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Papal corvette Immacolata Concezione

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Immacolata Concezione in Civitavecchia, 1870
History
Papal States
NameImmacolata Concezione
NamesakeImmaculate Conception of Mary
OwnerPapal Navy
BuilderThames Ironworks and Shipbuilding Company, Blackwall, London
Launched1858
Commissioned1859
Decommissioned1870
In service1859-1870
Honours and
awards
Battle of Ancona, 1865 (Ammunition transport)
FateTransferred to Royal Italian Navy
Kingdom of Italy
NameRN Immacolata Concezione
OperatorRegia Marina
Port of registryCivitavecchia
Out of service1871
FateMoved to Toulon, France, by orders of Pope Pius IX
France
NameBateau école Conception Immaculée
Operatorl'École dominicaine de Saint Elme à Arcachon
Port of registryToulon
Out of service1877–1880
FatePossibly scrapped in mid-1880s, possibly continued sea-going service until the early-1900s[1]
General characteristics
Class and typeScrew Corvette
Displacement652 t
Length178 ft 8 in (54.46 m)
Height8.1 m (27 ft)
Installed power720 ihp (540 kW)
Propulsion1 steam engine, powered by 1 propeller
Speed10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) approx.
ArmamentUnknown, Probably 8 Armstrong Guns (4 on each side)

Immacolata Concezione was a screw corvette of the Papal Navy, built in the English shipyards of Thames Iron Shipbuilding Co. in Blackwall. It was delivered to Civitavecchia in 1859.

It was originally intended to be the papal yacht, in view of overseas voyages, and initially a pilgrimage to the Holy Land which, for reasons related to the political situation of time, was not fulfilled.[2] The ship then served in coastal waters again for the benefit of the papal authorities, and in 1860 transporting materials and ammunition to Ancona. Remarkable was a trip to the Mediterranean with scientific purposes made in 1865, in which father Angelo Secchi carried out some experiments on the transparency of water.[3]

After the Capture of Rome, the ship was registered in the rolls of the Royal Italian Navy, but left at the disposal of the Pope, who never used it due to voluntary confinement in the Vatican in 1871. Pius IX ordered his commander Alessandro Cialdi to bring the ship to Toulon, where she was laid up until 1877. Later it was sold to an ecclesiastical merchant marine academy, the Dominican School of Saint Elme in Arcachon, and used as a school ship for its cadets, until it was sold due to the economic difficulties of the school to the shipowner Gaillard in 1882 or 1883 and subsequently used as a cargo carrier or was simply scrapped. The United States Naval Institute claims that she was spotted in 1905 at Algiers registered under the name of Loire. The Loire would later allegedly be beached near Ajaccio after being near totally destroyed by a fire, though it is unclear if this was truly the original Immacolata Concezione or simply another ship mistaken for it.[4]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1963/september/papal-navy
  2. ^ "Navi da guerra | Immacolata Concezione 1860 | Corvetta dello Stato Vaticano | Marina Vaticana". Agenziabozzo.it. Retrieved 21 February 2022.
  3. ^ [1] [dead link]
  4. ^ https://www.usni.org/magazines/proceedings/1963/september/papal-navy