Castore-class gunboat
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| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image | Ship image = Gunboat Polluce.jpg | Ship caption = Polluce conducting weapons trials. }} {{Infobox ship career | Hide header = | Ship country = Italy | Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|Kingdom of Italy|naval}} | Ship name = Castore and Polluce | Ship owner = | Ship namesake = Castor and Pollux | Ship ordered = | Ship builder = | Ship laid down = | Ship launched = | Ship acquired = | Ship commissioned = | Ship decommissioned = | Ship in service = | Ship out of service = | Ship struck = | Ship reinstated = | Ship honours = | Ship fate = | Ship notes = }} {{Infobox ship class overview | Builders = Armstrong Whitworth, Elswick | Operators = Regia Marina | Class before = | Class after = | Subclasses = | Built range = 1887–1889 | In commission range = 1889–1925 | Total ships building = | Total ships planned = | Total ships completed = 2 | Total ships cancelled = | Total ships active = | Total ships laid up = | Total ships lost = | Total ships retired = 2 | Total ships scrapped = 2 | Total ships preserved = }} {{Infobox ship characteristics | Hide header = | Header caption = | Ship type = Rendel (or "flat-iron") gunboat | Ship displacement = {{convert|667|LT|t|0|lk=in}} | Ship length = {{convert|115|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} | Ship beam = {{convert|37|ft|m|abbr=on|1}} | Ship draft = {{convert|9|ft|2|in|m|abbr=on|1}} | Ship power = {{convert|350|ihp|0|abbr=on|lk=in}} | Ship propulsion = 2 shafts, vertical triple expansion steam engines | Ship speed = {{convert|8|kn|lk=in}} | Ship range = | Ship complement = 42 | Ship armament = 1 × 1 - {{convert|40|cm|in|0|adj=on|abbr=on}}/32 guns | Ship armor = | Ship notes = Fuel load, {{convert|20 |
| 70|LT|t}} coal
}} |
The Italian Castore-class gunboats, {{ship|Italian gunboat|Castore||2}} and {{ship|Italian gunboat|Polluce||2}}, were a class of two Rendel gunboats, designed and built by Sir W G Armstrong Mitchell & Co.'s Elswick Works in the late 1880s to a contract by the Italian War Ministry. Designed by Philip Watts and Herbert Rowell, and constructed in Elswick's Tyneside yard in the United Kingdom, the two gunboats were disassembled and shipped to Italy for reassembly in the Armstrong facility at Pozzuoli, proving to be the only ships constructed there after the Italian government cancelled the shipyard project. It is uncertain whether the vessels were designed as testbeds for heavy guns, or were intended from the outset as operational gunboats.
Design
Both vessels were laid down in the Elswick yard on 22 February 1887. Built to a design calling for a length of {{convert|115|ft|m}} and a beam of {{convert|37|ft|m}}, giving them a length to beam ratio of 3.1:1, they displaced {{convert|667|LT|t}} under normal conditions, and were powered by two steam engines, driving a pair of propellers that gave a speed of around {{convert|8|kn|km/h}}.
As constructed, both vessels were armed with a single, massive Krupp {{convert|40|cm|in|0|adj=on|abbr=off}}, 32-caliber cannon mounted on the stern, that could be elevated to an angle of 13 degrees, firing a {{convert|1980|lb|adj=on}} shell.
''Castore''
Castore was launched in September 1888, and conducted her trials in 1889 at Pozzuoli. She had her heavy gun removed in 1889, and was commissioned into the Italian Navy on 18 July 1891 as a gunboat.Gardiner 1985, p. 258. Rearmed with a single {{convert|12|cm|in|adj=on|abbr=off}} gun, she served until 1899 when she was disarmed and reclassified as a barge.Brook in Preston 2003, pp. 108-110. In 1904, she was reclassified again as a minelayer, and served in that role until late 1915 when she was designated as a torpedo testing craft. After serving in this role throughout the First World War, she was stricken and discarded on 8 October 1925.
''Polluce''
Polluce was launched in October 1888, and conducted her trials in 1889 at Pozzuoli. She was commissioned into the Italian Navy on 18 July 1891 along with her sister vessel, but retained her heavy gun until 1899, when she was rearmed with a single {{convert|12|cm|in|adj=on|abbr=on}} gun. She saw no action in her time serving the Regia Marina, and in 1911, she was stricken and discarded.
References
=Citation=
{{reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- Brook, Peter. "Armstrongs and the Italian Navy". in Preston, Antony (ed.). Warship 2002-2003. London: Conway Maritime Press, 2003. pp. 94–115. {{ISBN|0-85177-926-3}}
- {{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=US Naval Institute Press|isbn=0-87021-907-3}}
Further reading
- {{cite book|last=Fraccaroli|first=Aldo |title=Italian Warships of World War I|location=London|publisher=Ian Allan|year=1970|isbn=978-0-7110-0105-3}}
External links
- [https://www.marina.difesa.it/noi-siamo-la-marina/mezzi/mezzi-storici/Pagine/cannoniere/castore.aspx Classe Castore] Marina Militare website {{in lang|it}}
{{Portal bar|Italy|Engineering}}
{{WWI Italian ships}}
Category:World War I naval ships of Italy
Category:Gunboats of the United Kingdom