 SMS Lussin early in her career
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Preceded by | Zara class |
| Succeeded by | Panther class |
| History | |
 Austria-Hungary | |
| Name | Lussin |
| Builder | Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino |
| Laid down | September 1882 |
| Launched | 22 December 1883 |
| Completed | 12 July 1884 |
| Fate | Ceded to Italy, 1920 |
 Italy | |
| Name | Sorrento |
| Acquired | 1920 |
| Commissioned | 11 September 1924 |
| Stricken | 1928 |
| Fate | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Torpedo cruiser |
| Displacement |
|
| Length | 79.75 meters (261 ft 8 in) loa |
| Beam | 8.42 m (27 ft 7 in) |
| Draft | 4.06 m (13 ft 4 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 2 × compound steam engines |
| Speed | 12.95 knots (23.98 km/h; 14.90 mph) |
| Range | 850 nautical miles (1,570 km; 980 mi) at 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph) |
| Armament |
|
| Armor | Deck: 19 mm (0.75 in) |
SMS Lussin was a torpedo cruiser of the Austro-Hungarian Navy, a modified version of the preceding Zara class. As envisaged by the Marinekommandant (Navy Commander), Vice Admiral Friedrich von Pöck, Lussin would be the leader of a flotilla of torpedo boats, with the additional capability of carrying out scouting duties. The ship proved to be too slow and too lightly armed for either of these tasks, so she spent the majority of her career as a training ship for engine and boiler room personnel, along with occasional stints with the main fleet for training exercises. She took part in only one significant operation, an international blockade of Greece in 1886 to prevent the country from declaring war on the Ottoman Empire. In 1910–1913, Lussin was rebuilt as an admiralty yacht, and she spent World War I as a barracks ship for German U-boat crews based in Pola. After the war, she was ceded to Italy as a war prize, renamed Sorrento, and briefly saw service as a mother ship for MAS boats from 1924 to 1928, when she was discarded.