Italian cruiser Stromboli

Stromboli was a protected cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built in the 1880s. She was the second member of the Etna-class protected cruiser, which included three sister ships. She was named for the volcanic island of Stromboli, and was armed with a main battery of two 254 mm and a secondary battery of six 152 mm guns, and could steam at a speed of around 17 kn. Her career was relatively uneventful; the only significant action in which she took part was the campaign against the Boxer Uprising in China in 1900. She returned to Italy in 1901 and spent the rest of her career in reserve or as an ammunition ship, apart from a brief stint in active service in 1904. Stromboli was stricken from the naval register in 1907 and sold for scrapping in 1911.

Design
The four ships of the Etna class were designed in Italy as domestically produced versions of the British-built cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Giovanni Bausan. The Italian government secured a manufacturing license from the British firm Armstrong Whitworth, but the design was revised by the Italian naval engineer Carlo Vigna. These cruisers were intended to serve as "battleship destroyers", and represented a temporary embrace of the Jeune École doctrine by the Italian naval command.

Stromboli was 283 ft between perpendiculars, with a beam of 42 ft. She had a mean draft of 19 ft and displaced between 3373 - 3474 LT. Her crew numbered 12 officers and 296 men. The ship had two horizontal compound steam engines, each driving a single propeller, with steam provided by four double-ended cylindrical boilers. Stromboli was credited with a top speed of 17 kn from 6252 ihp. She had a cruising radius of 5000 nmi at a speed of 10 kn.

The main armament of the ships consisted of two Armstrong 254 mm, 30-caliber breech-loading guns mounted in barbettes fore and aft. She was also equipped with a secondary battery of six 152 mm, 32-caliber, breech-loading guns that were carried in sponsons along the sides of the ship. For anti-torpedo boat defense, Stromboli was fitted with five 57 mm 6-pounder Hotchkiss guns and five 37 mm 1-pounder Hotchkiss guns. The ship was also armed with four 356 mm torpedo tubes. One was mounted in the bow underwater and the other three were above water. She was protected with an armor deck below the waterline with a maximum thickness of 1.5 in. The conning tower had 0.5 in worth of armor plating.

Service history
Stromboli was laid down at the Venetian Arsenal in Venice on 27 September 1883 and her finished hull was launched on 4 February 1886. Following the completion of fitting-out work, she was commissioned into the Italian fleet on 21 March 1888. She was present during a naval review held for the German Kaiser Wilhelm II during a visit to Italy later that year. Stromboli and her sisters ITALIAN CRUISER Vesuvio and ITALIAN CRUISER Ettore Fieramosca participated in the 1893 naval maneuvers as part of the Active Squadron. On 1 October 1893, she was assigned to the 3rd Department, which was stationed in Venice; she remained there through the following year. Later in 1894, the ship took part in the annual fleet maneuvers in the 1st Division of the Active Squadron, along with the ironclad battleship ITALIAN IRONCLAD Re Umberto and the torpedo cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Goito. Beginning on 14 October, the Italian fleet, including Stromboli, assembled in Genoa for a naval review held in honor of King Umberto I at the commissioning of the new ironclad Re Umberto. The festivities lasted three days.

Stomboli and Ettore Fieramosca next participated in the 1896 naval maneuvers as part of the Active Squadron. During this period, she was assigned to the Flying Squadron, along with the armored cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Marco Polo and the protected cruiser ITALIAN CRUISER Liguria. The ships were tasked as a training squadron and were also responsible for responding to any crises that might arise. Stromboli joined the 2nd Division of the active fleet in 1897, which also included the ironclad ITALIAN IRONCLAD Andrea Doria, the armored cruiser Marco Polo, the protected cruisers ITALIAN CRUISER Etna and Liguria, and the torpedo cruisers ITALIAN CRUISER Urania, ITALIAN CRUISER Partenope, and ITALIAN CRUISER Caprera.

In 1899 Stromboli was deployed to the Far East. She was joined by Vesuvio and Ettore Fieramosca, sent there in 1900 to assist the Eight-Nation Alliance in putting down the Boxer Uprising in China. All three ships were assigned to the Cruising Squadron in Chinese waters in 1901. That year, Stromboli returned to Italy and was placed in reserve, before returning to active service in 1904. That year she was in active service for seven months; she spent the rest of the year with a reduced crew, as was standard practice in the Italian fleet at the time. She later served as an ammunition ship before being struck from the Navy List on 21 March 1907 and sold for scrap in 1911.