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Revision as of 13:39, 6 January 2025 by Parsecboy (talk | contribs) (→Service history)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)SMS Saida was a screw corvette built for the Austro-Hungarian Navy in the 1870s. She was the only member of her class.
Design
Saida was 79.44 m (260 ft 8 in) long overall, with a beam of 13.14 m (43 ft 1 in) and a draft of 5.83 m (19 ft 2 in) normally, which increased to 6.11 m (20 ft 1 in) at full load. The ship had a displacement of 2,662 long tons (2,705 t). Her crew varied over the course of her career, ranging from 333 to 359 officers and enlisted sailors.
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 1,790 indicated horsepower (1,330 kW), for a top speed of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). The ship was fitted with a three-masted sailing rig to supplement the steam engine on long voyages.
Saida was armed with a main battery of eleven 15 cm (5.9 in) 25-caliber breechloading guns. She also carried a 7 cm (2.8 in), 15-caliber landing gun that could be taken ashore by a landing party. In 1892, two 25 mm (0.98 in) machine guns were installed. A further refit in 1904 reduced the number of 15 cm guns to eight, and the 25 mm machine guns were replaced by a pair of 47 mm (1.9 in), 33-caliber quick-firing guns.
Service history
Saida was built at the Pola Navy Yard, beginning with her keel laying in September 1876. She was launched on 2 July 1878, and she was completed on 14 August 1879.
The ship was struck from the naval register on 26 February 1906. Saida was converted into a storage ship for naval mines in 1908, which included removing her engine. The ship was based in Pola. She was renamed Minerva in 1912 so her name could be used for the new scout cruiser Saida. Minerva remained in the fleet's inventory through World War I and after the end of the conflict in 1918, she was ceded to Italy as war reparations and broken up there in 1920.
Notes
- ^ Sieche & Bilzer, p. 276.
- Sieche & Bilzer, p. 275.
- Greger, p. 137.
References
- 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.