Italian ironclad Regina Maria Pia

Regina Maria Pia was the lead ship of the of ironclad warships built in French shipyards for the Italian Regia Marina in the 1860s. She and her three sister ships were broadside ironclads, mounting a battery of four 8 in and twenty-two 164 mm guns on the broadside. Regina Maria Pia was laid down in July 1862, was launched in April 1863, and was completed in April 1864.

Regina Maria Pia took part in the Battle of Lissa during the Third Italian War of Independence in 1866. She attacked the unarmored frigates in the Austrian second division, and damaged two Austrian vessels. Her career was limited after the war, owing to the emergence of more modern ironclads and a severe reduction in the Italian naval budget following their defeat at Lissa. She was rebuilt as a central battery ship some time after Lissa, and was modernized again in the late 1880s. Regina Maria Pia was eventually broken up for scrap in 1904.

Design


Regina Maria Pia was 81.2 m long overall; she had a beam of 15.24 m and an average draft of 6.35 m. She displaced 4201 MT normally and up to 4527 MT at full load. Regina Maria Pia was a broadside ironclad, and she was initially armed with a main battery of four 8 in guns and twenty-two 164 mm guns, though her armament changed throughout her career. The ship was protected by iron belt armor that was 4.75 in thick and extended for the entire length of the hull at the waterline. The battery deck was protected by 4.3 in of iron plate. She had a crew of 480–485 officers and men.

The ship's propulsion system consisted of one single-expansion steam engine that drove a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by six coal-fired, rectangular boilers. Her engine produced a top speed of 12.96 kn from 2924 ihp. She could steam for 2600 nmi at a speed of 10 kn. The ship was initially schooner-rigged to supplement the steam engine, though her masts were later reduced to a barque rig. Ultimately, she lost her sailing rig completely, having it replaced with a pair of military masts with fighting tops.

Service history
Regina Maria Pia was built at the French shipyard Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée in La Seyne. Her keel was laid down on 22 July 1862 and her completed hull was launched on 28 April 1863. The ship was completed on 17 April 1864 and delivered to the Italian fleet. In June 1866, Italy declared war on Austria, as part of the Third Italian War of Independence, which was fought concurrently with the Austro-Prussian War. The Italian fleet commander, Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano, initially adopted a cautious course of action; he was unwilling to risk battle with the Austrian Navy, despite the fact that the Austrian fleet was much weaker than his own. Persano claimed he was simply waiting on the ironclad ram ITALIAN IRONCLAD Affondatore, en route from Britain, but his inaction weakened morale in the fleet, with many of his subordinates openly accusing him of cowardice.

Rear Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff brought the Austrian fleet to Ancona on June 27, in attempt to draw out the Italians. At the time, many of the Italian ships were in disarray; several ships did not have their entire armament, and several others had problems with their engines. Regina Maria Pia was one of the few ironclads fit for action, so she, ITALIAN IRONCLAD Castelfidardo, ITALIAN IRONCLAD San Martino, and ITALIAN IRONCLAD Principe di Carignano formed up to prepare to attack Tegetthoff's ships. Persano held a council of war aboard Principe di Carignano to determine whether he should sortie to engage Tegetthoff, but by that time, the Austrians had withdrawn, making the decision moot. The Minister of the Navy, Agostino Depretis, urged Persano to act and suggested the island of Lissa, to restore Italian confidence after their defeat at the Battle of Custoza the previous month. On 7 July, Persano left Ancona and conducted a sweep into the Adriatic, but encountered no Austrian ships and returned on the 13th.

Battle of Lissa


On 16 July, Persano took the Italian fleet out of Ancona, bound for Lissa, where they arrived on the 18th. With them, they brought troop transports carrying 3,000 soldiers; the Italian warships began bombarding the Austrian forts on the island, with the intention of landing the soldiers once the fortresses had been silenced. In response, the Austrian Navy sent the fleet under Tegetthoff to attack the Italian ships. Regina Maria Pia was at that time in the 3rd Division, commanded by Captain Augusto Riboty, along with the ironclads ITALIAN IRONCLAD Terribile, ITALIAN IRONCLAD Formidabile, and ITALIAN IRONCLAD Re di Portogallo, and the coastal defense ship ITALIAN COASTAL DEFENSE SHIP Varese. After spending the 18th unsuccessfully bombarding the Austrian fortresses, the Italians withdrew late in the day, preparing to launch another attack the following morning. Persano sent most of his ships to bombard the town of Vis, but he was unable to effect the landing.

The next morning, Persano ordered another attack; four ironclads would force the harbor defenses at Vis while Regina Maria Pia and the rest of the fleet would attempt to suppress the outer fortifications. This second attack also proved to be a failure, but Persano decided to make a third attempt the next day. Regina Maria Pia and bulk of the fleet would again try to disable the outer forts in preparation for the landing. Before the Italians could begin the attack, the dispatch boat ITALIAN DISPATCH BOAT Esploratore arrived, bringing news of Tegetthoff's approach. Persano's fleet was in disarray; the three ships of Admiral Giovanni Vacca's 1st Division were three miles to the northeast from Persano's main force, and three other ironclads were further away to the west. Persano immediately ordered his ships to form up with Vacca's, first in line abreast formation, and then in line ahead formation. Regina Maria Pia initially was the last ship in the line, though Varese later joined up behind her.

Shortly before the action began, Persano decided to leave his flagship and transfer to Affondatore, though none of his subordinates on the other ships were aware of the change. They there thus left to fight as individuals without direction. More dangerously, by stopping Re d'Italia, he allowed a significant gap to open up between Vacca's three ships and the rest of the fleet. Tegetthoff took his fleet through the gap between Vacca's and Persano's ships, in an attempt to split the Italian line and initiate a melee. He failed to ram any Italian vessels on the first pass, so he turned back toward Persano's ships, and took Re d'Italia, San Martino, and Palestro under heavy fire. The Austrians quickly inflicted serious damage on Re d'Italia and Palestro. While Tegetthoff's ironclads were attacking Persano's division, Riboty's division, including Regina Maria Pia, engaged Anton von Petz's division of unarmored steam frigates. In the melee, Regina Maria Pia collided with San Martino, damaging the latter's ram bow.

After Palestro withdrew, the Austrian ironclads turned their attention to the Italian 3rd Division. By this time, Re d'Italia had been rammed and sunk, and Palestro was burning furiously. Persano broke off the engagement to consolidate his forces, but his ships, low on coal and ammunition, and with badly demoralized crews, could not be rallied by Persano's half-hearted attempt to launch an attack. The Italian fleet began to withdraw, followed by the Austrians; as night began to fall, the opposing fleets disengaged completely, heading for Ancona and Pola, respectively. Regina Maria Pia had had one iron plate destroyed, and another had a steel shot lodged in it. She had been badly burned, and the flames had nearly reached her powder magazine. In return, she had damaged the Austrian ship of the line SMS Kaiser (1858) and the ironclad SMS Prinz Eugen (1862). After the battle, Vacca replaced Persano; he was ordered to attack the main Austrian naval base at Pola, but the war ended before the operation could be carried out.

Later career


For the rest of her long career, Regina Maria Pia served in a variety of roles, both in the main fleet and in Italy's colonial empire. In the immediate aftermath of the war, the Italian naval budget was drastically reduced; so significant were the cuts that the fleet had great difficulty in mobilizing its ironclad squadron to attack the port of Civitavecchia in September 1870, as part of the wars of Italian unification. Instead, the ships were laid up and the sailors conscripted to man them were sent home. Some time after 1866, the ship was rebuilt as a central battery ship, with most of her guns located in a central, armored casemate. Two other guns were placed in the bow as chase guns, with a third mounted as a stern chaser. At this time, her armament was also revised, to two 220 mm guns in the bow and nine 8 in guns, four on each broadside and the last in the stern.

Regina Maria Pia took part in the launching ceremony for the ironclad ITALIAN IRONCLAD Italia on 29 September 1880; also present were the Italian ironclad ITALIAN IRONCLAD Principe Amedeo and King Umberto I aboard his yacht, and the British ironclads HMS Monarch (1868) and HMS Thunderer (1872) with Vice Admiral George Tryon, both members of the Mediterranean Fleet. Between 1888 and 1890, the ship had her barque rig replaced with military masts. By this time, she had been rearmed with eight 6 in guns in the casemate and several smaller guns for close-range defense against torpedo boats. These included five 4.7 in guns, four 57 mm guns, and eight 37 mm Hotchkiss revolver cannon. She also received three torpedo tubes. The ship was stricken from the naval register in 1904 and subsequently broken up for scrap.