was the lead ship of the of ironclad warships built for the Italian in the 1860s. She was the first ironclad built in Italy; her keel was laid January 1861, her hull was launched in September 1863, and she was completed in June 1865. was a broadside ironclad armed with a battery of ten guns and twelve guns.
saw action during the Battle of Lissa in 1866 during the Third Italian War of Independence. There, she led the Italian line, the flagship of Admiral Giovanni Vacca; the leading squadron of the Italian fleet became separated from the rest of the fleet and was not heavily engaged. Her career was limited after the war, owing to the emergence of more modern ironclads and a severe reduction in the Italian naval budget following their defeat at Lissa. The ship was stricken from the naval register in 1875 and broken up for scrap to free up funds needed for new ironclads under construction.
Design
In 1861, the newly created (Royal Navy) of the Kingdom of Italy began work on a class of four steam frigates, but while they were under construction, the decision was made to convert three of them into ironclad warships. These became the . The ships were built during a period of increased tension with the Austrian Empire, a traditional opponent of the Italians, which caused both countries to compete in the Austro-Italian ironclad arms race.
was long between perpendiculars; she had a beam of and an average draft of . She displaced normally and up to at full load. She had a crew of 572. Her propulsion system consisted of one single-expansion marine steam engine that drove a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by four coal-fired, rectangular fire-tube boilers. Her engine produced a top speed of from . She could steam for about at a speed of . To supplement her steam engine, the ship was barquentine-rigged.
was a broadside ironclad, and she was armed with a main battery of ten 72-pounder guns and twelve rifled muzzle-loading guns. The ship was equipped with a spur-shaped ram at the bow. The ship's hull was sheathed with wrought iron armor that was thick.
Service history Ordered by the Royal Sardinian Navy, was laid down at the Cantiere della Foce shipyard in Genoa in January 1861, the first Italian ironclad to be domestically produced. By the time she was launched on 15 September 1863, much of Italy had unified, creating the . She was completed on 11 June 1865. She was the only member of her class ready for service by the time the Third Italian War of Independence broke out between Italy and the Austrian Empire in June 1866, which was fought concurrently with the Austro-Prussian War. The Italian fleet commander, Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano, initially adopted a cautious course of action; he was unwilling to risk battle with the Austrian Navy, despite the fact that the Austrian fleet was much weaker than his own. Persano claimed he was simply waiting on the ironclad ram , en route from Britain, but his inaction weakened morale in the fleet, with many of his subordinates openly accusing him of cowardice.
Rear Admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff brought the Austrian fleet to Ancona on June 27, in an attempt to draw out the Italians. At the time, many of the Italian ships were in disarray; had not yet received her heavy 8-inch guns, and other ships were experiencing various difficulties with their engines or armament. Nevertheless, formed up with the ironclads , , and in preparation to confront Tegetthoff. Persano held a council of war aboard to determine whether he should sortie to engage Tegetthoff, but by that time, the Austrians had withdrawn, making the decision moot. The Minister of the Navy, Agostino Depretis, urged Persano to act and suggested the island of Lissa, to restore Italian confidence after their defeat at the Battle of Custoza the previous month. On 7 July, Persano left Ancona and conducted a sweep into the Adriatic, but encountered no Austrian ships and returned on the 13th.
Battle of Lissa
On 16 July, Persano took the Italian fleet out of Ancona, bound for Lissa, where they arrived on the 18th. With them, they brought troop transports carrying 3,000 soldiers; the Italian warships began bombarding the Austrian forts on the island, with the intention of landing the soldiers once the fortresses had been silenced. In response, the Austrian Navy sent the fleet under Tegetthoff to attack the Italian ships. was at that time the flagship of Admiral Giovanni Vacca, commander of the 1st Division, along with the ironclads and . After arriving off Lissa on the 18th, Persano ordered the 1st Division to bombard the Austrian fortresses protecting the island, but to retain their steel shells for an expected confrontation with the Austrian fleet. and attacked the Magnaremi battery at Port Comiso. fired some 116 shells and was hit three times by the coastal guns. Vacca erroneously believed that his ships' guns could not elevate high enough to hit the high fortifications. Persano then sent Vacca's division to Vis to force the harbor defenses, but by the time they arrived, night was approaching, and so he cancelled the attack.
The next morning, Persano ordered the ironclad to enter Vis harbor and attack the Madonna battery, supported by and the rest of the 1st Division. Vacca found it impossible to employ his ships in the confined waters, and they received heavy fire from the Austrian guns. After received particularly damaging hits and was set on fire, Vacca broke off and withdrew the three ironclads, leaving to handle the battery. Later that evening, Vacca took , , and back to Comisa, but he did little more than probe the bay before Austrian fire prompted his withdrawal. Shortly thereafter, Persano recalled the fleet to a position about from Lissa, where it was to stay through the night. With the day's attacks again having yielded no results, Persano met with his senior officers to discuss options. His chief of staff, d'Amico, and Vacca both suggested a withdrawal owing to the shortage of coal, but Persano ruled that out. He ultimately decided to make another attempt on the 20th. Vacca would take his three ships to patrol to the north-east of the island while the rest of the fleet would again try to land the soldiers.
Before the Italians could begin the attack, but after the fleet had begun to disperse for the landing operation, the dispatch boat arrived, bringing news of Tegetthoff's approach. Persano's fleet was in disarray; Vacca's ships were three miles to the northeast from Persano's main force, and three other ironclads were further away to the west. Persano immediately ordered his ships to form up with Vacca's, first in line abreast formation, and then in line ahead formation. led the Italian line.
Shortly before the action began, Persano left his flagship, , and transferred to the turret ship , though none of his subordinates on the other ships were aware of the change. They were thus left to fight as individuals without direction. More dangerously, by stopping , he allowed a significant gap to open up between Vacca's three ships and the rest of the fleet. opened fire first at 10:43, at a range of about , while the Austrians were approaching the gap. The Italian gunnery was poor, and their initial shooting missed the Austrian ships. Tegetthoff took his fleet through the gap between Vacca's and Persano's ships in an attempt to initiate a melee, though he failed to ram any Italian vessels on the first pass. The Austrians then turned back toward Persano's ships, and took , , and the coastal defense ship under heavy fire. Vacca turned and to port, taking them away from the Austrian ships hammering Persano's division. He briefly attempted to engage the Austrian wooden ships in the rear, but was driven off by heavy fire from three steam frigates.
, , and the coastal defense ship engaged the wooden ship of the line , but failed to inflict fatal damage to her before she withdrew. By this time, had been rammed and sunk, and had been set on fire, soon to be destroyed by a magazine explosion. Persano broke off the engagement, and though his ships still outnumbered the Austrians, Persano refused to counter-attack with his badly demoralized forces. The Italian fleet began to withdraw, followed by the Austrians; as night began to fall, the opposing fleets disengaged completely, heading for Ancona and Pola, respectively. In the course of the battle, had had one of her armor plates shattered by Austrian shells, and one of her guns had exploded. In return, hit the Austrian ironclad and killed the ship's commander.
Later career After the battle, Vacca replaced Persano; he was ordered to attack the main Austrian naval base at Pola, but the war ended before the operation could be carried out. The ship's postwar career was limited; rapidly surpassed first by central battery and then turret ships, the first generation of ironclads with traditional broadside quickly became obsolete. In addition, the government lost confidence in the fleet after the defeat at Lissa and drastically reduced the naval budget. The cuts were so severe that the fleet had great difficulty in mobilizing its ironclad squadron to attack the port of Civitavecchia in September 1870, as part of the wars of Italian unification. Instead, the ships were laid up and the sailors conscripted to man them were sent home. Around 1870, the ship's armament was revised to four 8 in guns and sixteen 164 cm guns. As of October 1871, she was stationed in Naples, along with her sister ship and the two s and a number of other vessels.
In 1873, the ship was assigned to the 2nd Division of the main Italian fleet; the other vessels of the division were the screw frigates and . Together with the ships of the 1st Division, the entire squadron cruised in the Mediterranean that year. was stricken from the naval register in 1875, and was subsequently broken up for scrap between 1877 and 1897. The Navy discarded both of her sisters, along with the ironclad between 1875 and 1880 to remove the cost of maintaining them from the naval budget, as part of an effort to reduce the financial impact of the new and es then under construction.
Notes
References
External links
Principe di Carignano Marina Militare website