Italian cruiser Marco Polo

An Italian postcard of Marco Polo
Class overview
Operators:	Regia Marina
Preceded by:	None
Succeeded by:	Vettor Pisani class
History
Name:	Marco Polo
Namesake:	Marco Polo
Builder:	Regio Cantieri di Castellammare di Stabia, Castellammare di Stabia
Laid down:	7 January 1890
Launched:	27 October 1892
Completed:	21 July 1894
Renamed:	Cortellazo, 4 April 1918
Reclassified:	As troop transport, 4 April 1918
Name:	Cortellazzo
Renamed:	Europa, 1 October 1920
Struck:	16 January 1921
Reinstated:	16 January 1921
Name:	Europa
Renamed:	Volta, 16 January 1921
Struck:	5 January 1922
Fate:	Sold for scrap, 1922
General characteristics
Type:	Armored cruiser
Displacement:	4,583 t (4,511 long tons)
Length:	106.05 m (347 ft 11 in) (o/a)
Beam:	14.67 m (48 ft 2 in)
Draft:	5.88 m (19 ft 3 in)
Installed power:	10,000 ihp (7,500 kW) 4 Scotch marine boilers
Propulsion:	2 shafts, 2 vertical triple-expansion steam engines
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Range:	5,800 nmi (10,700 km; 6,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	394
Armament:	6 single 152 mm (6.0 in) guns 10 single 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 9 single 57 mm (2.2 in) Hotchkiss guns 2 single 37 mm (1.5 in) Hotchkiss guns 5 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Belt: 102 mm (4 in) Gun shields: 51 mm (2 in) Deck: 25 mm (1 in) Conning tower: 2 in (51 mm)

Marco Polo was an armored cruiser built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1890s, the first of her type in Italian service. The ship spent the bulk of her career deployed in the Far East. Between deployments she participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12 during which she caused a diplomatic incident with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After that affair Marco Polo was sent to Libya where she bombarded the towns of Homs, and Zuara and the defenses of the Dardanelles. In between these operations, the ship provided naval gunfire support to the Royal Italian Army in Libya. Due to her age, Marco Polo did not play a significant role in World War I, serving as an accommodation ship in Venice until she began conversion into a troopship in 1917. After a series of renamings in 1920–21, the ship was stricken from the naval register in 1922 and subsequently sold for scrap.

Marco Polo was begun as an improved Etna-class protected cruiser, but she was modified while under construction into an armored cruiser, the first such ship in Italian service. The ship had a length between perpendiculars of 99.65 meters (326 ft 11 in) and an overall length of 106.05 meters (347 ft 11 in). She had a beam of 14.67 meters (48 ft 2 in) and a draft of 5.88 meters (19 ft 3 in). Marco Polo displaced 4,583 metric tons (4,511 long tons) at normal load, and about 4,900 metric tons (4,800 long tons) at deep load. The ship had a complement of 22 officers and 372 enlisted men.