Italian cruiser Piemonte

Piemonte in 1889
Class overview
Preceded by	Dogali
Succeeded by	Regioni-class cruiser
Completed	1
Scrapped	1
History
Kingdom of Italy
Name	Piemonte
Builder	Armstrong Whitworth
Laid down	1887
Launched	23 August 1888
Completed	8 August 1889
Acquired	30 July 1888
Stricken	15 May 1920
Fate	Broken up, 1920
General characteristics
Type	Protected cruiser
Displacement	2,473 long tons (2,513 t)
Length	310 ft (94.5 m) (p/p)
Beam	38 ft (11.6 m)
Draft	15 ft (4.6 m)
Installed power	12,000 ihp (8,900 kW) 4 × Scotch marine boilers
Propulsion	2 × screw propellers 2 × triple-expansion steam engines
Speed	22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph)
Range	7,000 nautical miles (13,000 km; 8,100 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	12 officers and 245 men
Armament	6 × 6-inch (15 cm)/40 guns 6 × 4.7-inch (12 cm)/40 guns 10 × 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns 6 × 1-pounder Hotchkiss guns 3 × 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes
Armor	Deck: 1–3 in (25–76 mm) Conning tower: 3 in (76 mm) Gun shields: 4.5 in (114 mm)

Piemonte was a unique protected cruiser built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1880s by the British shipyard Armstrong Whitworth. She was the first major warship armed entirely with quick-firing (QF) guns and she was also the fastest cruiser in the world upon her completion in 1889. Piemonte was frequently deployed overseas, including a lengthy tour in East Asian waters from 1901 to 1904. She saw significant action during the Italo-Turkish War in 1911–1912 in the Red Sea, where she frequently bombarded Ottoman ports. During the Battle of Kunfuda Bay in January 1912, she and two destroyers sank four Ottoman gunboats and forced ashore three more. Piemonte participated in World War I but she saw little action during the conflict. She remained in service until 1920, when she was scrapped.