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The Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built and operated ten steam corvettes in the 19th century. The first four vessels, San Giovanni, Magenta, Etna, and Principessa Clotilde, had been built by the Sardinian, Tuscan, and Neapolitan navies before Italy unified in 1861. The remainder were all built following the unification of Italy.

San Giovanni

San Giovanni was originally built for the Royal Sardinian Navy in the late 1840s. Following the Second Italian War of Independence and the unification of most of Italy, the Sardinian fleet formed the nucleus of the new Regia Marina (Royal Navy) and San Giovanni passed into its service.

San Giovanni took part in the Lissa campaign in July 1866 during the Third Italian War of Independence. There, she served in the Second Squadron under Admiral Giovan Battista Albini. Albini was responsible for transporting and landing the Italian army forces that were to seize the island of Lissa, though he failed to follow his orders. In the Battle of Lissa that followed the abortive landing operation, Albini failed to support the ironclad fleet under Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano, and as a result, San Giovanni saw no action during the battle. Albini was sacked after the battle for his timidity and failure to follow orders.

San Giovanni was laid up in 1875, and by 1878, the Regia Marina had broken her up for scrap.

Magenta

Starting in June 1865, Magenta went on a major cruise around the world, with the anthropologist and zoologist Enrico Hillyer Giglioli aboard. While on the cruise in 1867, Magenta visited Australia and New Zealand. In 1873, the ship visited Tenedos in the Ottoman Empire.

Etna

Principessa Clotilde

In 1870, Principessa Clotilde was sent to the western Pacific Ocean on a mission to obtain land in Borneo, which was to be used as a penal colony. Opposition from Britain, the Netherlands, and the United States forced Italy to abandon any claims in the area.

Caracciolo

The first new cruising ship built for the Italian navy, Caracciolo was laid down originally under the name Brilliante, being renamed at her launching in January 1869. The ship was designed by the Italian naval architect Giuseppe Micheli. Between 1875 and 1880, Caracciolo was used as a training ship. She thereafter went on a major cruise around the world; in 1884, she stopped in Sydney and Melbourne in Australia. She had her engine removed in 1893–1894, and she relied solely on her sailing rig thereafter. As of 1904, Caracciolo was assigned to the training division as a boy's training ship, along with Miseno and Palinuro. They were kept in service for seven months a year. The ship was ultimately sold to ship breakers in March 1907 and subsequently scrapped.

Vettor Pisani

Micheli also designed the next Italian corvette, Vettor Pisani. Like her immediate predecessor, she too was laid down under a different name; the ship was originally named Briosa before being renamed in 1868 while still under construction. The ship went on a cruise in the Pacific Ocean in the early 1870s, and in 1872 patrolled off the coast of New Guinea. Vettor Pisani was rebuilt in 1879, and went on another major exploratory cruise in 1883–1885. Upon her return to Italy, she was used as a training ship for the Italian Naval Academy. She served in this capacity until early 1893, when she was sold for scrap.

Cristoforo Colombo

The next Italian corvette, Cristoforo Colombo, was designed by the naval architect Benedetto Brin. Brin intended to build a cruising warship with a speed of about 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph), but the British engine supplier, J Penn & Sons, provided an engine with more than twice the horsepower that Brin had specified, resulting in a significantly faster ship. Cristoforo Colombo went on a trip to the Pacific in the late 1870s and visited Australia in 1878. She was ultimately sold for scrap in 1891.

Flavio Gioia

Carlo Vigna designed the first steel-hulled corvette of the Italian fleet, Flavio Gioia. She was converted into a training ship in 1892, a role she filled for the remainder of her career. In 1902, Flavio Gioia was assigned to the training division, along with Amerigo Vespucci. She remained in service as a training ship in 1904, assigned to the Italian Naval Academy, where she was kept in commission for ten months per year. After she was discarded from the navy's inventory in 1920, she was used as a boys' training ship under the designation CM181 until 1923, when she was sold for scrap.

Amerigo Vespucci

Also designed by Vigna, Amerigo Vespucci was very similar to Flavio Gioia, though she was slightly heavier and slower. She had her armament reduced in 1892, and she was used thereafter as a training ship, a role she would fill for more than thirty-five years. Amerigo Vespucci joined Flavio Gioia in the training squadron in 1902. She remained in service until January 1928, when she was sold to ship breakers.

Cristoforo Colombo

Notes

1. ^ San Giovanni.
2. Fraccaroli, pp. 335–336.
3. Sokol, p. 30.
4. Wilson, pp. 221–225, 232, 234, 251.
5. ^ Fraccaroli, p. 336.
6. King, p. 236.
7. Cresciani, p. 41.
8. Armingen, p. 318.
9. ^ Cresciani, p. 42.
10. ^ Fraccaroli, p. 344.
11. ^ Garbett 1904, p. 1430.
12. ^ Fraccaroli, p. 345.
13. De Bont, p. 48.
14. ^ Garbett 1902, p. 1075.
15. ^ Fraccaroli, p. 346.

References

• Armingen, Friedrich Geitler, ed. (21 May 1873). "Ausland" [Overseas]. Neue Militär-Zeitung [New Military Newspaper] (in German) (41). Vienna: 318. OCLC 224831739.
• Cresciani, Gianfranco (2003). The Italians in Australia. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-53778-0.
• De Bont, Raf (2015). Stations in the Field: A History of Place-Based Animal Research, 1870-1930. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-14206-7.
• Fraccaroli, Aldo (1979). "Italy". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 334–359. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Garbett, H., ed. (1902). "Naval Notes". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLVI. London: J. J. Keliher: 1060–1079. OCLC 8007941.
• Garbett, H., ed. (1904). "Naval Notes". Journal of the Royal United Service Institution. XLVIII (322). London: J. J. Keliher & Co.: 1418–1434. OCLC 8007941.
• King, James Wilson (1878). Report of Chief Engineer J. W. King, United States Navy: On European Ships of War and Their Armament, Naval Administration and Economy, Marine Constructions, Torpedo-Warfare, Dock-Yards, Etc. Etc. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office. OCLC 464505308.
• "San Giovanni: Corvetta di I rango ad elica" [San Giovanni: 1st Rank Screw Corvette]. marina.difesa.it (in Italian). Retrieved 5 August 2023.
• Sokol, Anthony (1968). The Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian Navy. Annapolis: United States Naval Institute. ISBN 978-0-87021-292-5.
• Wilson, Herbert Wrigley (1896). Ironclads in Action: A Sketch of Naval Warfare from 1855 to 1895. London: S. Low, Marston and Company. OCLC 1111061.

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• Sailing ships of Italy
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• Lists of corvettes