Ruggiero di Lauria was an Italian battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

 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...

 in 1884. She was the lead ship of the Ruggiero di Lauria-class

Ruggiero di Lauria class battleship

The Ruggiero di Lauria class was a class of Italian battleships which served in the Regia Marina during the late 19th and early 20th centuries...

 pre-dreadnoughts, and 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.

Design

Eng Insp Giuseppe Micheli designed the Ruggiero di Lauria class ships. He chose essentially to repeat the Duilio-class design; he did, however, improve on the Duilio class by giving the Ruggiero di Lauria-class ships breech-loading

Breech-loading weapon

A breech-loading weapon is a firearm in which the cartridge or shell is inserted or loaded into a chamber integral to the rear portion of a barrel....

 17 inches (432 mm) guns (the Duilio class had been armed with 17.7 inches (450 mm) muzzle loaders

Muzzleloader

A muzzleloader is any firearm into which the projectile and usually the propellant charge is loaded from the muzzle of the gun . This is distinct from the more popular modern designs of breech-loading firearms...

) mounted in 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...

s rather than turrets

Gun turret

A gun turret is a weapon mount that protects the crew or mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon and at the same time lets the weapon be aimed and fired in many directions.The turret is also a rotating weapon platform...

, a high forecastle

Forecastle

Forecastle refers to the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters...

, a better quality of armor, and a better distribution of armor. The main battery was mounted in twin mounts close together en echelon amidships, with the port barbette aft of the starboard one.

Ruggiero di Lauria had the most powerful propulsion machinery of the three ships of her class and was about a knot faster than them. In 1900, additions were made to her tertiary armament.

Construction

Ruggiero di Lauria was under construction for six and a half years. She was laid down at Castellammare

Castellammare

Castellammare may refer to one the following municipalities in southern Italy:*Castellammare di Stabia, a commune in Napoli province, Campania region...

 Naval Shipyard on 3 August 1881 and launched on 9 August 1884. She was not completed for another three and a half years, her construction finally being finished on 1 February 1888. Because of the rapid pace of naval technological development in the late 19th century, her lengthy construction period meant that she was an obsolete design by the time she entered service.

Operational history

After a fairly short operational life, Ruggiero di Lauria was stricken on 11 November 1909. She then served as the floating oil tank GM45 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...

 until 1943, when she was sunk in shallow water in an air raid during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. Her wreck was scrapped in 1946-1947.

See also