Giovanni Bausan (1883)

Regia Marina Protected Cruiser (1885-1920)

Giovanni Bausan was the first large, modern protected cruiser of the Regia Marina, designed and built at Elswick between 1882 and 1885. She provided the basis later Italian-built designs, and was intended to be a “battleship destroyer” to defeat heavy armor, but there were many limitations to this role. She took part nevertheless in the conquest of Eritrea (1887–1888) as squadron flagship, to the Venezuelan crisis of 1902–1903 and to the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, supporting troops ashore. When WWI broke out however she was used as a distilling ship, later in the war as a depot ship for seaplanes, disarmed, stricke, and sold for BU by March 1920.

Development

In 1882, the Regia Marina invested much in impressive ironclads fitted with giant guns in order to take naval dominance in the Mediterranean, first the Duilio, then the Italia class, but the remainder of the fleet was composed of much lighter ships, mostly steam frigates, some armoured. The closest to cruisers were the now ageing and unprotected wooden corvettes Caracciolo (1869), Vettor Pisani (1869), Christoforo Colombo (1875), the steel corvette Flavio Goia (1881), and Amerigo Vespucci (1882) then in construction. All were unprotected, and heavily masted in the frigate tradition. On the other side of the spectrum, tere was a small experimental torpedo cruiser (1876) and a number of ageing dispatch vessels, also masted and more corvette-size. The most recent were the Barbarigo class (1879) but more were plannned for the mid-1880s. They could be seen as distant ancestors to scout cruisers and were properly an Italian concept, capable on paper of more than 15 knots.

Scribner’s Magazine Vol. 1 Giovanni_Bausan 1887, Author F.E. Chadwick

However a new concept also emerged in the late 1870s of some sort of second rate ironclads that would be the distant origin of armoured cruisers, and in 1882 Vickers Armstrong Elswick in Britain started to market internationally a new type of ship, the protected cruiser. The idea was to create a mid-range vessel between a battleship, able to resist gunfire from cruisers and sporting a heavy armament, and a cruiser by its speed and fast-firing secondary armament, modern machinery and reliance on steam first (no longer masted). The main breaktrhough in that matter to give protection, solid artilery, but preserving speed, was the challenge of any naval architect and it was solved by the adoption of the Armored Deck: A curved steel protective deck just below the waterline, shielding vital steam engines and machinery from shell fragments by presenting a gradual angle. It was theorized a lower velocity shell which just penetrate the outer hull and just bounce off, or if fast enough, would have to penetrate a great steel thickness just by the artifice of the plating angle. In addition the design would integrated for redundancy side Coal Bunker Protection and/or cork alongside and above the armored deck to stem flooding.

There was an Elswick Pioneer: The Chilean ship Esmeralda, laid down in 1881 at Armstrong Mitchell Yard at Elswick. She is now widely regarded by naval historians as the first protected cruiser, and a base from which was later extrapolated the armoured cruiser. It set a global standard by dispensing with sails entirely and hitting over 18 knots with a turtleback deck. Present in publications before launch in 1882 worldwide this was a sensation. She could go toe to toe with an ironclad, firing AP shells from modern 10 inches (254 mm)/30 guns, choose the moment of engagement by her speed of 18 knots, and defend herself against frigates and smaller vessels with a solid secondary artillery made of 6 inches (150 mm) and QF 6 or 1 pounder (57 and 37mm).
Her protection consiting of a 25 mm or 1 inch steel plating above her machinery space, the turtledeck, was thin, but the slope was calculated to bounce off any penetrating shell which went through the primary barrier of these coal-filled compartments. Below the waterline, the hull was protected by more of these compartments and the buffering of water itself combined with the low velocity of these early shells.

The Italian naval staff became aware of this design possibly from April 1881 through their contacts in Britain, it’s unsure how much this construction was secret at the time. In any case, many new navies which were growing at the time believed they needed this type of ship, the faster the better. Older than these, but far less capable and still masted, the US Navy’s “New Navy” Atlanta class were the first and last of their design, as new cruisers would follow this pattern. Chile obtained Esmeralda in 1884 and sold it to Japan in 1894 as Izumi. Elwick received dozens of orders for new cruisers from across the world.
Back in Italy, a new cruiser was ordered to the same company under the name Giovanni Bausan. Naval Architect George Rendel’s work on what was an adaptation of the Esmeralda for Italian needs. She became the modern protected cruiser of the Italian Navy, and arguably of the Mediterranean, albeit some Bertin’s cruisers embraces the same concept.

She was eventually ordered in 1882 by Guglielmo Acton, Minister for the Navy. The always political choice of the name was for Giovanni Bausan, Neapolitan naval commander in the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars, an always popular anti-French choice. Some in the Navy referred to the cruiser as a “torpedo ram” as she combined indeed a ram, armour, heavy guns, and agility with her two shafts. Ramming tactics since Lissa had been in the naval staff minds ever since. In the press, bith in Britain and Italy, fuelled by Willima Armstrong, she was poresented like no less than a “battleship destroyer”. She also paradoxically saw the Italian naval staff embracing some ideas of the Jeune École doctrine from rival French naval architects and strategists. There was a reason Giovanni Bausan was built in Britain and not in France… Bausan eventually became the master stone of the whole Italian cruiser edifice. Her immediate legacy were the four Etna-class cruisers. They were half-sisters with a slightly enlarged and modified design. All cruisers that followed more or less followed the same path apart for the heavy guns, quickly replaced by smaller calibers. That final aspect was the most criticized. These guns were too large and unpractical for that type of ship and only a handful of protected cruisers came out from Elswick with the 10-inches pattern.

Design of the class

Hull and general design

Original traduction of the plans in Brassey, Thomas A., ed. (1888) The Naval Annual 1887. Note the schooner rigging.

Giovanni Bausan was very similar to Esmeralda in many parameters, but she was larger overall. She displaced 3,082 long tons (3,131 t) versus 2,950 long tons (2,997 t). She measured 84.12 meters (276 ft) long between perpendiculars and 89.32 m (293 ft) long overall versus 82 for Esmeralda. She had a beam of 12.85 m (42 ft 2 in), and a draft of 5.98 m (19 ft 7 in), so overrall she had a better hull ratio. Like Esmeralda she was steel-hulled using the Schneider process. She also had a streight step but a ram bow below the waterline. She was also initially fitted with rigging as a schooner, unlike Esmeralda, but this was never mounted. In all she also had a crew of 295 officers and ratings, later reduced to 256. Her layout was overall generally similar to Esmeralda, she had a flush deck with bulwarks amidship, twon funnels and the bridge and main structure between them, two military masts with spotting tops (covered crow’s nests). Her boats, a coal barge, whalers, pinnaces, cutters, yawls, were mostly stacked in front of the aft mast, served by a large gooseneck crane.

Powerplant

Giovanni Bausan was powered in britain, with two vertical compound-expansion steam engines (VDE), more modern than the horizontal expansion engines of Esmeralda, each driving a 4-bladed bronze, 4 meters (12 ft) diameter screw propellers. She had a single squared rudder. Steam was produced in four cylindrical Scotch boilers (double ended), which were trunked into two funnels, centerline, not raked. On trials this represented 6,470 indicated horsepower (4,820 kW) so less than Esmeralada, which was smaller. So not surprsingly she was also one knot slower, with a trials top speed of 17.4 knots (32.2 km/h; 20 mph). Her cruising speed was 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph), enabling a range of circa 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) based on 560 tonnes coal.

We have there no elements of comparison with Esmeralda, albeit the latter carried 400t normal and 600t in emergency. Bausan thus carried potentially up to 700 tonnes in emergency. This coal was stacked in side bunkers at the waterline, but it seems not compartmented. The steam engines and boilers however were in separate spaces enclosed by bulkheads. Bausan was designed unlike Esmeralda with a schooner rig, intended to provide a backup propulsion if the engines broke down, however their reliability was enough that this rigging was never installed. The relatively heavy yards and extensive rigging were later removed and simplified. The masts later in her career would fine another purpose, carrying wireless radio cables.

Protection

Bausan was fitted with same armored deck from stem to stern that made the whole concept so attractive: This armoured deck made 1.5 inches (38 mm) in thickness over the boilers and engines. It was reduced in thickness to 0.75 inches (19 mm) fore and aft. She had compartments at the waterline filled with cork in Bertin’s style, to swell through water absorption after a hit. A self-sealing tank in reverse. However cork could have been just destroyed by the blast and sucked away. This was a short technical fad. The remainder of the passive protection was assumed by the coal bunkers. Giovanni Bausan also had a single conning tower, and it was better rotected than on Esmeradla, with armor plating 2 inches (51 mm) thick. The main guns had barbettes also protected by 2 inches of armor above the deck, but no shield to protect the crews. However the scondary guns were shielded ad the light ones.

Armament

Armament was heavy like for Esmeralda and essentially the same. She had a main battery with two 10-inch (254 mm) 30-caliber breech-loading (BL) guns in individual barbettes, fore and aft. They could train up to 30 degrees abaft of the beam and so the arc of fire was considerable. These Pattern G from Elswick Ordnance Company were however criticized for their slow rate of fire. This was completed by six BL 5.9-inch (150 mm), 32-caliber as secondary guns in three sponsons either side. Four could fire directly ahead or astern. For close-range defense with a new threat of torpedo boats she had four quick-firing (QF) 6-pounder 57 mm (2.24 in) 40-caliber guns (vs. two on Esmeralda) and three QF 1-pounder 37 mm (1.5 in) guns. Unlike the Chileans she was equipped with the three 14-inch (356 mm) torpedo tubes planned in the design.

Elswick 10 inches(254mm)/30 Pattern B

These massive, 25 tons guns breech loaders had an elevation of 12°, and depression of 5°. They fired shells worth 450 pounds (200 kg) plus a powder charge of 230 pounds (100 kg). The whole operation was manual, and assisted by steam. Each loading required the gun brough back to a neutral position for the whole loading process to start agin, so the rate of fire was less than a short per minute. “F/G” Variants were for export only. It achieved a muzzle velocity of approximately 2,000 to 2,040 feet per second (610 to 622 metres per second) when firing with a full service black powder (or early brown prismatic powder) charge.
Maximum Range: The gun featured an effective maximum range of 10,000 yards (roughly 9,140 metres or 5.7 miles) when fired from a standard naval automatic carriage or a coastal defense barbette mount.

6-inch (152mm)/33 Armstrong H

Eight of these 152 mm/33 Armstrong guns were utilized by the Regia Marina (Royal Italian Navy) also to re-arm the broadside batteries of the Regina Maria Pia-class ironclads (such as the Regina Maria Pia and San Martino) during their refits in the late 1880s. The “H” variant acted as a precursor to fully integrated Quick-Firing (QF) systems, substantially improving on the 1 round per minute speeds of older slow-breech systems). It was installed on standard Vavasseur central-pivot slide mountings equipped with hydraulic recoil buffers and shielded by a lightweight 2-inch plating.
Barrel Bore/Caliber 6 inches (exactly 152.4 mm) Length (O/A) 16.5 feet (5.016 m). Bore/Rifling Length 33 calibers.
Gun Weight (Barrel only) Approx. 4.5 to 5.0 metric tons. Breech: Interrupted screw (manually operated, featuring an early pattern rapid-swing arm)
Construction Method: Steel liner tube reinforced with multiple shrunk-on steel/wrought-iron hoops (coiled construction)
Shell Weight HE 100 lbs (exactly 45.3 kg), Separate-loading charge 19–22 lbs brown prismatic powde and later Cordite.
Muzzle Velocity 1,950 to 2,050 feet per second (595 to 625 m/s), penetration 6–8 inches (150–200 mm) wrought iron at close range (1,000 yards)
Rate of Fire: 3 to 5 rounds per minute under optimal conditions.

Hotchkiss 6-pdr 57mm/40 Mark I

Bausan carried four of them: Two were installed for sure in the wings of the main structure between funnels, high up. The other two were located aft in bulwarks openings, by comparison with Izumi. Neither the lighter 1-pdr guns had a clear location though. Calibre: 2.244 in (57 mm). Barrel Length: 40 calibres (L/40). Shell Type: Fixed QF 57x441mmR. Weight: Approximately 8 cwt (hundredweight / 406 kg for the barrel/gun assembly).

Hotchkiss 1-pdr 37mm/20 corto

37 mm (1.5 inches), firing a standard “one-pounder” (1-pdr) shell weighing approximately 455–500 grams. Barrel Length 20 calibers. Rate of Fire. Practical speeds ranged from 20 to 32 rounds per minute. Effective Range Roughly 1,800 to 2,000 yards (1,600 to 1,800 meters), maximum range exceeding 4,000 meters. Strong steel build, vertical sliding-wedge breechblock or revolving mechanism with single reciprocating bolt albeit in sources it is not dubbed “revolver”.

Torpedo Tubes

Whitehead-Fiume models. One tube on each broadside above water, one submerged tube in the bow. It was essentiually a 1885 pattern 14-in Fiume Mark IV Torpedo. The Royal Navy ordered 220 of these.
Length: 14 feet 9 inches, Diameter 14 inches or 356 mm. Wirght 660 lbs with a 58 lbs Gun Cotton warhead.
Speed 23.5 knots, Range 600 yards.

⚙ specifications
Displacement	3,082 long tons (3,131 t)
Dimensions	89.32 x 12.85 x 5.98 m (293 ft x 42 ft 2 in x 19 ft 7 in)
Propulsion	2 shaft compound steam engines, 4 × Scotch marine boilers 6,470 ihp (4,820 kW)
Speed	17.4 knots (32.2 km/h; 20.0 mph)
Range	3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Armament	2× BL 10 in/30, 6× BL 5.9 in/32, 4× QF 6-pdr, 3× QF 1-pdr, 3× 14 in TTs
Protection	Deck 0.75–1.5-inch (19–38 mm)
Crew	295

Career of Giovanni Bausan

AI and human colored photo early in her career
Giovanni Bausan was laid down at Armstrong Whitworth shipyard, Elswick, on 21 August 1882, launched on 15 December 1883, commissioned on 9 May 1885, and departing on 21 May to join the Squada Permamente (Permanent Squadron). In 1887–1888 she was mobilized for the conquest of Eritrea, as the flagship, Red Sea Squadron. In 1888, she was part of the large annual fleet maneuvers, with four ironclads, three protected cruisers, four torpedo cruisers, taking part in a two-team red/blue simulated attack on and defense of La Spezia. In 1889 she took part of the great naval review held for the Kaiser Wilhelm II in an official visit to Italy. On 5 July 1889, she collided with the torpedo cruiser Folgore, the latter suffered heavy damage and long repairs. Giovanni Bausan was then used for a good will tour in the in the Americas. She visited New York City in 1892 for an internaitonal review, first foreign warship also refitted and repaired at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in 15 years.

In July 1896, she was part of the annual summer maneuvers in the Second Division, Active Squadron, with the ironclads Francesco Morosini and Andrea Doria, torpedo cruiser Tripoli. In 1897, seh joined the International Squadron mobilized off Crete in the 1897–1898 Greek Christian uprising against the Ottoman Empire. In 1899, Giovanni Bausan saw a first refit, with her 5.9-inch guns replaced by modern QF 6-inch (152 mm) guns, a move made by all Esmeralda-derived designs internationally.

In late 1902, she was sent to Venezuela with the crisis of 1902–1903. It saw the gathering of impressive international forces blockading its port after a refusal to pay foreign debts. She was there alongside the cruiser Elba and armored cruiser Carlo Alberto as well. In 1903 she was present with the protected cruisers Etna and Dogali at the international naval review in New York, and for the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s arrival). In 1904, back home, she assigned to the Reserve Division. She had nother refit with two of her secondary 6-inch guns removed. With the arrival of the new armored cruiser Francesco Ferruccio to enter service in September 1905 the admiralty was about to retire her from frontline duties.

From 1905, Giovanni Bausan was thus demoted from the active fleet and now a training ship for stokers and mechanics, until the Italo-Turkish War in 1912. She was fully crewed and retrained, returned in the active squadron. She became Flagship in Cyrenaica, directing a joint shore bombardment, making several such sorties until the end of the war. Postwar she returned to her auxiliary role, this time as a distilling ship for boiler water. Her four distillers could indeed produce 200 tons of fresh water every 24 hours, supplying the fleet. The First World War commenced and she was partially disarmed with her guns now needed on the frontline in 1915. Giovanni Bausan was indeed only partially disarmed: One 10-inch guns and two of 6-inch were removed, then the remainder in 1917-18 and she was reassigned as a seaplane depot ship, in Brindisi. She had new accomodation built, notably her gooseneck crane was now useful, once she lost her boats. She remained in that role until decommissioned in 1919, and sold for scrap in March 1920, broken up 1920-21.