The Orione class was a class of four sea-going steam-powered torpedo boats of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built by the Odero shipyard of Sestri Ponente from 1905 to 1907. They served in the Italo-Turkish War and the First World War.
Construction and design On 31 March 1905, four torpedo boats were laid down at the Italian shipbuilder Odero's Sestri Ponente, Genoa shipyard.Fraccarolli 1970, p. 82. They were long between perpendiculars and overall, with a beam of and a draught of . Two coal-fired Blechynden boilers fed steam to two sets of triple expansion steam engines rated at , giving a design speed of .Gardiner and Gray 1985, pp. 272–273. Range was at and at . Displacement was . They were fitted with a slightly unusual clipper bow (a bow that curves forward as it rises from the water) and two closely spaced funnels.Purnell's Illustrated Encyclopedia of Modern Weapons and Warfare, pp. 1939–1940.
Armament was the same as the and es, with three torpedo tubes and three 47 mm guns. Crew was three officers and 35 men.
Service The four ships of the class were completed from February 1907 to April 1908. Although the ships reached speeds of up to during sea trials, they were less seaworthy than the ships of the Pegaso class. Olimpia and Orfeo were deployed in relief efforts following the 1908 Messina earthquake that devastated Sicily and Calabria on 28 December 1908. Orione collided with the old coastal torpedo boat 128 S in April 1911. All four ships of the class were active during the Italo-Turkish War, serving in Libyan waters and in the Dodecanese.
During the First World War, the class formed the 1st Torpedo Boat Division, carrying out escort operations in Libyan waters, and between North Africa and Italy. Their armament was modified during the war, with the 47 mm guns replaced by two 76 mm guns and one of the torpedo tubes removed. Orfeo was badly damaged in a collision with the merchant ship Calabria on 10 December 1917, but was repaired.Fraccaroli 1970, p. 83. They were disposed of between 1920 and 1923.
Ships
Ship Laid down Launched Completed Operational History31 March 190529 March 190613 February 1907Stricken 4 March 192331 March 19055 May 19068 April 1907Stricken 15 May 192131 March 190517 July 19068 April 1908Stricken 1 July 192031 March 190523 April 19076 September 1907Stricken 14 July 1923
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References
External links Orione-class torpedo Marina Militare website