Italian cruiser Etruria

{{main|Regioni-class cruiser}}

File:Regioni-class cruiser plan and profile.jpg

{{lang|it|Etruria}} was {{convert|84.8|m|sp=us|ftin}} long overall, had a beam of {{convert|12.03|m|abbr=on|ftin}} and a draft of {{convert|4.87|m|abbr=on|ftin}}. Specific displacement figures have not survived for individual members of the class, but they displaced {{cvt|2245|to|2689|LT|lk=on}} normally and {{convert|2411|to|3110|LT|sp=us}} at full load. The ships had a ram bow and a flush deck. Each vessel was fitted with a pair of pole masts. She had a crew of between 213 and 278.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}}

Her propulsion system consisted of a pair of horizontal triple-expansion steam engines that drove two screw propellers. Steam was supplied by four cylindrical fire-tube boilers that were vented into two funnels.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}} On her speed trials, she reached a maximum of {{convert|18.3|kn|lk=in}} at {{convert|7018|ihp|lk=in}}.{{sfn|Notes on Ships and Torpedo Boats 1896|p=68}} The ship had a cruising radius of about {{convert|2100|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}}

{{lang|it|Etruria}} was armed with a main battery of four QF 6 inch /40 naval gun L/40 guns mounted singly, with two side by side forward and two side by side aft. A secondary battery of six QF 4.7-inch Gun Mk I–IV L/40 guns were placed between them, with three on each broadside. Close-range defense against torpedo boats consisted of eight QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns two {{convert|37|mm|abbr=on}} guns, and a pair of machine guns. She was also equipped with two {{cvt|450|mm|1}} torpedo tubes. {{lang|it|Etruria}} was protected by a {{cvt|50|mm|0}} thick deck, and her conning tower had 50 mm thick sides.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}}

{{lang|it|Etruria}} was laid down at the {{lang|it|Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando}} shipyard in Livorno on 1 April 1889.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}} Shortages of funding slowed the completion {{lang|it|Etruria}} and her sister ships. Tight budgets forced the navy to reduce the pace of construction so that the funds could be used to keep the active fleet in service.{{sfn|Notes on Ships and Torpedo Boats 1891|p=41}} As a result, it took two years to complete her hull, which was launched on 23 April 1891. Fitting-out work proceeded even more slowly; she was not ready for commissioning until 11 July 1894.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}} Following her commissioning, {{lang|it|Etruria}} was assigned to the Second Division of the Italian fleet in October 1894, along with the ironclad battleships {{ship|Italian ironclad|Francesco Morosini||2}}, two cruisers and six torpedo boats.{{sfn|Garbett January 1895|p=89}} In 1895, she and the other ships were replaced by the ironclads {{ship|Italian ironclad|Sardegna||2}} and {{ship|Italian ironclad|Ruggiero di Lauria||2}} and the torpedo cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Partenope||2}}.{{sfn|Brassey|p=134}} On 20 June 1895, {{lang|it|Etruria}} and a fleet that included the battleships {{lang|it|Sardegna}}, {{ship|Italian ironclad|Re Umberto||2}}, {{ship|Italian ironclad|Andrea Doria||2}}, and {{lang|it|Ruggiero di Lauria}}, visited Germany for the ceremony of the opening of the Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. Contingents from Britain, France, Russia, Spain, and several other countries joined the celebration.{{sfn|Garbett May 1895|pp=518–519}}

File:Italian cruiser Etruria Hudson 1909 cropped LOC 4a16123v.jpg in 1909|thumb|left]]

{{lang|it|Etruria}} was stationed in the Red Sea to support colonial forces in Italian Eritrea in 1902.{{sfn|Garbett August 1902|p=1075}} In April 1907, {{lang|it|Etruria}} and the armored cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Varese||2}} crossed the Atlantic to represent Italy during the Jamestown Exposition, the commemoration of the 300th anniversary of the Jamestown colony, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. In addition to the Austro-Hungarian delegation, the international fleet consisted of warships from Great Britain, Japan, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and several other nations.{{sfn|Final Report|p=59}} {{lang|it|Etruria}} returned to the United States in September 1909 for the Hudson–Fulton Celebration in New York City, which also included ships from the German, British, and French fleets, among others, in addition to the hosting US Navy. On this occasion, she was joined by the training cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Etna||2}}.{{sfn|Kunz|pp=317–318}}

{{lang|it|Etruria}} also represented Italy at the commemoration of Peruvian pilot Jorge Chávez on 27 October 1910, who had been killed in a crash attempting to cross the Alps from France to Italy a month before. The French cruiser {{ship|French cruiser|Montcalm|1900|2}} joined {{lang|it|Etruria}} for the event.{{sfn|Lawson|p=431}} The ship made another visit to the United States in March 1911, this time in San Francisco. Her visit coincided with the 50th anniversary of the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy on 17 March; {{lang|it|Etruria}} fired a 21-gun salute in honor of the anniversary, which was returned by the US Navy training facility in the harbor.{{sfn|Army and Navy Register|p=22}}

On 29 September 1911, Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire in order to seize Libya. At the time, {{lang|it|Etruria}} was still in American waters, but she was quickly recalled. On 18 October, she joined the escort for a troop convoy headed to Benghazi. The convoy was heavily protected against a possible Ottoman attack: the escort comprised the four {{sclass|Regina Elena|battleship|0}} pre-dreadnought battleships, her sister {{ship|Italian cruiser|Liguria||2}} and another cruiser, and five destroyers. The Italian fleet bombarded the city the next morning after the Ottoman garrison refused to surrender. During the bombardment, parties from the ships and the infantry from the troopships went ashore. The Italians quickly forced the Ottomans to withdraw into the city by evening. After a short siege, the Ottoman forces withdrew on 29 October, leaving the city to the Italians.{{sfn|Beehler|pp=6, 11, 27–29}}

By December, {{lang|it|Etruria}} had been moved to Tobruk, where she provided gunfire support to the Italians defending the city. She was joined there by {{lang|it|Etna}} and twelve torpedo boats. In the meantime, most of the fleet had returned to Italy for refitting. In January 1912, {{lang|it|Etruria}} was moved back to Benghazi. For the next six months she remained here, supporting the garrison against Ottoman counter-attacks. The ship repeatedly shelled the Ottoman camps outside the city. On 15 October, the Ottomans surrendered, ending the war.{{sfn|Beehler|pp=47, 50, 81, 84, 95}}

{{lang|it|Etruria}} was stationed in Libya as part of the local defense force, which included the old ironclad battleships {{ship|Italian ironclad|Lepanto||2}} and {{ship|Italian ironclad|Enrico Dandolo||2}}, along with several smaller vessels.{{sfn|Earle|p=1349}} By the outbreak of World War I, the ship had been reduced to a training cruiser. The Italian Navy deliberately blew up {{lang|it|Etruria}} in Livorno on 13 August 1918, ostensibly as an act of sabotage by Austro-Hungarian agents in Italy. The purported agents had in fact been coopted as double agents, and the destruction of {{lang|it|Etruria}} was meant to strengthen Austro-Hungarian confidence in their espionage network.{{sfn|O'Hara, Dickson, & Worth|p=187}}

{{reflist|20em}}

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{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.marina.difesa.it/noi-siamo-la-marina/mezzi/mezzi-storici/Pagine/EFGHI/etruria.aspx Etruria] Marina Militare website {{in lang|it}}

{{Portal bar|Italy|Engineering}}

{{Regioni class cruiser}}

{{August 1918 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Etruria}}

Category:Regioni-class cruisers

Category:Ships built in Livorno

Category:1891 ships

Category:Maritime incidents in 1918

Category:Shipwrecks of Italy

Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Italo-Turkish War naval ships of Italy