Lanciere ("Lancer") was a ("Soldier"-class) destroyer of the Italian Regia Marina ("Royal Navy"). Commissioned in 1907, she served in the Italo-Turkish War and . She was stricken in 1923.
Design Lanciere was powered by two sets of triple expansion steam engines fed by three Thornycroft water-tube boilers, producing an estimated and driving two propeller shafts. As built, she could reach a maximum speed of . Originally, she had a fuel capacity of of coal, giving her a range of at and at ; she later was converted to burn fuel oil, with a fuel capacity of of oil. She was fitted with four /40 calibre guns and three torpedo tubes.Soldati type 1st group destroyers (Artigliere, 1907 - 1910) - Regia Marina (Italy).
Construction and commissioning Lanciere was laid down on 24 July 1905 at the Gio. Ansaldo & C. shipyard in Genoa, Italy. She was launched on 27 February 1907 and completed on 1 August 1907. She was commissioned in August 1907.
Service history 1907–1911 A devastating earthquake in the Strait of Messina and subsequent tsunami struck Messina, Sicily, and Reggio Calabria on the Italian mainland on 28 December 1908. On 2 January 1909 Lanciere and the auxiliary ships Atlante, Olimpia, Orfeo, and Verde arrived at Messina to assist in rescue operations.Beaasom forumBetasom fourm.
Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish War began on 29 September 1911 with the Kingdom of Italy′s declaration of war on the Ottoman Empire. At the time, Lanciere was part of the 2nd Squadron's 4th Destroyer Division along with her sister ships , , and . By 30 September 1911, she was participating along with Bersagliere, Garibaldino, the battleships and , the armored cruisers , , and , the torpedo cruiser , and the destroyers , , , and in a blockade of Tripoli.
On 5 May 1912 Lanciere, Coatit, and the auxiliary cruiser went on patrol in the Aegean Sea between Bodrum and Smyrna on the coast of Anatolia to prevent Ottoman torpedo boats based at Bodrum from attempting an attack to hinder the Italian invasion of Rhodes. After noting a lack of activity by Ottoman forces at Bodrum, the Italian ships returned to Rhodes.Dodecaneso 1912 (in Italian). On the morning of 17 May 1912, Lanciere and the battleship supported the advance of Italian troops in the Psithos valley on Rhodes, where the last Ottoman troops remaining on the island had barricaded themselves. The war ended on 18 October 1912 in an Italian victory.
World War I 1915 World War I broke out in 1914, and Italy entered the war on the side of the Allies with its declaration of war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May 1915. At the time, Lanciere, under the command of Capitano di corvetta (Corvette Captain) Comolli, was part of the 3rd Destroyer Squadron, based at Brindisi, which also included Bersagliere, Garibaldino, and their sister ships and . On 24 May 1915, the day after Italy's declaration of war, Lanciere, Garibaldino, and their sister ships , , and conducted a patrol in the upper Adriatic Sea.
On 29 May 1915 Lanciere, Artigliere, Bersagliere, and Garibaldino bombarded the Adria Werke chemical plant in Monfalcone, a production site for poison gases, while Alpino, Corazziere, and their sister ship provided support. The ships carried out another bombardment of the Adria Werke on 7 June 1915.
As the war continued, Lanciere also engaged in escort operations. On 8 January 1918 she escorted the large passenger steamers and as they left Genoa, Italy, bound for New York City. The convoy had instructions to hug the Italian coast. Bersagliere took over the escort from Lanciere off Savona. Shortly thereafter, the Imperial German Navy submarine attacked the convoy, torpedoing and sinking San Guglielmo in the Gulf of Genoa off Loano at .Centro Sub Tigullio (in Italian).Passenger steamer San Guglielmo - Ships hit by U-boats - German and Austrian U-boats of World War One - Kaiserliche Marine - uboat.net.
By late October 1918, Austria-Hungary had effectively disintegrated, and the Armistice of Villa Giusti, signed on 3 November 1918, went into effect on 4 November 1918 and brought hostilities between Austria-Hungary and the Allies to an end. World War I ended a week later with an armistice between the Allies and the German Empire on 11 November 1918.
Post-World War I After World War I, Lanciere was reclassified as a torpedo boat on 1 July 1921. She was decommissioned in 1923, stricken from the naval register on 4 March 1923, and subsequently scrapped.
References Citations
Bibliography (reprinted from Proceedings of the United States Naval Institute with additions)