List of torpedo cruisers of Italy
Between the 1870s and 1890s, the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built a series of torpedo cruisers, as part of a program intended to strengthen the fleet during a period of limited naval budgets.
Pietro Micca was followed by the more successful design, Tripoli, which provided the basis for the four Goito-class cruisers and the eight-vessel Partenope class.
The surviving vessels still in service during World War I saw no offensive operations, though four—Tripoli, Goito, Partenope, and Minerva—that had been converted into minelayers, were employed to help blockade the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea.
Their place in the fleet's reconnaissance force was taken by a group of German and Austro-Hungarian light cruisers that were acquired as war reparations.
The experimental vessel was to provide the basis for further such ships, which would increase the combat power of the Regia Marina at a fraction of the cost of a new ironclad.
[2][3] By the mid-1880s, Engineering Inspector Benedetto Brin—the designer of the Duilio and Italia-class ironclads—had begun to experiment with the ideas of the Jeune École, which emphasized small, fast, torpedo-armed vessels that could damage or destroy the much larger battleships at a fraction of the cost.
[9] She remained in service through World War I, during which the Italian fleet made extensive use of minefields to keep the Austro-Hungarian Navy contained in the narrow waters of the Adriatic Sea.
[2][10] Brin continued his experimentation with the Goito class, adopting different hull forms, propulsion systems, and light gun batteries to determine the most effective configuration for the new warship type.
[13] Design work on the Partenope class began in 1887, with Tripoli as the basis; the Goito-class cruisers had not yet entered service at that point, and so the navy had not gained any experience from the variations in their arrangements.
Nevertheless, the design staff decided to standardize on the two-shaft arrangement adopted for Confienza, since it was a simpler and cheaper solution if it did not match the speed of the three-shaft systems.
And with more powerful engines, the Partenope-class cruisers were faster than the three-shaft Goitos, reaching speeds as high as 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph).
[11][17] In the 1890s, Partenope and Euridice participated in naval demonstrations off Crete in attempts by the Great Powers to prevent conflicts between Greece and the Ottoman Empire over control of the island.
[13] The three surviving members of the class, Partenope, Minerva, and Iride, continued in service during World War I, but they saw limited activity due to the cautious strategy adopted by the Italian fleet.
[14] The two minelayers were tasked with laying defensive minefields in the Adriatic, and on 24 March 1918, the German U-boat UC-67 torpedoed and sank Partenope off Bizerte.
Intended to be scouts for the main battle fleet, Agordat and Coatit nevertheless proved to be too slow in service to be usable in that role.
