Italian Cruiser Caprera

was a torpedo cruiser of the built for the Italian (Royal Navy) in the 1880s. She was built by the Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando shipyard; her keel was laid in July 1891, she was launched in May 1894, and was commissioned in December 1895. Her main armament were her five torpedo tubes, which were supported by a battery of eleven small-caliber guns. spent most of her career in the main Italian fleet, where she was primarily occupied with training exercises. She served in the Red Sea during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, where she conducted shore bombardments and blockaded Ottoman ports in the area. did not remain in service long after the war, being sold for scrap in May 1913.

Design

The -class cruisers were derivatives of the earlier, experimental s, themselves based on the preceding cruiser . The class marked a temporary shift toward the ideas of the in Italian naval thinking. The doctrine emphasized the use of small, torpedo-armed craft to destroy expensive ironclads.

was long overall and had a beam of and an average draft of . She displaced normally. The ship had a short forecastle deck that terminated at the conning tower. She had a crew of between 96 and 121 personnel.

Her propulsion system consisted of a pair of horizontal triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single screw propeller. Steam was supplied by four coal-fired locomotive boilers, which were vented through two widely spaced funnels. Specific figures for s engine performance have not survived, but the ships of her class had top speeds of at . The ship had a cruising radius of about at a speed of .

was armed with a main battery of two /40 guns, one placed on the forecastle and the other toward the stern. Close-range defense against torpedo boats was provided by a secondary battery of six /43 guns mounted singly. She was also equipped with three /20 guns in single mounts. Her primary offensive weapon was her five torpedo tubes. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was up to thick; her conning tower was armored with the same thickness of steel plate.

Service history

was laid down at the (Orlando Brothers' Shipyard) in Livorno on 27 July 1891, originally under the name . She was renamed on 23 February 1893 and was launched on 6 May 1894, the last member of her class to enter the water. After fitting-out work was completed, she underwent sea trials in mid-1895. While testing the engines with forced draft, the ship reached . The ship was commissioned into the fleet on 12 December 1895. Upon entering service, was initially stationed in the 2nd Maritime Department, split between Taranto and Naples, along with most of the torpedo cruisers in the Italian fleet. These included her sister ships , , , , , and , the four -class cruisers, and . Shortly thereafter, she was transferred to Italian East Africa. She departed with the protected cruiser in late December, passing through the Suez Canal on 30 December, along with a transport carrying a battalion of infantry. The rest of the Red Sea Squadron, which included the protected cruisers and , met and in Massawa.

joined the 2nd Division of the active fleet in 1897, which also included the ironclad , the armored cruiser , the protected cruisers , , and , and the torpedo cruisers and . The ship was assigned to the Atlantic Naval Division in 1899, along with and the protected cruisers , , and . In 1903, was sent to strengthen the Red Sea Station, which also included the old screw corvette , the gunboat , and the aviso . By 1907, had been transferred to the Reserve Squadron, along with four of the older ironclad battleships. The following year, she was stationed in Italian East Africa. While there, an Italian meteorologist conducted several experiments aboard the ship with a hot air balloon to study the monsoon winds in the region, beginning in Zanzibar. The tests, which were conducted in the last week of July, were unsuccessful, as the weather was unfavorable.

At the start of the Italo-Turkish War in September 1911, was stationed in Italy, alternating between the ports of La Spezia and Naples, along with her sister ships and . The threat of an Ottoman attack from the Arabian Peninsula across the Red Sea to Italian Eritrea led the Italian High Command to reinforce the Red Sea Squadron. and several destroyers were sent to strengthen the Italian defenses. The protected cruiser and two destroyers annihilated a force of seven Ottoman gunboats in the Battle of Kunfuda Bay on 7 January 1912, wiping out the core of Ottoman naval forces in the area. and the rest of the Italian ships then commenced a bombardment campaign against the Turkish ports in the Red Sea before declaring a blockade of the city of Al Hudaydah on 26 January. On 27 July and 12 August, , her sister ship , and the protected cruiser conducted two bombardments of Al Hudaydah. During the second attack, they destroyed an Ottoman ammunition dump. On 14 October, the Ottoman government agreed to sign a peace treaty, ending the war. did not remain in service long after the end of the war. She was sold for scrap in May 1913 and thereafter broken up.

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External links

Caprera
Marina Militare website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caprera
Partenope-class cruisers
Ships built in Livorno
1894 ships
Italo-Turkish War naval ships of Italy