Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruiser

Kasuga in 1900
Class overview
Builders:	Ansaldo, Genoa, Italy Orlando, Livorno
Operators:	Imperial Japanese Navy  Regia Marina  Argentine Navy  Spanish Navy
Built:	1895–1904
In commission:	1896–1954
Completed:	10
Lost:	3
General characteristics
Type:	Armored cruiser
Displacement:	7,628 long tons (7,750 t) Kasuga 7,698 long tons (7,822 t) Nisshin
Length:	108.8 m (356 ft 11 in) w/l 111.73 m (366 ft 7 in) o/a
Beam:	18.9 m (62 ft 0 in)
Draught:	7.32 m (24 ft 0 in)
Propulsion:	2 shaft Reciprocating Vertical Triple Expansion (VTE) Engines 8 boilers 13,500 shp (10,100 kW)
Speed:	20 knots (23 mph; 37 km/h)
Range:	7,000 nmi (13,000 km) at 10 kn (12 mph; 19 km/h)
Complement:	600
Armament:	2 turrets, each with 1 × 10-inch (254 mm) gun or 2 × 8-inch (203 mm) guns 14 × 6-inch (152 mm) rapid fire guns 10 × 3-inch (76.2 mm) rapid fire guns 6 × 3-pounder rapid fire guns 2 × Maxim guns 4 × 457 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes
Armour:	Main Belt: 70–150 mm (2.8–5.9 in) Deck: 25–38 mm (0.98–1.50 in) Barbette, Turret, Casemate & Conning tower: 100–150 mm (3.9–5.9 in)

The Giuseppe Garibaldi class were a group of armoured cruisers built in Italy at the end of the nineteenth century. Ten ships were built for both the Regia Marina and for export.

Design and history

Right elevation and deck plan as depicted in Brassey's Naval Annual 1902

The design was a private venture by the Italian firm of Gio. Ansaldo & C., which was hoping to profit from the need for the world's navies to modernize towards heavily armoured steam warships.

Designed by Edoardo Masdea, the Garibaldi-class cruiser was a hybrid between a cruiser and a battleship. With a maximum speed of 20 knots (37 km/h) the design was slightly slower than contemporary cruisers, but was both heavily armed and armoured, in a package with very low displacement and moderate dimensions.

The design was so popular that between 1894 and 1902 ten cruisers were purchased by four different countries; the first five by the Italian Navy, four by the Argentine Navy and one by the Spanish Navy. According to Brassey's Naval Annual, Spain was planning to acquire a second "Garibaldi"-class cruiser, to be named Pedro de Aragon. These plans were shelved after the Spanish-American War and the subsequent downsizing of the Spanish Armada.

Two of the Italian ships ordered in 1902 were sold to the Argentine Navy before completion as the Mitre and Roca; they were renamed as the Rivadavia and the Mariano Moreno. The Argentines in turn sold them to the Imperial Japanese Navy before final completion in 1904, and they were renamed the Kasuga and Nisshin

The class was unusual in that they did not have a uniform main armament. Some had single 10-inch (254 mm) guns in gun turrets fore and aft; others (including the Kasuga) had a mixed armament of a single 10-inch (254 mm) gun in one turret and another turret with twin 8-inch (203 mm) guns. A third variation (including the Nisshin) was a uniform armament of four 8-inch (203 mm) guns, twin gun turrets fore and aft. The Cristobal Colon was fitted with defective 10 inch guns which were removed before it was committed to combat. Therefore, it only went to battle with 10 smokeless powder Armstrong six inch guns mounted in the hull (5 on each side).

Ships

All ships were built by Ansaldo in Genoa, except ARA San Martin and ARA Belgrano which were subcontracted to Orlando of Livorno

See also

Media related to Giuseppe Garibaldi class cruiser at Wikimedia Commons

References

• Fraccaroli, Aldo (1970). Italian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0105-3. 
• Cowan, Mark and Sumrall, Alan "Old Hoodoo" The Battleship Texas, America's First Battleship (1895-1911) 2011

External links

• (Spanish) History of the Argentinian ships, at HISTARMAR
• (Spanish) Specifications of the Argentinian ships, at HISTARMAR

Gallery

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  Spanish cruiser Cristobal Colon

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  ARA Garibaldi

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  ARA Belgrano

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  ARA Pueyrredon

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  ARA San Martin

v t e Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruisers  Regia Marina Francesco Ferruccio Giuseppe Garibaldi Varese  Argentine Navy Garibaldi class Garibaldi General Belgrano Pueyrredón San Martín  Imperial Japanese Navy Kasuga class Kasuga Nisshin  Spanish Navy Cristóbal Colón