9576892-7-5.
External links
- Classe Pisa Marina Militare website
- Official website of the Giorgios Averof
