Agordat-class cruiser

The Agordat class was a pair of torpedo cruisers built by the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the late 1890s.

Neither ship saw action in World War I. Coatit was converted into a minelayer in 1919 and sold for scrapping the following year, while Agordat was rearmed as a gunboat in 1921; she followed her sister to the breakers in 1923.

The design for the Agordat class was prepared by Engineering Director Nabor Soliani, who intended to build a pair of ships that could be used as fleet scouts.

The new vessels were broadly similar to the previous Partenope class, but they were significantly larger, having a displacement around fifty percent greater than the earlier ships.

They were only marginally faster than the contemporary pre-dreadnought battleship design, the Regina Margherita class, which limited their utility as fleet scouts.

The engines were rated at 8,129 to 8,215 indicated horsepower (6,062 to 6,126 kW) and produced a top speed of 22 to 23 knots (41 to 43 km/h; 25 to 26 mph), with Coatit being the slightly faster ship.

In October 1912 Coatit shelled retreating Ottoman troops in Anatolia, which the commander of the French cruiser Bruix witnessed and protested as a violation of international law.

Neither ship saw action during World War I, though Agordat was involved in the occupation of Constantinople following the Ottoman defeat in November 1918.

Plan and profile drawing of the Agordat class
Coatit later in her career