SMS Fasana
 Fasana in port
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  Austro-Hungarian Navy |
| Preceded by | SMS Helgoland |
| Succeeded by | Aurora class |
| History | |
| Name | SMS Fasana |
| Builder | Navale Adriatico, Trieste |
| Laid down | 9 October 1869 |
| Launched | 1 September 1870 |
| Completed | 5 May 1871 |
| Renamed | Gamma, 7 August 1920 |
| Stricken | 7 August 1897 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1920 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Screw corvette |
| Displacement | 2,382 long tons (2,420 t) |
| Length | 68.26 m (223 ft 11 in) |
| Beam | 11.69 m (38 ft 4 in) |
| Draft | 5.78 m (19 ft) |
| Installed power | 1,590 ihp (1,190 kW) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11.58 knots (21.45 km/h; 13.33 mph) |
| Complement | 257 |
| Armament |
|
SMS Fasana was a screw corvette of the Austro-Hungarian Navy built in the late 1860s and early 1870s, the only member of her class.
Design
[edit]Fasana was a screw corvette,[1] sometimes referred to as a sloop, of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. She was 68.26 m (223 ft 11 in) long overall, with a beam of 11.69 m (38 ft 4 in) and a draft of 5.78 m (19 ft). The ship had a displacement of 2,382 long tons (2,420 t). The ship had an inverted bow and an overhanging stern. Her crew numbered 257 officers and enlisted sailors.[2]
The ship was powered by a single 2-cylinder, horizontal marine steam engine that drove a screw propeller. The number and type of boilers is not known, but smoke from the boilers was vented through a single funnel located amidships, between the fore- and main mast. The propulsion system was capable of generating 1,590 indicated horsepower (1,190 kW), for a top speed of 11.58 knots (21.45 km/h; 13.33 mph). The ship was fitted with a three-masted sailing rig to supplement the steam engine on long voyages.[2]
Fasana was armed with a main battery of two 21 cm (8.3 in) 20-caliber breechloading guns manufactured by Krupp. She also carried four 8-pounder guns. By 1880, the ship had been rearmed entirely. She was then armed with four 15 cm (5.9 in), 26-caliber Krupp guns and three 7 cm (2.8 in), 15-caliber guns.[2]
Service history
[edit]The keel for Fasana was laid down at the Navale Adriatico shipyard in Trieste on 9 October 1869, and she was launched on 1 September 1870. The ship was completed on 5 May 1871,[2] and was commissioned that year.[3]
Fasana embarked on an overseas training cruise in 1881 to visit a number of countries in North and South America; she had aboard the graduating class of naval cadets aboard for the voyage.[4]
In 1887, Fasana made another voyage abroad, passing through the Suez Canal to visit the Persian Gulf, the East Indies, and various ports in East Asia. She returned home in 1888, and during this voyage, Archduke Leopold Ferdinand served aboard the ship as a cadet. The ship conducted the fourth Austro-Hungarian circumnavigation of the globe in 1889–1890.[5]
Fasana embarked on another cruise to the Pacific from 1893 to 1895, which included stops in India and Australia.[6]
Fasana was decommissioned in 1896,[3] and was struck from the naval register on 7 August 1897. She was then converted into a storage hulk. She was renamed Gamma on 7 August 1902, and was thereafter used to store naval mines. She served in this role through World War I, based at Pola, and following Austria-Hungary's defeat in 1918, she was surrendered as a war prize and probably broken up in Italy in 1920.[2][7]
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- Greger, René (1976). Austro-Hungarian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 978-0-7110-0623-2.
- Sieche, Erwin & Bilzer, Ferdinand (1979). "Austria-Hungary". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger & Kolesnik, Eugene M. (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 266–283. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-034-9.