Italian cruiser San Marco

San Marco underway, 18 August 1910
History
Kingdom of Italy
Name:	San Marco
Namesake:	Saint Mark
Ordered:	18 September 1905
Builder:	Regio Cantieri di Castellammare di Stabia, Castellammare di Stabia
Laid down:	2 January 1907
Launched:	20 December 1908
Reclassified:	As target ship, 1931
Struck:	27 February 1947
Fate:	Sunk, 1945; Scrapped, 1949
General characteristics
Class and type:	San Giorgio-class armoured cruiser
Displacement:	10,969 t (10,796 long tons)
Length:	140.89 m (462 ft 3 in) (o/a)
Beam:	21.03 m (69 ft 0 in)
Draught:	7.76 m (25 ft 6 in)
Installed power:	23,000 shp (17,000 kW) 14 water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines
Speed:	23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph)
Range:	4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	32 officers, 666–73 enlisted men
Armament:	2 twin 254 mm (10.0 in)/45 guns 4 twin 190 mm (7.5 in)/45 guns 18 single 76 mm (3.0 in)/40 guns 2 single 47 mm (1.9 in)/50 guns 3 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Belt: 200 mm (7.9 in) Gun turrets: 160–200 mm (6.3–7.9 in) Deck: 50 mm (2.0 in) Conning tower: 254 mm (10.0 in)

The Italian cruiser San Marco was a San Giorgio-class armoured cruiser built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the first decade of the 20th century. She was the first large Italian ship fitted with steam turbines and the first turbine-powered ship in any navy to have four propeller shafts. The ship participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12, during which time she supported the occupations of Benghazi and Derna, the island of Rhodes, and bombarded the fortifications defending the entrance to the Dardanelles. During World War I, San Marco's activities were limited by the threat of Austro-Hungarian submarines, although the ship did participate in the bombardment of Durazzo, Albania in late 1918. She played a minor role in the Corfu incident in 1923 and was converted into a target ship in the first half of the 1930s. San Marco was captured by the Germans when they occupied northern Italy in 1943 and was found sunk at the end of the war. The ship was broken up and scrapped in 1949.

The ships of the San Giorgio class were designed as improved versions of the Pisa-class design. San Marco's design featured several new innovations that differentiated her from her sister ship San Giorgio. San Marco was given the first steam turbines fitted in a large Italian ship and she was the first turbine-powered ship in any navy to have four shafts, the first with a gyroscopic compass, the first with antiroll tanks, and the first not to use wood in any way.