ARA ''Veinticinco de Mayo'' was a

cruiser A cruiser is a type of warship. Modern cruisers are generally the largest ships in a fleet after aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships, and can usually perform several roles. The term "cruiser", which has been in use for several hu ...

which served in 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 ...

. The English translation of the name is ''May 25'', which is the date of Argentina's

May Revolution The May Revolution ( es, Revolución de Mayo) was a week-long series of events that took place from May 18 to 25, 1810, in Buenos Aires, capital of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata. This Spanish colony included roughly the terri ...

in 1810.

History and design

''Veinticinco de Mayo'' was built in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

and was the first ship of the of cruisers. Three vessels were to be produced, but in the end, only ''25 de Mayo'' and her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

were acquired, both in 1931. These ships were unusual in several ways. First, they carried 7.5-inch guns, only the third class of warship to do so (the British ''Hawkins''-class cruisers of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

being another; a more typical main armament for heavy cruisers is 8-inch guns). Also, like the Italian and other Italian-built warships of the era they carried their

floatplanes A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, m ...

under the foredeck and launched them from a fixed

catapult A catapult is a ballistic device used to launch a projectile a great distance without the aid of gunpowder or other propellants – particularly various types of ancient and medieval siege engines. A catapult uses the sudden release of stored p ...

over the bows.

References

* David Miller, ''Illustrated Directory of Warships - from 1860 to the present day.'' (Salamander Books, London, 2001) *

M. J. Whitley Michael J Whitley (died 2000) or Mike J Whitley was a naval historian with a particular interest in the Kriegsmarine, who wrote and maintained several reference works on warship A warship or combatant ship is a naval ship that is built and p ...

, ''Cruisers of World War II, An International Encyclopedia'' (1995) Arms and Armour Press

External links

History of argentinian cruisers, at HISTARMAR
''(in Spanish)'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Veinticinco de Mayo Veinticinco de Mayo-class cruisers Ships built in Livorno 1929 ships World War II cruisers of Argentina

History and design

See also

References

Further reading

See also

External links