The design of the Giuseppe Garibaldi-class cruiser was derived by the naval architectEdoardo 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 truesisters. 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, a beam of and a deep draft of. They displaced at normal load. The second ship purchased by Argentina,, is reported by some sources to have had a beam of and therefore displaced some more than the others. The class was unusual in that they did not have a uniform main armament. Some had single Elswick Pattern R guns in gun turrets fore and aft; others had a mixed armament of a single gun in one turret and another turret with twin EOC 8 inch 45 caliber| guns. A third variation was a uniform armament of four guns in twin gun turrets fore and aft. Cristobal Colon was fitted with defective 10-inch guns 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.
Ships
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.
Construction and service
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
