ARA ''Pueyrredón'' was one of four
armored cruisers purchased by the
Argentine Navy
The Argentine Navy (ARA; es, Armada de la República Argentina). This forms the basis for the navy's ship prefix "ARA". is the navy of Argentina. It is one of the three branches of the Armed Forces of the Argentine Republic, together with the ...
from Italy in the 1890s.
Design and description
''Pueyrredón'' had an
overall length
The overall length (OAL) of an ammunition cartridge is a measurement from the base of the brass shell casing to the tip of the bullet, seated into the brass casing. Cartridge overall length, or "COL", is important to safe functioning of reloads in ...
of , a
beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of , and a mean
draft (ship) of . She
displaced at normal load. The ship was powered by two vertical
triple-expansion steam engine
A compound steam engine unit is a type of steam engine where steam is expanded in two or more stages.
A typical arrangement for a compound engine is that the steam is first expanded in a high-pressure ''(HP)'' cylinder, then having given up he ...
s, each driving one shaft, using steam from eight
Scotch marine boilers. The engines were designed for a maximum output of and a speed of .
[Chesneau & Kolsnik, p. 403] She had a cruising range of at .
[Silverstone, p. 11] Her complement consisted of 25 officers and 300 enlisted men.
[Arguindeguy, Tomo IV, p. 1814]
Her
main armament consisted of two 40-
caliber
In guns, particularly firearms, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge (firearms) , bore – regardless of how or where the bore is measured and whether the f ...
Armstrong Whitworth guns, in
gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...
s fore and aft of the
superstructure
A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships.
Aboard ships and large boats
On water craft, the superstruct ...
.
[ The ten 40-caliber quick-firing (QF) guns that comprised her secondary armament were arranged in ]casemate
A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armored structure from which artillery, guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary
When referring to Ancient history, antiquity, th ...
s amidships
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...
on the main deck. ''Pueyrredón'' also had six QF , four QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss and ten QF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns to defend herself against torpedo boats. She was also equipped with four above-water torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s, two on each side.[
The ship's ]waterline
The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. Specifically, it is also the name of a special marking, also known as an international load line, Plimsoll line and water line (positioned amidships), that indi ...
armor belt
Belt armor is a layer of heavy metal armor plated onto or within the outer hulls of warships, typically on battleships, battlecruisers and cruisers, and aircraft carriers.
The belt armor is designed to prevent projectiles from penetrating to t ...
had a maximum thickness of amidships
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th t ...
and tapered to towards the ends of the ship. Between the main gun barbette
Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships.
In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...
s it covered the entire side of the ship up to the level of the upper deck. The barbettes, the conning tower
A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armored, from which an officer in charge can conn the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for the ship's engine, rudder, lines, and gro ...
, and gun turrets were also protected by 5.9-inch armor.[ Her deck armor ranged from thick.][
]
Construction and career
The ship was launched on 27 July 1898 and served the Argentine Navy until she was stricken on 2 August 1954. ''Pueyrredón'' was the last survivor of the ''Garibaldi'' class.
Notes
References
*
*
*
Further reading
* Burzaco, Ricardo. ''Acorazados y Cruceros De La Armada Argentina''. Eugenio B, Buenos Aires, 1997.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pueyrredon
Garibaldi-class cruisers of the Argentine Navy
1898 ships
Ships built by Gio. Ansaldo & C.
Ships built in Genoa
World War II cruisers of Argentina