Some sources give that the Romanian monitor ARDEAL is depicted, but a photo of her gives clearly that she is not shown on the stamp.
The ship depicted is the protected cruiser ELISABETA a three-masted vessel.
Built as a cruiser under yard no 517 by the yard of Sir WG Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd, Elswick U.K. for the Romania Navy.
17 May 1887 keel laid down.
29 December 1887 launched as the ELISABETA.
Displacement 1325 ton, dim. 67.36 x 10.27 x 3.65m. (draught)
Powered by two VT 3-cyl. 3000 ihp manufactured by R&W Hawthorn, Leslie & Co. Ltd., Newcastle. Twin shafts, speed max. 18 knots.
Armament: 4 x 1 x 5.9 inc, 4 x 1 x 6pdr OF guns, 4 x 1 x 14.0 inch torpedo tubes.
Crew 140.
10 September 1888 completed.
The cruiser ELISABETA was the flagship of the Romanian Military Fleet between 1888 and 1918. The ship was named after the first queen of Romania, Elisabeta.
With this cruiser, Professor Grigore Antipa participated for nine months, in 1893, in an international scientific expedition around the Black Sea. The ship was made available to Antipa by King Carol I of Romania. .
Specifications
The cruiser ELISABETA, the first cruiser of the Romanian Navy, was built in 1888 at the Shipyard „Armstrong, Mitchell & Co. Ltd ”of Newcastle upon Tyne and entered the service of the Romanian Navy on November 5, 1888.
The ship, built of steel, had a total length of 73,150 meters, an average draft of 3,683 meters for a displacement of 1330 tons, the thickness of the armor varying between 88 mm and 25.4 mm. The propulsion was made by two propellers with three blades and a diameter of 2,971 meters driven by two steam engines of 4,700 hp. The ship had three masts with a total sail surface area of 513 square meters.
The ship's armament consisted of:
4 150 mm Krupp guns placed in the half-sides;
4 57 mm Nordenfeld guns with quick firing;
2 Hotchkiss revolver guns of 37 mm;
2 Nordenfeld machine guns;
4 torpedo tubes.
Following the refusal of the Turkish authorities to allow the armed ship to pass through the Bosphorus, the decision was made to bring the unarmed ship to Romania, and the cannons were brought to the Danube and mounted on the ship in the Arsenal of Galați.
The first radio telegram station of the Romanian Navy was installed onboard the cruiser ELISABETA, providing communications within a radius of 100 km.
Participation in naval actions
The first captain of the ship was Colonel Ioan Murgescu, then from 1889 to 1898, the captain was Vasile Urseanu .
The voyage to Romania of the cruiser ELISABETA began on October 14/26, 1888, the ship anchoring on November 5, 1888, in the Arsenal of the Navy from Galați.
The ship, whose crew at that time consisted of 14 countries and 23 degrees lower, was part of the international flotilla in the First Balkan War and ensured the protection of the Romanian Consulate and Legation in Istanbul.
In the First World War, the cruiser ELISABETA was based in the port of Sulina, providing anti-aircraft defense and preventing the entry of enemy ships on the Danube (repelling, among other things, the attack of the German cruiser SMS BRESLAU.
The ship was taken out of service in 1920 but its cannons continued to be used until 1949, forming a coastal battery at Agigea .
Elizabeth as holiday naval cruiser
During its 30 years of activity, the cruiser ELISABETA was the flagship of the Romanian Navy and represented Romania at various international events (the Colombian celebrations in Genoa in 1892 and the inauguration of the Kiel Canal in 1895 ).
The Romanian Navy Day is related to the cruiser ELISABETA because the first official celebration was held on August 15, 1902, through a religious service on board the ship.
Officially she was written off in 1920 but stayed in use as a barracks ship at Galaţi, and later she steamed to Sulina for the same task. No longer maintained she was sold for scrap eventually in 1926, but not broken up yet, as she was again used as a barracks ship, this time up to 1929. Her scrapping date remained foggy, probably in the early 1930s.
Source. https://naval-encyclopedia.com/ww1/roma ... a-1887.php https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NMS_Elisabeta Miramar.
Romania 1931 16L sg1207, scott198
ELISABETA cruiser 1888
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ELISABETA cruiser 1888
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