Re Umberto at Brindisi in 1917
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History | |
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Italy | |
Name: | Re Umberto |
Namesake: | Umberto I of Italy |
Builder: | Castellammare Naval Shipyard |
Laid down: | 10 July 1884 |
Launched: | 17 October 1888 |
Completed: | 16 February 1893 |
Struck: | 10 May 1914 |
Reinstated: | 9 December 1915 |
Fate: | Stricken 1920 |
General characteristics Re Umberto | |
Class and type: | Re Umberto-class ironclad battleship |
Displacement: |
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Length: | 418 ft 7.5 in (127.6 m) |
Beam: | 76 ft 10.5 in (23.4 m) |
Draft: | 30 ft 6 in (9.3 m) |
Installed power: |
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Propulsion: | 2 shafts, compound steam engines |
Speed: | 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) |
Range: | 4,000–6,000 nmi (7,400–11,100 km; 4,600–6,900 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
Complement: | 733 |
Armament: |
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Armor: |
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Re Umberto ("King Humbert") was a Re Umberto-class ironclad battleship built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1880s, the lead ship of her class. She was laid down in July 1884 and launched in October 1888; work proceeded so slowly that she was not finished until February 1893. She was armed with a main battery of four 13.5-inch (340 mm) guns and had a top speed of 20.3 knots (37.6 km/h; 23.4 mph), though this high speed came at the cost of armor protection.
Re Umberto carried out various duties during her service career, including large-scale fleet maneuvers and diplomatic missions in Europe. She saw limited action during the Italo-Turkish War in 1911–12, escorting convoys and bombarding Ottoman troops in North Africa. By the end of the year she was withdrawn from front-line service. Decommissioned before World War I, she was used during the war as a depot ship and then as a floating battery. In 1918 her armament was exchanged for a number of 3-inch (76 mm) guns and trench mortars as part of her role as the lead ship in the planned Italian assault on the main Austro-Hungarian naval base at Pola. The war ended before the Italians could carry out the attack and she was stricken again in 1920.
Re Umberto was 127.6 meters (419 ft) long overall; she had a beam of 23.44 m (76.9 ft) and an average draft of 9.29 m (30.5 ft). She displaced 13,673 metric tons (13,457 long tons; 15,072 short tons) normally and up to 15,454 t (15,210 long tons; 17,035 short tons) at full load. Her propulsion system consisted of a pair of vertical compound steam engines, each driving a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by eighteen coal-fired, cylindrical fire-tube boilers. Her engines produced a top speed of 18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph) at 19,500 indicated horsepower (14,500 kW). Specific figures for her cruising radius have not survived, but the ships of her class could steam for 4,000 to 6,000 nautical miles (7,400 to 11,100 km; 4,600 to 6,900 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). She had a crew of 733 officers and men.