Italian cruiser Monzambano

Monzambano was a torpedo cruiser of the Goito-class cruiser built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1880s. The ship was built at the Arsenale di La Spezia, beginning with her keel laying in August 1885 and ending with her completion in August 1889. She was armed with a variety of light guns and five 14 in torpedo tubes, and was capable of a top speed of 18 kn. The ship spent her career in the main Italian fleet conducting training exercises, and did not see action. She spent 1898 patrolling the eastern Mediterranean Sea with the Levant Squadron. Monzambano was withdrawn from service in 1901 and broken up for scrap that year.

Design
Monzambano was 73.4 m long overall and had a beam of 7.88 m and an average draft of 3.31 m. She displaced 856 LT normally. Her propulsion system consisted of three double-expansion steam engines each driving a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by four coal-fired locomotive boilers. Exact figures for the ship's performance have not survived, but the members of the Goito class could steam at a speed of about 18 kn from 2500 to 3180 ihp. Monzambano had a cruising radius of 1100 nmi at a speed of 10 kn. She had a crew of between 105 and 121.

The primary armament for Monzambano was five 14 in torpedo tubes. She carried a light gun battery for defense against torpedo boats. This consisted of six 57 mm 40-caliber guns, which were mounted singly. The ship was protected with an armored deck that was 1.5 in thick.

Service history
Monzambano was laid down at the Arsenale di La Spezia on 25 August 1885, the first member of her class to begin construction. She was launched on 14 March 1888 and fitting-out work was completed on 11 August 1889. In 1893, Monzambano was laid up in La Spezia for the year, along with several other torpedo cruisers of the Partenope-class cruiser, her sister ITALIAN CRUISER Goito, and ITALIAN CRUISER Pietro Micca; at the time, the Italian fleet mobilized only a handful of vessels for the annual training maneuvers, preferring to keep the most modern vessels in reserve to reduce maintenance costs. That year, Monzambano was activated for the major fleet maneuvers conducted in July with the 1st Division, with the ironclad battleships ITALIAN IRONCLAD Lepanto and ITALIAN IRONCLAD Ruggiero di Lauria, the torpedo cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Euridice, and four torpedo boats. She served in the attacking squadron during a set of exercises that simulated a French attack on Naples. On 1 October, she was stationed in Taranto along with the ironclads ITALIAN IRONCLAD Affondatore and ITALIAN IRONCLAD Ancona, the protected cruisers ITALIAN CRUISER Liguria, ITALIAN CRUISER Umbria, and ITALIAN CRUISER Etruria, the torpedo cruisers ITALIAN CRUISER Montebello and ITALIAN CRUISER Confienza, and several other vessels. She remained there through 1894.

In 1895, Monzambano was stationed in the 2nd Maritime Department, split between Taranto and Naples, along with most of the torpedo cruisers in the Italian fleet. These included her sister ships Goito, ITALIAN CRUISER Montebello, and ITALIAN CRUISER Confienza, the eight Partenope-class cruisers, and ITALIAN CRUISER Tripoli. In 1898, Monzambano was assigned to the Levant Squadron that patrolled the eastern Mediterranean. She served on the station with the ironclad battleship ITALIAN IRONCLAD Sardegna, the protected cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Etruria, Montebello, and the torpedo cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Aretusa. The ship was stricken on 26 August 1901 and broken up for scrap.