 An Italian postcard of Marco Polo
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  Regia Marina |
| Preceded by | None |
| Succeeded by | Vettor Pisani class |
| History | |
| Name | Marco Polo |
| Namesake | Marco Polo |
| Builder | Regio Cantieri di Castellammare di Stabia, Castellammare di Stabia |
| Laid down | 7 January 1890 |
| Launched | 27 October 1892 |
| Completed | 21 July 1894 |
| Renamed | Cortellazo, 4 April 1918 |
| Reclassified | As troop transport, 4 April 1918 |
| Name | Cortellazzo |
| Renamed | Europa, 1 October 1920 |
| Stricken | 16 January 1921 |
| Reinstated | 16 January 1921 |
| Renamed | Volta, 16 January 1921 |
| Stricken | 5 January 1922 |
| Fate | Sold for scrap, 1922 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Armored cruiser |
| Displacement | 4,583 t (4,511 long tons) |
| Length | 106.05 m (347 ft 11 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 14.67 m (48 ft 2 in) |
| Draft | 5.88 m (19 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | 2 shafts, 2 vertical triple-expansion steam engines |
| Speed | 17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph) |
| Range | 5,800 nmi (10,700 km; 6,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 394 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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Marco Polo was an armored cruiser built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1890s, the first of her type in Italian service. The ship spent the bulk of her career deployed in the Far East. Between deployments she participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–12 during which she caused a diplomatic incident with the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After that affair Marco Polo was sent to Libya where she bombarded the towns of Homs, and Zuara and the defenses of the Dardanelles. In between these operations, the ship provided naval gunfire support to the Royal Italian Army in Libya. Due to her age, Marco Polo did not play a significant role in World War I, serving as an accommodation ship in Venice until she began conversion into a troopship in 1917. After a series of renamings in 1920–21, the ship was stricken from the naval register in 1922 and subsequently sold for scrap.