The design of the Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruiser was derived by the naval architect Edoardo Masdea from his earlier design. The Garibaldis were slightly larger and about a knot faster than their predecessors, but the primary improvement was the addition of two gun turrets, one each fore and aft of the superstructure. These remedied a major weakness of the older ships in that their primary armament, being on the broadside, could not engage targets that were directly in front or behind. The design was so popular that ten cruisers were purchased by four different countries; the Royal Italian Navy, the Argentine Navy, the Imperial Japanese Navy, and the Spanish Navy. As might be expected over a group of ships that was built from 1892 to 1903, design improvements and more modern equipment were incorporated over time so that only the three ships actually accepted by Italy were true sisters.[1]
The first five ships were built to the same measurements, and form the Garibaldi sub-class, but the last five were stretched by six frames amidships, and comprise the Giuseppe Garibaldi sub-class. The ships of the first group had an overall length of 106.94m (350.85feet), a beam of 18.2m (59.7feet) and a deep draft (ship) of 7.1m (23.3feet). They displaced 6840t at normal load.[2] The second ship purchased by Argentina,, is reported by some sources to have had a beam of 18.8m (61.7feet) and therefore displaced some 300- more than the others.[3] [4]
The class was unusual in that they did not have a uniform main armament. Some had single 100NaN0 Elswick Pattern R guns in gun turrets fore and aft; others (including Kasuga) had a mixed armament of a single 100NaN0 gun in one turret and another turret with twin 80NaN0 guns. A third variation (including Nisshin) was a uniform armament of four 80NaN0 guns in twin gun turrets fore and aft. Cristobal Colon was fitted with 10-inch guns which the Spanish admiralty claimed were defective and which were removed before it was committed to combat. Therefore, it only went to battle with 10 smokeless powder Armstrong six inch guns mounted in the hull (5 on each side).
All ships were built by Gio. Ansaldo & C. in Genoa-Sestri Ponente, except ARA San Martin and ARA Belgrano which were subcontracted to Orlando in Livorno.
| Launched | Fate | |
|---|---|---|
| scope=row colspan=3 align=center | Argentina | |
| 27 May 1895 | Decommissioned, 20 March 1934 | |
| 1896 | Decommissioned, 8 May 1947 | |
| 25 July 1898 | Decommissioned, 2 August 1954 | |
| 1896 | Decommissioned, 18 December 1935 | |
| Italy | ||
| 23 April 1902 | Decommissioned, 1 April 1930 | |
| 29 June 1899 | Sunk, 18 July 1915, by Austro-Hungarian submarine SM U-4 | |
| 6 August 1899 | Decommissioned, 4 January 1923 | |
| Japan | ||
| 22 October 1902 | Disarmed 1920s, sunk by bombing 18 July 1945 | |
| 9 February 1903 | Disarmed 1920s, scuttled 1936. Later raised and expended as a target ship, sunk by the battleship, 18 January 1942 | |
| Spain | ||
| September 1896 | Scuttled, 3 July 1898, after being run aground and surrendering during the Battle of Santiago de Cuba. | |
| Pedro de Aragon | Cancelled, never built |
In addition, Spain was planning to acquire a second Garibaldi-class cruiser, to be named Pedro de Aragon. These plans were shelved after the Spanish–American War and the subsequent downsizing of the Spanish Armada.
Two of the Italian ships ordered in 1902 were sold to the Argentine Navy before completion as the Mitre and Roca; they were renamed as the Rivadavia and the Mariano Moreno. The Argentines in turn sold them to the Imperial Japanese Navy before final completion in 1904, and they were renamed the and .