Pegaso-class torpedo boat

The ''Pegaso'' class was a class of 18 Italian sea-going steam-powered torpedo boats built between 1904 and 1909. They served in the Italo-Turkish War and the First World War, when one was sunk, and continued in use until the 1920s.

Design

In 1904, four High-Seas Torpedo Boats were laid down at the Pattison shipyard of Naples, to a design licensed from the British shipbuilder Thornycroft. They were powered by two triple expansion steam engines fed by two Thornycroft coal-fired water-tube boilers which gave driving two shafts and allowing the contract speed of to be reached. Two funnels were fitted. Torpedo armament consisted of three torpedo tubes, with a gun armament of two 57 mm/43 guns and one 47 mm/43 gun.Fraccaroli 1970, p. 78.

While these four ships (known as the ''Perseo'' series) were built, launching and completing in 1905–06, work began on two further batches, with eight more being ordered from Pattison (the ''Cigno'' series) and six from Odero, Sestri (the ''Alcione'' series). These ships were built with thicker plating than those of the ''Perseo'' series, and so were slightly heavier (displacing compared with for the earlier ships).Fraccaroli 1970, pp. 78, 80–81. Two of the ''Cigno''s, ''Calipso'' and ''Climene'' were fitted with oil fired boilers during construction, while six more ships (''Pallade'', ''Pegaso'', ''Procione'', ''Airone'', ''Alcione'' and ''Ardea'') were converted to oil fuel between 1908 and 1913.

The ships were re-armed during the First World War, with the ''Perseo'' and ''Cigno'' series replacing their armament with two 76 mm (3 in)/40 guns, one 13.2 mm machine gun and two 450 mm torpedo tubes. The ''Alcione'' series' new armament differed in that one of the 76 mm guns was an anti-aircraft gun.

Service

In September 1911, the Italo-Turkish War broke out. The Italian Navy, including its torpedo boats, was highly active during the war. Actions involving the ''Pegaso'' class included ''Cigno'' carrying out shore bombardment along with larger units of the fleet in support of Italian land forces near Tripoli in November 1911,Beehler 1913, p. 35. and a reconnaissance of the Dardanelles by five torpedo boats (the ''Sirio''-class ship ''Spica'' and four ''Pegaso''-class ships, ''Perseo'', ''Astore'', ''Climene'' and ''Centauro'').Beehler 1913, pp. 87–90.

Several of the ''Pegaso'' class were used as high-speed minesweepers during the First World War. ''Perseo'' collided with sister ship ''Astore'' on 6 February 1917, and sunk when one of its torpedoes exploded. ''Arpia'' struck the wreck of the Neapolitan frigate ''Torquato Tasso'' (which had sunk off Porto d'Ascoli in 1861) on 17 January 1918. It sustained major damage and sank in shallow water, but was raised and repaired, re-entering service in July 1918.Fraccaroli 1970, p. 82.

The surviving vessels were discarded from 1923 to 1927.

Ships

Perseo series

Cigno series

Alcione series

Notes

Citations

References

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External links

Classe Pegaso
Marina Militare website

{{WWI Italian ships

Torpedo boats of the Regia Marina
World War I naval ships of Italy