Italian cruiser Lombardia

{{main|Regioni-class cruiser}}

File:Regioni-class cruiser plan and profile.jpg

{{lang|it|Lombardia}} was {{convert|84.8|m|sp=us|ftin}} long overall and 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|18.4|kn|lk=in}} at {{convert|6010|ihp|lk=in}}.{{sfn|Notes on Ships and Torpedo Boats|p=67}} 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|Lombardia}} 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 ten QF 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns and a pair of machine guns. She was also equipped with two {{cvt|450|mm|1}} torpedo tubes. {{lang|it|Lombardia}} 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|Lombardia}} was built by the {{lang|it|Regio Cantieri di Castellammare di Stabia}} in the eponymous city; her keel was laid on 19 November 1889. She was launched on 12 July 1890, and after completing fitting-out work, the new cruiser was commissioned into the Italian fleet on 16 February 1893, the first member of her class to enter service.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}} The new ship did not immediately enter active service, however, and in 1894 was still kept in reserve status along with her sisters {{ship|Italian cruiser|Umbria||2}} and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Etruria||2}}.{{sfn|Garbett July 1894|p=777}} Beginning on 14 October that year, the Italian fleet, including {{lang|it|Lombardia}}, assembled in Genoa for a naval review held in honor of King Umberto I at the commissioning of the new ironclad {{ship|Italian ironclad|Re Umberto||2}}. The festivities lasted three days.{{sfn|Garbett November 1894|p=1295}}

In 1896, {{lang|it|Lombardia}} was in South American waters. An outbreak of yellow fever decimated the ship's crew while she was in Rio de Janeiro; 134 men died as a result of the epidemic. The men were buried in local cemeteries and were eventually re-interred in a large mausoleum in Rio de Janeiro in 1904.{{sfn|Public Health Reports|p=1999}} After returning to Italy in 1897, the ship was assigned to the cruiser squadron, alongside {{ship|Italian cruiser|Etna||2}} and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Dogali||2}}.{{sfn|Garbett February 1897|p=232}} For the periodic fleet maneuvers during the year, {{lang|it|Lombardia}} was assigned to the First Division of the Reserve Squadron, which was centered on the ironclad battleships {{ship|Italian ironclad|Duilio||2}}, {{ship|Italian ironclad|Ruggiero di Lauria||2}}, and {{ship|Italian ironclad|Lepanto||2}}.{{sfn|Garbett June 1897|p=789}} She remained in the Reserve Squadron the following year.{{sfn|Garbett 1898|p=200}}

{{lang|it|Lombardia}} was deployed to the China station in 1901 to replace her sister {{ship|Italian cruiser|Elba||2}}. She was joined on the voyage by the armored cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Marco Polo||2}}, which in turn replaced {{ship|Italian cruiser|Vettor Pisani||2}}.{{sfn|Garbett 1901|p=1136}} In September 1902 {{lang|it|Lombardia}} was in Nagasaki, Japan, with the Italian cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Piemonte||2}}.{{sfn|May|p=84}} The following month, she joined an international fleet that took part in the funeral of the Chinese Viceroy of Liangjiang, Liu Kunyi. Kunyi had protected Europeans during the Boxer Uprising in 1900–1901, for which he was lauded in the Western press.{{sfn|Robinson|p=448}} On 10 May 1903, {{lang|it|Lombardia}} went to Shanghai and steamed up the Yangtze River.{{sfn|May|p=104}} She thereafter departed the China station. Later that year, {{lang|it|Lombardia}} was stationed in Italian Somaliland where she visited Illig, a small town on cliffs about {{convert|150|mi}} northeast of Hobyo. A landing party attempted to go to shore to negotiate with a group of raiders who had fortified the town, but they were driven off by rifle fire. {{lang|it|Lombardia}} shelled the town in response, but to no effect.{{sfn|Brassey|p=61}} The ship then made a stop in Aden in late November – early December.{{sfn|Reeve|pp=103–105}}

In 1906, {{lang|it|Lombardia}} was converted into a depot ship for submarines; this work lasted until 1908.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=350}} By the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War in September 1911, she was still serving in this capacity, under the command of Prince Luigi Amedeo, then the Inspector of Torpedo Boats. {{lang|it|Lombardia}} remained in the Adriatic Sea during the war and as a result she did not see action in the conflict.{{sfn|Beehler|p=9}}{{sfn|Wilson|p=268}} She served in this capacity through World War I until 4 July 1920, when she was sold for scrap and subsequently broken up.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}}{{sfn|Frothingham|p=307}}

{{reflist|20em}}

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• {{cite journal

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• {{cite journal

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|oclc=1799423

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• {{cite journal

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• {{cite book

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}}

• [https://www.marina.difesa.it/noi-siamo-la-marina/mezzi/mezzi-storici/Pagine/LMNO/lombardia.aspx Lombardia] Marina Militare website

{{Portal bar|Italy|Engineering}}

{{Regioni class cruiser}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lombardia}}

Category:Regioni-class cruisers

Category:Ships built in Castellammare di Stabia

Category:1890 ships