Italian battleship Lepanto
| File:Italian battleship Lepanto.jpg | |
| Career (Italy) | Ensign of the Italian Navy |
|---|---|
| Name: | Lepanto |
| Namesake: | The Battle of Lepanto (1571) |
| Operator: | Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) |
| Builder: | Orlando, Livorno |
| Laid down: | 4 November 1876 |
| Launched: | 17 March 1883 |
| Completed: | 16 August 1887 |
| Struck: | 26 May 1912 |
| Reinstated: | 13 January 1913 |
| Struck: | 15 January 1914 |
| Fate: | Sold for scrapping 27 March 1915 |
| Notes: |
Served as training ship 1902-1910 Served as depot ship 1910-1912 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Italia-class pre-dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement: |
13,336 long tons (13,550 t) normal 15,649 long tons (15,900 t) full load |
| Length: |
400 ft 3 in (122.0 m) between perpendiculars 409 ft 1 in (124.7 m) length overall |
| Beam: | 73 ft 4 in (22.4 m) |
| Draft: | 30 ft 9 in (9.4 m) |
| Installed power: | 15,797 ihp (11,780 kW) |
| Propulsion: | 4 shafts, vertical compound engines, 8 oval and 16 cylindrical boilers |
| Speed: | 18.4 knots (21.2 mph; 34.1 km/h) |
| Range: | ca. 5,000 nautical miles (9,260 km) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Troops: | Up to 10,000 |
| Complement: | 669, later 701 |
| Armament: |
As built: *4 × 17-inch (432 mm)/26 guns *8 × 6-inch (152 mm)/32 guns *4 × 4.7-inch (119 mm)/32 guns *4 × 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes Added later: *2 × 75mm guns *12 × 57mm quick-firing guns *12 × 37mm revolvers *2 × machine guns From 1902: *4 × 17-inch (432 mm)/26 guns *4 × 4.7-inch (119 mm)/32 guns 9 × 57mm guns 6 × 37mm/25 revolvers 2 × machine guns Torpedo tubes removed in either 1902[1] or 1910[2] |
| Armor: |
Steel armor Belt and side: None Deck: 4 in (101.6 mm) Citadel: 19 in (483 mm) Funnel base: 16 in (406 mm) Conning tower: 4 in (102 mm) |
Lepanto was an Italian battleship launched in 1883, the second and last ship of the Italia class. She served in the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She and her sister ship Italia were the largest and fastest warships in the world for several years after they entered service, and in many ways were the forerunners of the battlecruisers that appeared in the early 20th century.[3]
Design
The engineer Benedetto Brin designed Lepanto in the 1870s. A very large and fast warship for her time, Lepanto displaced 15,649 tons at full load and could make 18.4 knots, 0.6 knot more than Italia. Reflecting the thinking of the time that modern guns could penetrate any armor, Brin designed Lepanto without any side armor, instead employing a cellular raft design; he did, however, design her with steel armor for her deck, citadel, and conning tower and she had a steel hull. An unusual feature of Lepanto was her ability to carry an entire infantry division of 10,000 men, allowing her to play a strategic role in deploying Italian troops.[4]
Lepanto had four funnels and a single, large, central mast.[5]
Lepanto's main battery consisted of four 17-inch (432 mm) 26-caliber Model 431C guns weighing 102.5 tons each, mounted in pairs en echelon amidships in a single, large, diagonal, oval barbette, with one pair of guns on a turntable to port and the other to starboard; the port pair was mounted aft of the starboard pair. The guns fired a 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) shell at a muzzle velocity of 1,755 feet (535 meters) per second. Her secondary, tertiary, and torpedo armament underwent various changes during her career,[6] and her torpedo tubes were removed in either 1902[7] or 1910.[8]
Construction
Lepanto was under construction for nearly 11 years. She was laid down by Orlando at Livorno on 4 November 1876, ten months after her sister Italia, but spent nearly six-and-a-half years on the building ways and was not launched until 17 March 1883, two-and-a-half years after Italia. Lepanto was not completed for another four-and-a-half years, her construction finally being finished on 16 August 1887, 22 months after the completion of Italia.
Operational history
Lepanto was in front-line service until 1902, when she became a gunnery training ship. In 1910 she became a depot ship at La Spezia. She was stricken on 26 May 1912.[9][10]
On 13 January 1913, Lepanto was reinstated as a "first-class auxiliary." However, she was stricken again on 15 January 1914 and sold for scrapping on 27 March 1915.[11][12]
Notes
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1905-1921, page 255.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, page 341.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, page 341.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, page 341.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, page 341.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, page 341.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1905-1921, page 255.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, page 341.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, page 341.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1905-1921, page 255.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905, page 341.
- ↑ Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1905-1921, page 255.
References
- Chesneau, Roger, and Eugene M. Kolesnik, eds. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships, 1860-1905. New York: Mayflower Books, Inc., 1979. ISBN 0831703024.
- Gray, Randal, Ed. Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0870219073.
See also
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