Italian corvette Amerigo Vespucci
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 Amerigo Vespucci in December 1898 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Amerigo Vespucci |
| Operators | Regia Marina (Royal Navy) |
| Preceded by | Flavio Gioia |
| Succeeded by | Cristoforo Colombo |
| Completed | 1 |
| History | |
| Builder | Venice Naval Yard |
| Laid down | 9 December 1879 |
| Launched | 31 July 1882 |
| Completed | 1 September 1884 |
| Fate | Discarded, 10 September 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Screw corvette |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 78 m (255 ft 11 in) pp |
| Beam | 12.78 m (41 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 5.48 m (18 ft) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 13.66 knots (25.30 km/h; 15.72 mph) |
| Complement | 268 |
| Armament |
|
Amerigo Vespucci was a screw corvette of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built in the late 1870s and early 1880s.
Characteristics
The design for Amerigo Vespucci was prepared by the naval engineer Carlo Vigna, who also designed the similar corvette Flavio Gioia.[1] The Italian navy still largely relied on a fleet of old wooden-hulled cruising ships built in the 1850s and 1860s, but by the 1870s, the world's navies had begun to move to steel construction. The Italians responded with Flavio Gioia and Amerigo Vespucci as part of a modest program to modernize its cruising fleet.[2][3] The two vessels were similar enough that some sources consider them to have been the same class,[4] though others consider them to be distinct designs.[1]
Amerigo Vespucci was 78 meters (255 ft 11 in) long between perpendiculars, and she had a beam of 12.78 m (41 ft 11 in) and an average draft of 5.48 m (18 ft). She displaced 2,493 long tons (2,533 t) normally and 2,751 long tons (2,795 t) at full load. The ship had a traditional clipper bow and an overhanging stern. Her superstructure was minimal, consisting primarily of a small conning tower placed amidships. She had a crew of 268.[1]
Her propulsion system consisted of a single horizontal, 3-cylinder compound steam engine that drove a single screw propeller. Steam was supplied by eight coal-fired fire-tube boilers that vented into a single funnel located amidships. Her propulsion system was manufactured by Gio. Ansaldo & C. Amerigo Vespucci could steam at a top speed of 13.66 knots (25.30 km/h; 15.72 mph) from 3,340 indicated horsepower (2,490 kW) on her initial sea trials. The ship had a capacity to store 500 long tons (510 t) of coal for the boilers. To supplement the steam engines, she was fitted with a three-masted barque rig.[1][4]
The main battery for Amerigo Vespucci consisted of eight 149-millimeter (5.9 in) 26-caliber breech-loading guns, four guns per broadside. For close-range defense against torpedo boats, she carried a secondary battery of three 75 mm (3 in) guns. She was also fitted with four Maxim machine guns of unknown caliber. In 1893, she was rearmed with four 120 mm (4.7 in) 40 cal. guns and two 356 mm (14 in) torpedo tubes. The ship was protected by a curved armor deck that was 38 mm (1.5 in) thick, with a layer of extensively subdivided series of watertight compartments below, which was intended to control flooding in the event of damage below the waterline.[1][4]
