Italian cruiser Umbria

{{main|Regioni-class cruiser}}

File:Regioni-class cruiser plan and profile.jpg

{{lang|it|Umbria}} was {{convert|84.8|m|ftin|sp=us}} long overall and had a beam of {{convert|12.03|m|ftin|abbr=on}} and a draft of {{convert|5.35|m|ftin|abbr=on}}. 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|19|kn|lk=in}} at {{convert|7400|ihp|lk=in}}.{{sfn|Notes on Ships and Torpedo Boats 1896|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|Umbria}} 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 one {{cvt|75|mm|0}} gun, 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|Umbria}} 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|Umbria}} was built by the {{lang|it|Cantiere navale fratelli Orlando}} shipyard in Livorno. Her keel was laid down on 1 August 1888.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}} Shortages of funding slowed the completion of {{lang|it|Umbria}} 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, her hull was not ready to be launched until 23 April 1891, and fitting-out work took another almost three years to complete. {{lang|it|Umbria}} finally joined the fleet on 16 February 1894.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=349}} After entering service, she was stationed in Taranto along with the ironclads {{ship|Italian ironclad|Affondatore||2}} and {{ship|Italian ironclad|Ancona||2}}, the protected cruisers {{ship|Italian cruiser|Liguria||2}} and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Etruria||2}}, the torpedo cruisers {{ship|Italian cruiser|Monzambano||2}}, {{ship|Italian cruiser|Montebello||2}}, and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Confienza||2}}, and several other vessels. She remained there through 1894.{{sfn|Garbett 1894|p=201}} On 1 February 1897, {{lang|it|Umbria}} was assigned to the Cruiser Squadron of the main Italian fleet, along with her sister {{lang|it|Liguria}} and the cruisers {{ship|Italian cruiser|Marco Polo||2}} and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Dogali||2}}.{{sfn|Robinson|p=186}} Later that year, {{lang|it|Umbria}} and {{lang|it|Dogali}} cruised off the eastern coast of South America.{{sfn|Garbett 1897|p=789}} In 1902, {{lang|it|Umbria}} was part of a squadron with the protected cruisers {{ship|Italian cruiser|Calabria||2}} and {{ship|Italian cruiser|Giovanni Bausan||2}} in American waters.{{sfn|Garbett 1902|p=1075}}

In September 1904, {{lang|it|Umbria}} stopped in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, to supervise the transfer of sailors who had been killed by a yellow fever outbreak on her sister {{ship|Italian cruiser|Lombardia||2}} in 1896. The men, 134 in all, had been buried in various cemeteries, but were re-interred in a large mausoleum in São Francisco Xavier.{{sfn|Public Health Reports|p=1999}} On 29 December, {{lang|it|Umbria}} stopped in Valparaiso, where she met the German cruiser {{SMS|Falke|1891|6}} and the United States' cruisers {{USS|New York|ACR-2|6}} and {{USS|Marblehead|C-11|6}} and the gunboat {{USS|Bennington|PG-4|6}}.{{sfn|Annual Reports|p=481}} In June 1905, {{lang|it|Umbria}} represented Italy at the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition in Portland, Oregon. She was joined there by the United States' cruisers {{USS|Chicago|1885|6}} and {{USS|Boston|1884|6}}.{{sfn|Southard|p=1}} She visited San Diego, California in August exchanging salutes and visits with the commander of the coastal fortification outside the city. Two days after arriving, {{lang|it|Umbria}}{{'}}s captain, officers, and twenty crewmen went ashore and placed a wreath to commemorate the men who had been killed aboard the United States' gunboat Bennington in a boiler explosion.{{sfn|Thompson|p=49}} {{lang|it|Umbria}} ran aground outside Kingston, Jamaica in July 1906, while en route from Puerto Rico. The salvage ship {{SS|Premier}} assisted in pulling the ship free.{{sfn|The Summary|p=2}}

By 1910, the {{lang|it|Regia Marina}} had decided to dispose of the obsolescent cruiser. Rumors that year of a potential sale to the Ecuadorian Navy prompted Peru to buy the old French cruiser {{ship|French cruiser|Dupuy de Lôme||2}}, though Ecuador did not end up purchasing {{lang|it|Umbria}}.{{sfn|Feron|p=45}} Instead, in December 1910, the {{lang|it|Regia Marina}} sold {{lang|it|Umbria}} to the Haitian Navy, but she did not arrive in Port-de-Paix, Haiti, until 13 June 1911. After the sale, the ship was renamed Consul Gostrück. The ship was rumored to be carrying Cipriano Castro, the deposed president of Venezuela, though they later proved to be false.{{sfn|The Search for Castro|p=1342}}{{cite news|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1911/06/16/105029721.pdf|title=Deny Castro is on Steamer Grostuck|newspaper=The New York Times|date=16 June 1911|access-date=8 October 2014}} A German captain, Willy Meyer, was hired to take command of the ship upon her arrival in Haiti, but due to the lengthy delays, he quit.{{cite news|title=Castro in Haiti Alarms Nations|newspaper=The Ogdensburg Journal|date=15 June 1911|url=http://rrlcnewspapers.org/lccn/sn85054113/1911-06-15/ed-1/seq-1/|access-date=8 October 2014|archive-date=14 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014102903/http://rrlcnewspapers.org/lccn/sn85054113/1911-06-15/ed-1/seq-1/|url-status=dead}} The cruiser sank shortly after entering service because her crew was not experienced in handling the ship.{{sfn|Gardiner & Gray|p=416}} Consul Gostrück was eventually raised and towed to Rotterdam, the Netherlands, for disposal in 1913.{{sfn|Speerstra|p=74}}{{sfn|De Haas & Pilkes|p=37}}

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{{Commons category}}

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

{{Portal bar|Italy|Engineering}}

{{Regioni class cruiser}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Umbria}}

Category:Regioni-class cruisers

Category:Ships built in Livorno

Category:1891 ships