:Pisa-class cruiser

File:Brassey'sPisaClass.jpg 1915]]

The Pisa class was designed in 1904 by Italian engineer Giuseppe Orlando, who attempted to replicate on a smaller scale the armament and armor of the {{sclass|Regina Elena|battleship|1}}s then entering the service of the Regia Marina. The Italians classified large armored cruisers like the Pisas as second-class battleships. For ships of their displacement, they were considered to have been heavily armed, but inferior to battlecruisers, a type introduced during their lengthy construction time.

The Pisa-class ships had a length between perpendiculars of {{convert|130|m|ftin|sp=us}} and an overall length of {{convert|140.5|m|ftin|sp=us}}. They had a beam of {{convert|21|m|ftin|sp=us}} and a draft of {{convert|7.1|m|ftin|sp=us}}. The ships displaced {{convert|9832|t|LT|sp=us}} at normal load, and {{convert|10401|-|10600|t|LT|sp=us}} at deep load.Gardiner & Gray, p. 261 The Pisa class had a complement of 32 officers and 652 to 655 enlisted men.Fraccaroli, p. 32

The ships were powered by two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one propeller shaft using steam supplied by 22 Belleville boilers. Designed for a maximum output of {{convert|20000|ihp|lk=in}} and a speed of {{convert|22.5|kn|lk=in}},Silverstone, p. 290 both ships handily exceeded this, reaching speeds of {{convert|23.47|-|23.6|kn}} during their sea trials from {{convert|20260|-|20808|ihp|abbr=on}}. They had a cruising range of about {{convert|2500|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|12|kn}} and {{convert|1400|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|21|kn}}.

File:Italian armored cruiser Pisa gun turrets.jpg

The main armament of the two Italian Pisa-class ships consisted of four Cannone da 254/45 V Modello 1906The /45 denotes the length of the gun barrels; in this case, the gun is 45 caliber, meaning that the gun is 45 times long as it is in diameter. guns in hydraulically powered, twin-gun turrets fore and aft of the superstructure. The {{convert|254|mm|abbr=on}} gun fired {{convert|217|-|224|kg|adj=on}} armor-piercing (AP) projectiles at a muzzle velocity of {{convert|869|m/s|sp=us}}.Friedman, pp. 236–38 The Royal Hellenic Navy preferred smaller 234 mm (9.2 in) guns purchased from Britain for Georgios Averof, but the ship was otherwise armed nearly identically to her half-sisters.Gardiner & Gray, pp. 261, 385 The {{convert|380|lbs|kg|adj=on}} shell of the Elswick Pattern 'H' gun was fired at a muzzle velocity of {{convert|2770|ft/s|m/s}}.Friedman, p. 73

The Italian ships mounted eight Cannone da 190/45 V Modello 1906 in four hydraulically powered twin-gun turrets, two in each side amidships, as their secondary armament. These Vickers {{convert|190|mm|abbr=on}} guns fired

{{convert|91|kg|adj=on}} AP shells at {{convert|2789|-|2853|ft/s|m/s|order=flip|abbr=on}}.Friedman, p. 239 The Elswick Pattern 'B' 7.5-inch guns aboard Georgios Averof used {{convert|90.7|kg|adj=on}} AP shells which were fired at muzzle velocities of {{convert|844|m/s|abbr=on}}.Campbell, p. 382

For defense against torpedo boats, all three ships mounted 16 Vickers quick-firing (QF) Cannone da 76/50 V Modello 1908 guns. This gun fired a {{convert|6.5|kg|adj=on}} projectile at a muzzle velocity of {{convert|930|m/s|sp=us}}.Friedman, p. 242 The ships were also fitted with eight (Pisa and Amalfi) or four (Georgios Averof) QF Cannone da 47/40 V Modello 1908 guns. The two Italian ships were equipped with three submerged {{convert|450|mm|in|abbr=on|1}} torpedo tubes while those of Georgios Averof were {{convert|457|mm|in|abbr=on|1}} in diameter.

During World War I, Pisa{{'}}s 76 and 47 mm guns were replaced by twenty 76/40 guns; six of these were anti-aircraft (AA) guns while Georgios Averof received one additional 76 mm AA gun. During her 1925 refit, the latter ship had her light armament changed to four 76 mm low-angle guns, two 76 mm AA guns, four 47 mm low-angle guns and five 40 mm AA guns.

All three ships were protected by an armored belt that was {{convert|200|mm|in|1|abbr=on}} thick amidships and reduced to {{convert|90|mm|abbr=on|1}} at the bow and stern. The armored deck was {{convert|51|mm|abbr=on|1}} thick. The conning tower armor was {{convert|180|mm|abbr=on|1}} thick. The 254 mm gun turrets were protected by {{convert|160|mm|abbr=on}} of armour while the 190 mm turrets had {{convert|140|mm|abbr=on|1}}.

File:Cruiser Amalfi.jpg

Two of the three Pisa-class armored cruisers were originally built for the Regia Marina. The third ship was built on speculation and was sold to Greece and completed as Georgios Averof, named after a wealthy Greek businessman who had left a sizeable legacy for the increase of the Greek Navy in his will.Gardiner & Gray, p. 385 The ship participated in the Coronation Fleet Review for King George V of the United Kingdom in 1911 shortly after commissioning. She served in the Balkan Wars and was instrumental in the Greek victories over the Ottoman Empire in the Battles of Elli and Lemnos during the First Balkan War.Carr, pp. 74–76, 124–136, 145–150, 165 During World War I, Georgios Averof did not see much active service, as Greece was neutral during the first years of the war. After the Noemvriana riots of 1916, she was seized by the French to ensure that she could do nothing against the Entente.Newbolt, pp. 152–172 After the war's end, the ship participated in the Greco-Turkish War of 1919–1922 and helped in the evacuation of the refugees after the Greek Army's defeat.Carr, pp. 234–238 In 1925–1927 Georgios Averof was reconstructed in France and rearmed.

The ship was seized by rebels during the failed 1935 Greek coup d'état attempt and was present at the 1935 Silver Jubilee Fleet Review for King George V.Carr, pp. 258–63, 265 During World War II, the ship escaped to Egypt after the Allied defense began to collapse in 1941 during the Battle of Greece. She performed convoy escort and patrolling duties in the Indian Ocean until the end of 1942. Her crew mutinied in early 1944 under the influence of communist sympathizers of the National Liberation Front. The mutiny was suppressed and she ferried the Greek government-in-exile to Athens in late 1944. She was decommissioned in 1952 and is now preserved as a museum ship in Faliron Bay near Athens. Georgios Averof is the only armored cruiser still in existence.Carr, pp. 9, 340–354, 357–368

File:Averof in camo,1942.jpg

Pisa and Amalfi both participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, during which Pisa supported the occupations of Tobruk, Libya and several islands in the Dodecanese while Amalfi briefly blockaded Tripoli and supported the occupation of Derna, Libya. The sisters came together in 1912 and they bombarded the fortifications defending the entrance to the Dardanelles in July.Beehler, pp. 19, 30, 67–68, 71; Stephenson, pp. 115–116, 262–265 After the end of the war, Amalfi escorted the Italian king and queen on the royal yacht to Germany and Sweden during a 1913 visit.{{cite news | title = Kaiser and King of Italy meet in Kiel at regatta | work = The Christian Science Monitor | date = 21 July 1913| page = 2 }}

After Amalfi was sunk by the submarine {{SMU|U-26|Austria-Hungary|2}} (actually the Imperial German submarine SM UB-14 flying the Austro-Hungarian flag) on 7 July 1915, Pisa{{'}}s activities were limited by the threat of submarine attack, although the ship did participate in the bombardment of Durazzo, Albania in late 1918.Halpern, pp. 148, 151, 176; Sondhaus, p. 289 After the war she became a training ship and was stricken from the Navy List in 1937 before being scrapped.

{{reflist|group=Note}}

{{reflist|30em}}

• {{Cite book |last=Beehler|first=William Henry|title=The History of the Italian-Turkish War: September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912|year=1913|location=Annapolis|publisher=United States Naval Institute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWcoAAAAYAAJ|oclc=1408563}}
• {{cite book|last=Campbell|first=John|title=Naval Weapons of World War II|year=1985|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|isbn=0-87021-459-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Carr|first=John C.|title=R.N.H.S. Averof: Thunder in the Aegean|year=2014|publisher=Pen and Sword Maritime|location=Barnsley, UK|isbn=978-1-47383963-2}}
• {{cite book|last=Fraccaroli|first=Aldo |title=Italian Warships of World War I|location=London|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1970|isbn=0-7110-0105-7}}
• {{cite book|last=Friedman|first=Norman|title=Naval Weapons of World War One|publisher=Seaforth|location=Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84832-100-7}}
• {{cite book|editor1-last=Gardiner|editor1-first=Robert|editor2-last=Gray|editor2-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|location=Annapolis|publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-87021-907-3|name-list-style=amp}}
• {{cite book|last=Halpern|first=Paul S.|title=A Naval History of World War I|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, Maryland|year=1994|isbn=1-55750-352-4}}
• {{cite book|last=Newbolt|first=Henry|title=Naval Operations|edition=reprint of the 1928|series=History of the Great War Based on Official Documents|volume=IV|year=1996|publisher=Battery Press|location=Nashville, Tennessee|isbn=0-89839-253-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Silverstone|first=Paul H.|title=Directory of the World's Capital Ships|year=1984|publisher=Hippocrene Books|location=New York|isbn=0-88254-979-0}}
• {{cite book | last = Sondhaus | first = Lawrence | title = The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918: Navalism, Industrial Development, and the Politics of Dualism | location = West Lafayette, Indiana | publisher = Purdue University Press | year = 1994 | isbn = 978-1-55753-034-9 | oclc = 59919233 }}
• {{cite book|last=Stephenson|first=Charles|title=A Box of Sand: The Italo-Ottoman War 1911–1912: The First Land, Sea and Air War|year=2014|publisher=Tattered Flag Press|location=Ticehurst, UK|isbn=978-0-9576892-7-5}}

{{commons category|Pisa class cruiser}}

• [https://www.marina.difesa.it/noi-siamo-la-marina/mezzi/mezzi-storici/Pagine/PQRS/pisa.aspx Classe Pisa] Marina Militare website
• [http://www.averof.mil.gr/ Official website of the Giorgios Averof] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708025731/http://www.averof.mil.gr/ |date=2014-07-08 }}

{{Portal bar|Italy|Engineering}}

{{Pisa-class armored cruisers}}

{{WWI Italian ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pisa-class cruiser}}

Category:Cruisers of the Regia Marina

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Category:Cruiser classes