Italian cruiser Partenope

{{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|Partenope}} 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|821|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|Partenope}}{{'}}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|Partenope}} was armed with a main battery of one QF 4.7-inch Gun Mk I–IV /40 gun placed on the forecastle. 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 {{cvt|450|mm|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|Partenope}} was laid down on 8 June 1888 at the Regio Cantiere di Castellammare di Stabia (Royal Dockyard in Castellammare di Stabia), and was launched on 23 December 1889. After fitting-out work was completed, the ship was commissioned into the fleet on 11 September 1890.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=347}} Throughout the first decade of her career, {{lang|it|Partenope}} primarily served with the main Italian fleet in the 2nd Division, which was usually kept in reserve. The reserve ships were typically only kept in service for three months of the year for annual training maneuvers, while the 1st Division was on active status for nine months per year.{{sfn|Brassey 1899|p=72}}

In 1893, {{lang|it|Partenope}} was assigned to the 2nd Division of the Italian fleet, along with the ironclad {{ship|Italian ironclad|Enrico Dandolo||2}} and the protected cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Vesuvio||2}}.{{sfn|Garbett 1893|p=567}} By 1895, the 2nd Division consisted of the ironclads {{ship|Italian ironclad|Sardegna||2}} and {{ship|Italian ironclad|Ruggiero di Lauria||2}}, along with {{lang|it|Partenope}}.{{sfn|Brassey 1896|p=134}} {{lang|it|Partenope}} joined the ironclads {{ship|Italian ironclad|Re Umberto||2}}, {{lang|it|Sardegna}}, {{lang|it|Ruggiero di Lauria}}, and {{ship|Italian ironclad|Andrea Doria||2}} and the cruisers {{ship|Italian cruiser|Stromboli||2}} and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Etruria||2}} for a visit to Spithead in the United Kingdom in July 1895.{{sfn|Neal (July 1895)|p=154}} All of the ships, save {{lang|it|Sardegna}} and {{lang|it|Ruggiero di Lauria}}, joined an international naval demonstration in late 1895 off Crete during a period of tension between Greece and the Ottoman Empire that culminated in the Greco-Turkish War.{{sfn|Neal (December 1895)|p=355}} {{lang|it|Partenope}} joined the 2nd Division of the active fleet in 1897, which also included {{lang|it|Andrea Doria}}, the armored cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Marco Polo||2}}, the protected cruisers {{ship|Italian cruiser|Etna||2}}, {{lang|it|Stromboli}}, and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Liguria||2}}, and the torpedo cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Urania||2}} and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Caprera||2}}.{{sfn|Garbett 1897|p=789}} By 1899, the division consisted of the ironclads {{ship|Italian ironclad|Affondatore||2}}, {{ship|Italian ironclad|Castelfidardo||2}}, and {{ship|Italian ironclad|Sicilia||2}} and her sister ship {{ship|Italian cruiser|Urania||2}} in addition to {{lang|it|Partenope}}.{{sfn|Brassey 1899|p=72}} During 1901, {{lang|it|Partenope}} was joined by the ironclads {{lang|it|Enrico Dandolo}}, {{lang|it|Andrea Doria}}, and {{ship|Italian ironclad|Francesco Morosini||2}}, the armored cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Carlo Alberto||2}}, and three torpedo boats.{{sfn|Garbett 1901|p=614}}

By 1904, the Italian fleet had expanded enough to increase the 1st Division to the 1st Squadron; this unit spent seven months in commission for training and five in reserve. {{lang|it|Partenope}} was transferred to the new unit, along with her sister {{ship|Italian cruiser|Minerva||2}}. The 1st Squadron included six battleships, four other cruisers, and nine destroyers.{{sfn|Garbett 1904|p=1429}} Between 1906 and 1908, the ship was modernized and converted into a minelayer. She received new oil-fired boilers and had her armament reduced to two {{convert|3|in|abbr=on}} guns, four 57 mm guns and two 37 mm guns. {{lang|it|Partenope}}{{'}}s speed was reduced to {{convert|17.05|kn}} on {{convert|2481|ihp|abbr=on}}.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=347}} The ship was now equipped to carry sixty naval mines, with a bank of thirty mines on a platform on each side of the ship.{{sfn|Alger|p=197}}

File:Bellum1911.png; {{lang|it|Partenope}} primarily operated off Tripoli in the west]]

At the start of the Italo-Turkish War in September 1911, {{lang|it|Partenope}} was attached to the 2nd Division of the 1st Squadron of the Italian fleet. By this time, she was being used as a minelayer.{{sfn|Beehler|p=9}} On 9 November, she, the armored cruiser {{lang|it|Carlo Alberto}}, the protected cruiser {{lang|it|Liguria}}, and the torpedo boat {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Cigno|1906|2}} provided critical gunfire support that broke a series of Ottoman attacks on the city of Tripoli.{{sfn|Beehler|p=35}} A month later, {{lang|it|Partenope}}, {{lang|it|Liguria}}, and the torpedo boats {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Dardo||2}} and {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Euro||2}} conducted a series of bombardments on the ports of Zuwarah, Misrata, and Argub.{{sfn|Beehler|p=47}} {{lang|it|Partenope}} then returned to Tripoli, where she continued providing gunfire support to the defending Italian garrison there. She and the ironclads {{lang|it|Sardegna}} and {{lang|it|Re Umberto}} bombarded the oasis at Taguira, though no Turkish forces were present. The Italians then sent a garrison to protect the oasis.{{sfn|Beehler|p=48}}

Italy had declared neutrality at the start of World War I, but by July 1915, the Triple Entente had convinced the Italians to enter the war against the Central Powers. Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, the Italian naval chief of staff, believed that the threat from Austro-Hungarian submarines and naval mines in the narrow waters of the Adriatic was too serious for him to use the fleet in an active way. Instead, Revel decided to implement a blockade at the relatively safer southern end of the Adriatic with the main fleet, while smaller vessels, such as the MAS boats, conducted raids on Austro-Hungarian ships and installations.{{sfn|Halpern|pp=140–142, 150}} {{lang|it|Partenope}} was initially used to lay a series of defensive minefields, along with her sister {{lang|it|Minerva}} and the cruiser {{ship|Italian cruiser|Goito||2}}, in support of this strategy.{{sfn|O'Hara, Dickson, & Worth|p=201}} On 24 March 1918, the German U-boat {{ship|SM|UC-67||2}} torpedoed and sank {{lang|it|Partenope}}{{sfn|Willmott|p=426}} north of Bizerte, Tunisia, at coordinates {{coord|37|53|N|10|10|E|display=inline,title}}.{{cite Uboat.net

|id=4679

|name=Partenope (rin)

|type=1ship

|access-date=23 December 2015

}}

{{notelist

| notes =

}}

{{reflist|20em}}

• {{cite journal

|last=Alger

|first=Philip R. (trans)

|title=The Employment of Submarine Mines in Future Naval Warfare

|journal=Journal of the United States Artillery

|volume=XXX

|year=1908

|publisher=Coastal Artillery School Press

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}}

• {{cite book

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|title=The History of the Italian-Turkish War: September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912

|year=1913

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

|oclc=1408563

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}}

• {{cite journal

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|editor-first=Thomas A.

|editor-link=Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey

|year=1896

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|oclc=5973345

|ref={{sfnref|Brassey 1896}}

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|year=1979

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|year=1893

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|editor-first=H.

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|publisher=J. J. Keliher

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|volume=XLV

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• {{cite journal

|editor-last=Garbett

|editor-first=H.

|title=Naval Notes – Italy

|journal=Journal of the Royal United Service Institution

|publisher=J. J. Keliher

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• {{cite journal

|title=Visit of Italian and Spanish Warships

|page=154

|editor-last=Neal

|editor-first=William George

|date=July 1895

|journal=The Marine Engineer

|location=London

|publisher=Office for Advertisements and Publication

|volume=XVII

|oclc=2448426

|ref={{sfnref|Neal (July 1895)}}

}}

• {{cite journal

|title=The Demonstration in the Levant

|page=355

|editor-last=Neal

|editor-first=William George

|date=December 1895

|journal=The Marine Engineer

|location=London

|publisher=Office for Advertisements and Publication

|volume=XVII

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• {{cite book

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|first1=Vincent

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|last3=Worth

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|title=To Crown the Waves: The Great Navies of the First World War

|publisher=Naval Institute Press

|location=Annapolis

|date=2013

|isbn=978-1-61251-082-8

|name-list-style=amp

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}}

• {{cite book

|last=Sondhaus

|first=Lawrence

|title=Naval Warfare, 1815–1914

|location=London and New York

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|year=2001

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• {{cite book

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|first=H. P.

|title=The Last Century of Sea Power (Volume 1, From Port Arthur to Chanak, 1894–1922)

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}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.marina.difesa.it/noi-siamo-la-marina/mezzi/mezzi-storici/Pagine/PQRS/partenope_incrociatore.aspx Partenope] Marina Militare website

{{Portal bar|Italy|Engineering}}

{{Partenope-class cruiser}}

{{March 1918 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Partenope}}

Category:Partenope-class cruisers

Category:1889 ships

Category:Ships built in Castellammare di Stabia

Category:World War I cruisers of Italy

Category:Ships sunk by German submarines in World War I

Category:Maritime incidents in 1918

Category:World War I shipwrecks in the Mediterranean Sea

Category:Italo-Turkish War naval ships of Italy