The class was a pair of ironclad turret ships built for the Royal Italian Navy () in the 1870s and 1880s. The two ships, and , were fitted with the largest guns available, rifled muzzle-loading guns, and were the largest, fastest and most powerful ships of their day.Silverstone, p. 285 To save weight on such large vessels, the ship's designer, Benedetto Brin adopted a radical solution for the time: he reserved armor only for the central portion of the ship where it protected the ships' engines and ammunition magazines, while the rest of the hull was extensively sub-divided with watertight compartments.
Both ships had uneventful careers. They spent the majority of their time in service with the Active and Reserve Squadrons of the main Italian fleet. There, they were primarily occupied with conducting training exercises. In 1895–1898, was heavily reconstructed, but the excessive cost of the modernization prevented from being similarly rebuilt. Both ships were reassigned as training ships in the early to mid-1900s. was stricken from the naval register in 1909 and converted into a floating oil tank, while remained in service as a guard ship during World War I. She was sent to the breaker's yard in 1920. s ultimate fate is unknown.
Design Starting in the early 1870s, following the Italian fleet's defeat at the Battle of Lissa, the Italians began a large naval expansion program, initially aimed at countering the Austro-Hungarian Navy.Greene & Massignani, p. 394 In addition, the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 promised to restore the strategic significance of the Mediterranean; Italy would need a powerful fleet to assert its will and protect its merchant shipping in the region.Sondhaus, pp. 49–50 The program began with the class, which was designed by the naval architect Benedetto Brin. Originally intended to carry Armstrong muzzle-loading guns, they were modified several times during their lengthy construction time to accommodate the largest guns that Armstrong produced, next to guns and ultimately to the 450 mm gun.
Brin had originally wanted to build three ships, but their great cost forced him to settle for two. At the time, Italy's industrial capacity was insufficient to build the ships out of domestic material. Everything from the iron used to build the hulls to the ships' machinery and guns had to be imported.Sondhaus, p. 50 The class formed the basis for the following two ironclad designs, the , also designed by Brin and laid down in 1876, and the , designed by Giuseppe Micheli and laid down in 1881–1882.Gardiner, pp. 340–342
General characteristics and machinery
The ships of the class were long between perpendiculars and long overall. had a beam of , while had a slightly narrower beam of . The ships had a draft of . displaced normally and up to at full load; was slightly heavier, at and , respectively.
The ships had a small superstructure forward that included the conning tower and one funnel; this was connected via a hurricane deck to a central military mast and the aft superstructure, with included a second funnel. They were the first ironclads in any navy to dispense with sails, rigged only with the military mast. The ships had a crew of 420 officers and men, which later increased to 515. Both ships carried a number of smaller boats, but was built with a compartment in her stern to house a small torpedo boat, the .Gardiner, p. 340
The ships' propulsion system consisted of two vertical compound steam engines each driving a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by eight coal-fired, rectangular boilers. The boilers were in two groups, one forward and one aft, and each group was trunked into a single large funnel. s engines produced a top speed of at . Specific figures for s original engines have not survived. The new engines installed in her 1895–1898 refit were slightly more powerful, producing a speed of from . The ships could steam for at a speed of ; the range fell to at .
Armament and armor
and were armed with a main battery of four 100-ton guns of 20-caliber, mounted in two turrets placed en echelon amidships. These guns fired a shell at a muzzle velocity of depending on the propellant charge. They had a rate of fire of one shot per fifteen minutes; the guns fired so slowly primarily as a result of their great size. As was customary for capital ships of the period, they carried three torpedo tubes. The torpedoes carried a warhead and had a range of .Friedman, p. 347
Throughout their careers, the ships' armament was revised significantly. In 1890, received three 40-caliber guns; These guns fired a shell at a velocity of .Friedman, p. 240 In 1900, two guns, eight 40-caliber quick-firing guns, and four 20-caliber revolver cannon were also added. The 57 mm guns were manufactured by Nordenfelt and they fired a shell.Friedman, p. 243 was rebuilt in 1895–1898, and her armament was completely revised. In place of her 17.7 in guns she received four 40-caliber QF guns. These guns fired a armor-piercing shell at a velocity of .Gardiner, pp. 340–341Friedman, pp. 235–236 Her secondary battery consisted of five 40-caliber guns, sixteen 43-caliber QF guns—slightly longer versions of the same-caliber guns fitted to —eight 20-caliber Hotchkiss revolver cannon, and four machine guns.Gardiner, p. 341
The -class ships were protected by steel belt armor that was thick at its strongest section, which protected the ship's magazines and machinery spaces. The belt armor plate was manufactured by the French steel mill Schneider-Creusot. The central citadel and the gun turrets received new nickel steel armor. Both ends of the belt were connected by transverse bulkheads that were thick. They had an armored deck that was thick. Their gun turrets were armored with of steel plate, while s new turrets had only of steel plate. The ships' bow and stern were not armored, but they were extensively subdivided into a cellular "raft" that was intended to reduce the risk of flooding.
The lack of armor on both ends of the design sparked controversy: after the former Chief Constructor of the Royal Navy Edward James Reed visited the ships under construction, he criticized this particular design feature, arguing that in case of damage to either end the entering water would have compromised the stability; the new Italian Minister of the Navy, Simone Pacoret di Saint-Bon, replied during a Parliament session that such an event was very unlikely, as it could happen only if all the bulkheads of the watertight compartments were destroyed.
Ships + Construction data Name NamesakeSilverstone, p. 297 Builder Laid down Launched Completed Gaius Duilius , Castellammare di Stabia 24 April 1873 8 May 1876 6 January 1880 Enrico Dandolo, La Spezia 8 January 1873 10 July 187811 April 1882
Service history
During gunnery trials in March 1880 shortly after entering service, one of s guns in her aft turret burst.Gardiner, p. 342 After joining the fleet, both ships served in the Active Squadron, though they alternated between it and the Reserve Squadron throughout their careers. During this period, they were chiefly occupied with conducting training maneuvers. Italy joined the Triple Alliance with the German Empire and Austria-Hungary in 1882, shortly after the two s entered service; as a result, the country's most likely opponent became France.Sondhaus, pp. 66–67 The exercises in which the ships took part therefore frequently simulated defensive operations against a hostile, numerically superior French Mediterranean Fleet. For the 1893 maneuvers, was part of the squadron that simulated the defending Italian fleet, while operated on the opposing force.Clarke & Thursfield, pp. 202–203
Starting in 1895, was extensively modernized, receiving an entirely new armament and new engines, as well as a second military mast. received a much more limited refit in 1900, primarily receiving a large number of secondary guns. The Navy decided against rebuilding her along the same lines as due to the prohibitive cost of the project. In 1902, was removed from front-line service and thereafter employed as a training ship."Naval and Military Notes – Italy", pp. 1075–1076 followed her in 1905 for service as a gunnery training vessel."Naval Notes – Italy", p. 1429 In 1909, was stricken from the naval register, disarmed, and converted into a floating oil tank. Her ultimate fate is unknown. continued on in service for a few more years, first becoming a guard ship at Tobruk, Libya in 1913. After Italy entered World War I in May 1915, she was transferred to Brindisi and later Venice, where she continued guard ship duties. She was stricken in January 1920 and broken up for scrap.
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