Lepanto was an Italian battleship launched in 1883, the second and last ship of the Italia class

Italia class battleship

The Italia-class battleships were a class of two Italian battleships which served in the Regia Marina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

. She served in the Regia Marina

Regia Marina

The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...

(Italian Royal Navy) during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She and her sister ship

Sister ship

A sister ship is a ship of the same class as, or of virtually identical design to, another ship. Such vessels share a near-identical hull and superstructure layout, similar displacement, and roughly comparable features and equipment...

 Italia

Italian battleship Italia (1880)

Italia was an Italian battleship launched in 1880, the lead ship of the Italia class. She served in the Regia Marina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

 were the largest and fastest warships in the world for several years after they entered service, and in many ways were the forerunners of the battlecruiser

Battlecruiser

Battlecruisers were large capital ships built in the first half of the 20th century. They were developed in the first decade of the century as the successor to the armoured cruiser, but their evolution was more closely linked to that of the dreadnought battleship...

s that appeared in the early 20th century.

Design

The engineer Benedetto Brin

Benedetto Brin

Benedetto Brin was an Italian naval administrator and politician.-Biography:Born in Turin, he worked with distinction as a naval engineer until the age of forty. In 1873, Admiral Simone Arturo Saint-Bon, Italy's Naval Minister, appointed him undersecretary of state...

 designed Lepanto in the 1870s. A very large and fast warship for her time, Lepanto displaced 15,649 tons at full load and could make 18.4 knots (36.1 km/h), 0.6 knots (1.2 km/h) more than Italia. Reflecting the thinking of the time that modern guns could penetrate any armor, Brin designed Lepanto without any side armor, instead employing a cellular raft design; he did, however, design her with steel armor for her deck, citadel, and conning tower and she had a steel hull. An unusual feature of Lepanto was her ability to carry an entire infantry

Infantry

Infantrymen are soldiers who are specifically trained for the role of fighting on foot to engage the enemy face to face and have historically borne the brunt of the casualties of combat in wars. As the oldest branch of combat arms, they are the backbone of armies...

 division

Division (military)

A division is a large military unit or formation usually consisting of between 10,000 and 20,000 soldiers. In most armies, a division is composed of several regiments or brigades, and in turn several divisions typically make up a corps...

 of 10,000 men, allowing her to play a strategic role in deploying Italian troops.

Lepanto had four funnels

Funnel (ship)

A funnel is the smokestack or chimney on a ship used to expel boiler steam and smoke or engine exhaust. They can also be known in as stacks.-Purpose:...

 and a single, large, central mast.

Lepantos main battery consisted of four 17 inches (432 mm) 26-caliber Model 431C guns weighing 102.5 tons each, mounted in pairs en echelon amidships in a single, large, diagonal, oval barbette

Barbette

A barbette is a protective circular armour feature around a cannon or heavy artillery gun. The name comes from the French phrase en barbette referring to the practice of firing a field gun over a parapet rather than through an opening . The former gives better angles of fire but less protection...

, with one pair of guns on a turntable to port and the other to starboard; the port pair was mounted aft of the starboard pair. The guns fired a 2,000-pound (907-kilogram) shell at a muzzle velocity

Muzzle velocity

Muzzle velocity is the speed a projectile has at the moment it leaves the muzzle of the gun. Muzzle velocities range from approximately to in black powder muskets , to more than in modern rifles with high-performance cartridges such as the .220 Swift and .204 Ruger, all the way to for tank guns...

 of 1,755 feet (535 m) per second. Her secondary, tertiary, and torpedo

Torpedo

The modern torpedo is a self-propelled missile weapon with an explosive warhead, launched above or below the water surface, propelled underwater towards a target, and designed to detonate either on contact with it or in proximity to it.The term torpedo was originally employed for...

 armament underwent various changes during her career, and her torpedo tube

Torpedo tube

A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...

s were removed in either 1902 or 1910.

Construction

Lepanto was under construction for nearly 11 years. She was laid down by Orlando at Livorno

Livorno

Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...

 on 4 November 1876, ten months after her sister Italia, but spent nearly six-and-a-half years on the building ways and was not launched

Ship naming and launching

The ceremonies involved in naming and launching naval ships are based in traditions thousands of years old.-Methods of launch:There are three principal methods of conveying a new ship from building site to water, only two of which are called "launching." The oldest, most familiar, and most widely...

 until 17 March 1883, two-and-a-half years after Italia. Lepanto was not completed for another four-and-a-half years, her construction finally being finished on 16 August 1887, 22 months after the completion of Italia.

Operational history

Lepanto was in front-line service until 1902, when she became a gunnery training ship. In 1910 she became a depot ship

Depot ship

A depot ship is a ship which acts as a mobile or fixed base for other ships and submarines or supports a naval base. Depot ships may be specifically designed for their purpose or be converted from another purpose...

 at La Spezia

La Spezia

La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...

. She was stricken on 26 May 1912.

On 13 January 1913, Lepanto was reinstated as a "first-class auxiliary." However, she was stricken again on 15 January 1914 and sold for scrapping on 27 March 1915.

See also