Ancona (Pirofregata armored) – Wikipedia

L’ Ancona It was a battleship pirofregata of the Royal Navy.

Designed and built on the French construction sites of Saint Nazaire, the ship, the ship, set in 1862, was passed in 1864 and completed two years later ^{[first] [2]} . Belonging to a class of four units, the Ancona It was a complete armor baking dish (which extended two meters above the floating line, up to the blanket bridge, and one and a half meter and half of it) and reduced central, equipped, as well as a powerful armament of 26 cannons from 164 and 200 mm, of a massive three -meter spur in length ^{[first] [2]} . At the proof of the facts, the ships of the class of the Regina Maria Pia proved to be good units, the only ones, in the Royal Navy, capable of measuring themselves with the Austro -Hungarian battleships ^[3] . L’ Ancona , however, he was not able to develop a speed equal to that of the project: 12.5 knots, instead of the 13.5 expected ^[4] .

In 1866, with the outbreak of the third war of independence, the Ancona , under the command of the captain of Vascello Giuseppe Alessandro Piola Caselli, was assigned to the III naval team of the Army of operations, intended for the Adriatic. Having recently been delivered, however, the ship did not yet have a complete crew: as reported by the commander of the Army, Admiral Persano, on May 30th, at the Ancona (in service for less than two months), as well as to the twin Castelfidardo , two thirds of the non -commissioned officers were missing and 159 of the 160 expected gunners ^[3] . Another problem was that the ship, being still in the warranty period, still had on board a personal machine of French nationality, determined not to get involved in a conflict between foreign nations ^[3] . In the morning of June 21, 1866 the battleship, together with the rest of the team, sailed from Taranto to Ancona, where he arrived four days later, on the afternoon of June 25th ^[3] , afflicted by failures to machines ^[5] . In the Porto Marche the ships made it refuel of coal, then, at the dawn of June 26, the wheel warning Explorer He warned an Austro-Hungarian naval formation (6 battleship ships, 4 propeller gunners and two wheels on wheels) and the admiral Carlo Pellion of Persano, commander of the naval army, decided to go out with all the ships able to leave ^[3] . At this point, the problem of the French staff signed in all its evidence: refusing to remain on board a ship that would take part in a fight, the first driver and three seconds mechanicals landed, while the commander Piola Caselli had to get to pay homage to Another second mechanic of a ring with brilliant, to convince him to stay on board; The ship was finally able to leave, with a delay of an hour and a half, after taking another mechanic taken from the pyrofrategata on board Maria Adelaide ^[3] , and after completing the repairs to the partially disassembled engine apparatus ^[5] . Around 6.30 the two formations (the Italian one had nine battleships plus the Explorer , on which they had embarked Persano) arrived in sight, but at that point the admiral teegethoff decided not to battle and retired, and they persist, given the precarious conditions of the nine battleships that he had been able to sail, he did not chase him ^[3] .

From 8 to 12 July the Italian fleet was on a war cruise in the Adriatic, without however meeting enemy naval forces ^[3] .

In the early afternoon of July 16, the army sailed from Ancona directed to Lissa, where he planned to land ^[3] . L’ Ancona He took the sea in formation with the battleship pirofregate Castelfidardo , his twin ship, e Prince of Carignano (flagship of the recipient Giovanni Vacca, commander the III team): this group had the task of bombing the fortifications of Porto Comisa on the island of Lissa, where it was planned to land ^[3] . In this case, the Ancona Blandally bombed the Perlic battery, soon interrupting the action for the excessive altitude of the target ^[5] and therefore by joining the Castelfidardo and to the Prince of Carignano , who were cannon the battery Magnami ^[4] . The bombing, which began between 11 and 11.30 on 18 July, continued for about two hours with very modest results, justified by cow with the presence of a previously not detected battery, which could have barred the entry of the Rada, frustrating any attempt landing (unlawable justification, as as the main place of the landing had not been chosen Porto Comisa, but Porto Manego, while he would have had his usefulness, as a diversion action, continue to keep the troops allocated to Porto Comisa engaged), and with The excessive height (much overrated: cow spoke of a battery located at 700 meters, while the highest peak of the island did not reach 600) of the batteries ^[3] . After ceasing the fire, the three cow ships first reached the II team in Porto Manego ^[4] , then, around five in the afternoon, joined the Riboty division (armored pyrofregate King of Portugal It is REGINA MARIA PIA , pierced pyrocorvetta Terrible , armored gunner Varese ) and supported them in the bombing operations against the fortifications west of Porto San Giorgio, operations that ended at sunset ^[6] .

July 19th Ancona , Castelfidardo It is Prince of Carignano Together with the wooden frigates of the II team, the strong exteriors of Porto San Giorgio bombed, then Vacca received the order to take with its ships, reinforced by the pulled pyrocorvetta Formidable , within the inserting of Porto San Giorgio, so that we can definitively annihilate the batteries of the Madonna and the Wellington tower, the only ones remained intact ^[3] . Vacca performed the order and the four battleships dismantled one of the batteries with their shot, then the admiral, believing that the space was too small to be able to maneuver (incorrect evaluation: in that same space, after the battle of Lissa, they would be In fact, gathered without problems the 26 units of the Austro -Hungarian fleet) decided to retire and brought the three ships of the III team outside the port, abandoning the only one Formidable , which, although beating with value, did not manage, alone, to completely annihilate the remaining batteries, instead suffering heavy damage ^[3] .

During the bombing operations the Ancona he had at least one victim ^[7] and some injured, then translated, on July 19, on the hospital ship Washington ^[8] . Among the wounded there was, during the action inside Porto San Giorgio, the sailor Antonio Salauzzo, who, following a blow that centrified his cannon, lost his right hand and had the seriously damaged left one, but did not want Leaving his place until the end of the clash so as not to divert his companions from the fight: for his behavior he was decorated with the gold medal for military valor ^[9] .

At 7.50 in the morning of July 20, while preparations were made for the landing on the island (at that moment the Ancona The III team was located in front of Porto San Giorgio, in preparation for the final bombing operations), came the Austro -Hungarian naval team under the orders of the deputy amateur Wilhelm von Tegetthoff: the battle of Lissa began, which ended with a dramatic defeat of the Italian fleet . Framed in the III team, the Ancona he positioned himself in feeding of the Castelfidardo , therefore in the queue of this formation, the first of the three formed (the other two were the II and the III division of the first team, in second and third position) from the fleet of the Italian battleships, which had arranged itself in line in a row, headed to the north/northeast, against the Austro-Hungarian fleet ^[3] . The speed assumed by the III team was 11 knots, excessive compared to that assumed by the groups that followed (respectively 9 and 8 knots for the II and III division), with a slow or failure unit, and favored, together with the waste of time caused From the transbonance of the admiral they persone from the battleship pyrofreate King of Italy to Aries Sinker , opening a passage of 1500 meters between Ancona and the King of Italy ^[3] . Among 10.43 ^[4] And the eleven the three cow ships double the director’s director and began to shoot against the first formation of Tegetthoff (seven battleships), however ceasing almost immediately because they are too far away: while the Austro -Hungarian armchairs pyrofregate Kaiser Max , Salamander ed Habsburg They in turn opened fire as a reaction, the III team began a large turn to the left ^[3] . This maneuver essentially brought the ships of the III team to be cut out of the fight, while the seven Austro -Hungarian battleships collided with the four Italians of the II division, which were thus found in numerical inferiority ^[3] . However, the commander Piola Caselli decided to commit the enemy units, therefore, abandoned the cow group, brought the Ancona in the midst of the battle, trying to bring help to King of Italy : spotted the Austro -Hungarian battleship pirofregata Archduke Ferdinand Max , the flagship of Teettythoff, who had just rammed and sunk the King of Italy , the ship of Piola Caselli attempted in turn to manage the enemy unit, without succeeding, then opened the fire exploding a bordered to Bruciapelo, for a very short distance ^[4] . However, the edges had no effect, because the gunners loaded the cannons with the dust and pulled without having inserted the bullets in the barrel (the same result, in essence, of a prying shot) ^[4] , because the cannonier, too excited, had given the order to make fire prematurely ^[ten] . L’ Ancona therefore directed to reach the King of Portugal But, arriving on the spot at the same time as Varese , the pyrofrategata ended, due to the smoke that paired the combat area, with the collision with it, even if the clash did not produce serious damage ^{[3] [4]} . Subsequently the Ancona , like all the other units that had broken the encirclement (with the exception of Sinker ), returned to join the III team ^[3] . The admiral Vacca, temporarily assumed the command, made the ships arranged in line in a row and directed at low speed towards the enemy fleet ^[3] . At one point, however, the Prince of Carignano , the flagship of cow, reversed the route and began to move away from the battlefield, imitated by all the others ^[3] . Therefore came the Sinker , with the admiral on board Persano, who headed towards the Austro -Hungarian fleet and ordered to attack, underlining that ” Every vessel that does not fight is not in its place »: However only the King of Portugal he performed this order, however, returning to the ranks when the commander Riboty, seeing that he was the only one to perform this maneuver, he thought he was mistaken ^[3] . The Italian fleet remained to cross the place until evening, when Persano finally ordered to return to Ancona: the battle was over ^[3] .

Subsequently to Lissa the Ancona He no longer participated in important operations. He operated both along the Italian coasts and in the colonies ^{[first] [2]} .

Between October 1870 and the last months of 1871 the ship was subjected to a shift of work in Naples ^[11] . Subsequently, around 1889, the pirofortata underwent radical modernization works: the sailing trees was eliminated, replaced by two military trees, equipped with combat coffee (previously the trees, as a Goletta ship, had been modified by becoming becoming From Brigantino to Palo) ^[first] . During the various stages of works, the armament also underwent different and radical changes ^[first] .

Radiated on January 1, 1903, the now old Ancona He was demolished after 1 January 1910 ^[first] .