Italian cruiser Caprera

{{main|Partenope-class cruiser}}

File:Partenope-class cruiser plan and profile drawing.jpg

The {{lang|it|Partenope}}-class cruisers were derivatives of the earlier, experimental {{sclass|Goito|cruiser|1}}s, themselves based on the preceding cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Tripoli||2}}.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|pp=347–348}} The class marked a temporary shift toward the ideas of the {{lang|fr|Jeune École}} in Italian naval thinking. The doctrine emphasized the use of small, torpedo-armed craft to destroy expensive ironclads.{{sfn|Sondhaus|p=149}}

{{lang|it|Caprera}} was {{convert|73.1|m|ftin|sp=us}} long overall and had a beam of {{convert|8.22|m|0|abbr=on}} and an average draft of {{convert|3.48|m|ftin|abbr=on}}. She displaced {{convert|833|LT|lk=on}} normally. The ship had a short forecastle deck that terminated at the conning tower. She had a crew of between 96 and 121 personnel.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=347}}

Her propulsion system consisted of a pair of horizontal triple-expansion steam engines, each driving a single screw propeller. Steam was supplied by four coal-fired locomotive boilers, which were vented through two widely spaced funnels. Specific figures for {{lang|it|Caprera}}{{'}}s engine performance have not survived, but the ships of her class had top speeds of {{convert|18.1|to|20.8|kn|lk=in}} at {{convert|3884|to|4422|ihp|lk=in}}. The ship had a cruising radius of about {{convert|1800|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=347}}

{{lang|it|Caprera}} was armed with a main battery of two QF 4.7-inch Gun Mk I–IV /40 guns, one placed on the forecastle and the other toward the stern. Close-range defense against torpedo boats was provided by a secondary battery of six QF 6 pounder Nordenfelt /43 guns mounted singly.{{efn|"/40" refers to the length of the gun in terms of calibers, meaning that the length of the barrel is 40 times its internal diameter.}} She was also equipped with three {{convert|37|mm|abbr=on|1}} /20 guns in single mounts. Her primary offensive weapon was her five {{convert|450|mm|abbr=on|1}} torpedo tubes. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was up to {{convert|1.6|in|abbr=on}} thick; her conning tower was armored with the same thickness of steel plate.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=347}}

{{lang|it|Caprera}} was laid down at the {{lang|it|Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando}} (Orlando Brothers' Shipyard) in Livorno on 27 July 1891, originally under the name {{lang|it|Clio}}. She was renamed {{lang|it|Caprera}} on 23 February 1893 and was launched on 6 May 1894, the last member of her class to enter the water.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=347}} After fitting-out work was completed, she underwent sea trials in mid-1895. While testing the engines with forced draft, the ship reached {{convert|17.75|kn}}.{{sfn|Notes on Ships and Torpedo Boats — Italy|p=68}} The ship was commissioned into the fleet on 12 December 1895.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=347}} Upon entering service, {{lang|it|Caprera}} was initially stationed in the 2nd Maritime Department, split between Taranto and Naples, along with most of the torpedo cruisers in the Italian fleet. These included her sister ships {{ship|Italian cruiser|Partenope||2}}, {{ship|Italian cruiser|Aretusa||2}}, {{ship|Italian cruiser|Euridice||2}}, {{ship|Italian cruiser|Iride||2}}, {{ship|Italian cruiser|Minerva||2}}, and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Urania||2}}, the four {{lang|it|Goito}}-class cruisers, and {{lang|it|Tripoli}}.{{sfn|Garbett 1895|p=90}} Shortly thereafter, she was transferred to Italian East Africa. She departed with the protected cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Etna||2}} in late December, passing through the Suez Canal on 30 December, along with a transport carrying a battalion of infantry. The rest of the Red Sea Squadron, which included the protected cruisers {{ship|Italian cruiser|Dogali||2}} and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Etruria||2}}, met {{lang|it|Caprera}} and {{lang|it|Etna}} in Massawa.{{sfn|The Italians in Africa|p=23}}

{{lang|it|Caprera}} joined the 2nd Division of the active fleet in 1897, which also included the ironclad {{ship|Italian ironclad|Andrea Doria||2}}, the armored cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Marco Polo||2}}, the protected cruisers {{lang|it|Etna}}, {{ship|Italian cruiser|Stromboli||2}}, and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Liguria||2}}, and the torpedo cruisers {{lang|it|Urania}} and {{lang|it|Partenope}}.{{sfn|Garbett 1897|p=789}} The ship was assigned to the Atlantic Naval Division in 1899, along with {{lang|it|Marco Polo}} and the protected cruisers {{lang|it|Etna}}, {{lang|it|Dogali}}, and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Giovanni Bausan||2}}.{{sfn|Garbett 1899|p=792}} In 1903, {{lang|it|Caprera}} was sent to strengthen the Red Sea Station, which also included the old screw corvette {{ship|Italian corvette|Cristoforo Colombo|1892|2}}, the gunboat {{ship|Italian gunboat|Volturno||2}}, and the aviso {{ship|Italian aviso|Barbarigo||2}}.{{sfn|Garbett 1903|p=1069}} By 1907, {{lang|it|Caprera}} had been transferred to the Reserve Squadron, along with four of the older ironclad battleships.{{sfn|Garbett 1907|p=93}} The following year, she was stationed in Italian East Africa. While there, an Italian meteorologist conducted several experiments aboard the ship with a hot air balloon to study the monsoon winds in the region, beginning in Zanzibar.{{sfn|Geikie & Newbigin|p=432}} The tests, which were conducted in the last week of July, were unsuccessful, as the weather was unfavorable.{{sfn|Lockyer|p=506}}

At the start of the Italo-Turkish War in September 1911, {{lang|it|Caprera}} was stationed in Italy, alternating between the ports of La Spezia and Naples, along with her sister ships {{lang|it|Urania}} and {{lang|it|Iride}}. The threat of an Ottoman attack from the Arabian Peninsula across the Red Sea to Italian Eritrea led the Italian High Command to reinforce the Red Sea Squadron. {{lang|it|Caprera}} and several destroyers were sent to strengthen the Italian defenses. The protected cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Piemonte||2}} and two destroyers annihilated a force of seven Ottoman gunboats in the Battle of Kunfuda Bay on 7 January 1912, wiping out the core of Ottoman naval forces in the area. {{lang|it|Caprera}} and the rest of the Italian ships then commenced a bombardment campaign against the Turkish ports in the Red Sea before declaring a blockade of the city of Al Hudaydah on 26 January. On 27 July and 12 August, {{lang|it|Caprera}}, her sister ship {{lang|it|Aretusa}}, and the protected cruiser {{lang|it|Piemonte}} conducted two bombardments of Al Hudaydah. During the second attack, they destroyed an Ottoman ammunition dump. On 14 October, the Ottoman government agreed to sign a peace treaty, ending the war.{{sfn|Beehler|pp=9, 51, 90, 95}} {{lang|it|Caprera}} did not remain in service long after the end of the war. She was sold for scrap in May 1913 and thereafter broken up.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=347}}

{{notelist

| notes =

}}

{{reflist|20em}}

• {{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

|ref={{sfnref|Beehler}}

}}

• {{cite book

|last=Fraccaroli

|first=Aldo

|editor-last=Gardiner

|editor-first=Robert

|chapter=Italy

|pages=334–359

|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905

|year=1979

|location=London

|publisher=Conway Maritime Press

|isbn=978-0-85177-133-5

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2

|ref={{sfnref|Fraccaroli}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|editor-last=Garbett

|editor-first=H.

|title=Naval and Military Notes – Italy

|journal=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution

|publisher=J. J. Keliher

|location=London

|year=1895

|volume=XXXIX

|pages=81–111

|oclc=8007941

|ref={{sfnref|Garbett 1895}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|editor-last=Garbett

|editor-first=H.

|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GRQmAQAAIAAJ

|title=Naval Notes—Italy

|journal=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution

|volume=XLI

|issue=232

|pages=788–790

|date=June 1897

|ref={{sfnref|Garbett 1897}}

|oclc=8007941

}}

• {{cite journal

|editor-last=Garbett

|editor-first=H.|title=Naval Notes – Italy

|journal=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution

|publisher=J. J. Keliher

|location=London

|year=1899

|volume=XLIII

|pages=792–796

|oclc=8007941

|ref={{sfnref|Garbett 1899}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|editor-last=Garbett

|editor-first=H.

|title=Naval Notes

|journal=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution

|volume=XLVII

|number=307

|year=1903

|publisher=J. J. Keliher & Co.

|location=London

|pages=1058–1075

|oclc=8007941

|ref={{sfnref|Garbett 1903}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|editor-last=Garbett

|editor-first=H.

|title=Naval Notes – Italy

|journal=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution

|publisher=J. J. Keliher

|location=London

|year=1907

|volume=LI

|pages=92–94

|oclc=8007941

|ref={{sfnref|Garbett 1907}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|editor-last1=Geikie

|editor-first1=James

|editor-last2=Newbigin

|editor-first2=Marion I.

|title=Meteorological Investigation in Africa

|page=432

|journal=The Scottish Geographical Magazine

|location=Edinburgh

|publisher=T. and A. Constable

|year=1908

|volume=XXIV

|oclc=1604208

|name-list-style=amp

|ref={{sfnref|Geikie & Newbigin}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|editor-last=Lockyer

|editor-first=Normal

|editor-link=Norman Lockyer

|title=Notes

|journal=Nature

|pages=502–507

|location=London

|publisher=MacMillan & Co.

|year=1910

|volume=LXXXIV

|oclc=1586310

|ref={{sfnref|Lockyer}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=Notes on Ships and Torpedo Boats — Italy

|journal=Notes on the Year's Naval Progress

|year=1896

|location=Washington, DC

|publisher=Government Printing Office

|pages=65–69

|oclc=727366607

|ref={{sfnref|Notes on Ships and Torpedo Boats — Italy}}

}}

• {{cite book

|last=Sondhaus

|first=Lawrence

|title=Naval Warfare, 1815–1914

|location=London and New York

|publisher=Routledge

|year=2001

|isbn=978-0-415-21478-0

|ref={{sfnref|Sondhaus}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=The Italians in Africa

|journal=The African Review

|location=London

|publisher=The African Review Publishing Company

|volume=VII

|oclc=39120879

|ref={{sfnref|The Italians in Africa}}

}}

• [https://www.marina.difesa.it/noi-siamo-la-marina/mezzi/mezzi-storici/Pagine/ABCD/caprera.aspx Caprera] Marina Militare website

{{Portal bar|Italy|Engineering}}

{{Partenope-class cruiser}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Caprera}}

Category:Partenope-class cruisers

Category:Ships built in Livorno

Category:1894 ships

Category:Italo-Turkish War naval ships of Italy