San Giorgio-class cruiser
San Marco underway, 18 August 1910
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | San Giorgio |
| Builders: | Regio Cantieri di Castellammare di Stabia, Castellammare di Stabia |
| Operators: |
 Regia Marina
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| Preceded by: | Pisa class |
| Succeeded by: | None |
| Built: | 1905–11 |
| In service: | 1910–43 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Lost: | 1 |
| Scrapped: | 1 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Armored cruiser |
| Displacement: | 10,167–10,969 t (10,006–10,796 long tons) |
| Length: | 140.89 m (462 ft 3 in) (o/a) |
| Beam: | 21.03 m (69 ft 0 in) |
| Draft: | 7.35–7.76 m (24 ft 1 in–25 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: |
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| Speed: | 23 knots (43 km/h; 26 mph) |
| Range: | 4,800–6,270 nmi (8,890–11,610 km; 5,520–7,220 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 32 officers, 666–73 enlisted men |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The San Giorgio class consisted of two armored cruisers built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the first decade of the 20th century. The second ship, San Marco, was used to evaluate recently invented steam turbines in a large ship and incorporated a number of other technological advances. The ships participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12, although San Giorgio was under repair for most of the war. San Marco supported ground forces in Libya with naval gunfire and helped them to occupy towns in Libya and islands in the Dodecanese. During World War I, the ships' activities were limited by the threat of Austro-Hungarian submarines, although they did bombard Durazzo, Albania in 1918.
San Giorgio spent several years in the Far East and Italian Somaliland after the war and became a training ship in 1931. After a brief deployment to Spain in 1936, she was reconstructed to better serve her role as a training ship. The ship's anti-aircraft armament was augmented when she was deployed to Tobruk, Libya to reinforce the port's defenses after Italy declared war on Britain in May 1940. San Giorgio was scuttled in early 1941 when Allied forces were poised to capture the port. Her wreck was salvaged in 1952, but sank while under tow. San Marcos was converted into a target ship in the early 1930s and was found sunk at the end of the war. She was scrapped in 1949.
The San Giorgio class was ordered almost immediately after the preceding Pisa-class ships, and was an improved version of that design. The forecastle was extended to improve seaworthiness, turret armor was increased, habitability was improved and the propulsion machinery was redistributed. San Marco was given the first steam turbines fitted in a large Italian ship for comparative purposes with San Giorgio, which retained the traditional vertical triple-expansion steam engines (VTE). San Marco was a very innovative ship as she was the first turbine-powered ship in any navy to have four propeller shafts, the first with a gyroscopic compass, the first with antiroll tanks, and the first not to use wood in any way.
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Wikipedia