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''Dogali'' was a unique protected cruiser built for the Italian ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) in the 1880s. Notably, she was the first warship equipped with triple-expansion engines. The ship was originally ordered by the Greek Navy and named ''Salamis'', but she was sold to the ''Regia Marina'' before she was completed and renamed for the Battle of Dogali. She was armed with a main battery of six guns and reached a speed of on her sea trials, making her one of the fastest cruisers at the time. ''Dogali''s career was uneventful; she served with the main Italian fleet for the first few years of her career and visited the United States in 1893 for the start of the World's Columbian Exposition. In January 1908, the ship was sold to Uruguay and renamed ''25 de Agosto'' and later ''Montevideo''. In 1914, the cruiser was withdrawn from service, but she was not disposed of until 1932 when she was sold for scrap. ==Design== ''Dogali'' was designed by the British naval architect William Henry White and built at the Armstrong Whitworth shipyard at Elswick. The ship was long and had a beam of and a draft of . She displaced . The ship was fitted with two pole masts, and originally, a sailing rig that was later removed.〔 Revolving, armored spotting tops were mounted on the masts.〔Neal, p. 100〕 She had a crew of 224 officers and enlisted men, though this was later increased to 247.〔Gardiner, p. 349〕 ''Dogali'' was powered by two-shaft triple-expansion engines, the first set of this kind of machinery ever installed in a warship. Steam for the engines was provided by four coal-fired cylindrical fire-tube boilers that were trunked into two funnels on the centerline. The engines were rated at and could produce a top speed of , though on trials her engines reached and . ''Dogali'' had a cruising radius of at a speed of .〔 At the time of her commissioning, ''Dogali'' was among the fastest cruisers in the world.〔Brassey, p. 728〕 The ship was armed with a main battery of six L/40 guns all mounted individually in sponsons, with two side by side forward, two astern, and one amidships on each broadside.〔〔L/40 refers to the length of the gun in terms of caliber.〕 These were Pattern M guns manufactured by Armstrong Whitworth, and they weighed apiece. ''Dogali'' was the only ship equipped with guns of this type.〔Friedman, p. 89〕 These were supplemented by a secondary battery of nine L/40 guns and six Gatling guns. She was also equipped with four torpedo tubes. The ship was protected by an armored deck that was thick, and the conning tower had the same thickness of armor plating on the sides. The main guns were protected by thick gun shields.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア(Wikipedia)』 ■ウィキペディアで「Italian cruiser Dogali」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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