 Partenope c. 1895
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators | Kingdom of Italy |
| Preceded by | Folgore class |
| Succeeded by | Agordat class |
| Built | 1888–1894 |
| In commission | 1890–1921 |
| Completed | 8 |
| Lost | 1 |
| Scrapped | 7 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Torpedo cruiser |
| Displacement | Normal: 821 long tons (834 t) |
| Length | 73.1 m (239 ft 10 in) |
| Beam | 8.22 m (27 ft) |
| Draft | 3.48 m (11 ft 5 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 18.1 to 20.8 knots (33.5 to 38.5 km/h; 20.8 to 23.9 mph) |
| Complement | 96–121 |
| Armament |
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| Armor |
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The Partenope class was a group of eight torpedo cruisers built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1880s and 1890s. The class comprised Partenope, Minerva, Euridice, Urania, Iride, Aretusa, Caprera, and Calatafimi. Based on the earlier cruiser Tripoli, the Partenope class represented a temporary embrace of the Jeune École, which emphasized the use of cheap torpedo-armed vessels as a means to defeat the much more expensive ironclad battleships of the day. To fulfill their intended role, the vessels were armed with five or six 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes.
The ships of the class primarily served in the main Italian fleet throughout their careers. Their time with the fleet was spent conducting training exercises, along with occasional travels to foreign countries. In late 1900s, Partenope and Minerva were converted into minelayers and Euridice and Calatafimi were sold for scrap. Several of the vessels saw action during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, primarily conducting shore bombardments in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Three more vessels—Urania, Aretusa, and Caprera—were sold in the later stages of the war or shortly thereafter. Partenope laid minefields in the Adriatic Sea after Italy entered World War I in 1915, and was later sunk by a German U-boat in March 1918. Minerva and Iride survived the war and were sold for scrap in 1921 and 1920, respectively.