348 



ITALY. 



bineers and non-commissioned officers, who serve 

 five years with the colors and four years on 

 leave in the permanent army and ten years in 

 the territorial militia. Conscripts of the second 

 category are enrolled in the permanent army for 

 eight or nine years, in the mobile militia for 

 three or four years, and in the territorial militia 

 for seven years, but receive only from two to 

 ~i\ months of training. Those of the third cate- 

 gory have one month of instruction and are in- 

 scribed at once in the territorial militia, the final 

 reserve which has garrison duty to perform in 

 case of war. In 1899 the number of recruits ex- 

 amined was 364,747, of whom 102,422 were as- 

 signed to the first category, 16 to the second, 

 96,956 to the third, 87, 166 'were put back, and 

 78,187 were found unfit for service. In 1900, by 

 a special act of Parliament, all young men called 

 up for service who did not of right belong to 

 the third category as the props of their families, 

 were assigned to the first category. Non-com- 

 missioned officers who after completing their term 

 of five years continue in the service for twelve 

 years receive posts in Government employment. 

 The army is organized in 12 corps: 1st, Turin; 

 2d, Alexandria; 3d, Milan; 4th, Genoa; 5th, Ve- 

 rona; 6th, Bologna; 7th, Ancona; 8th, Florence; 

 9th, Rome; 10th, Naples; llth, Bari; 12th, Pa- 

 lermo. The Roman corps has 3 divisions, the 

 others 2 divisions, each comprising from 2 to 7 

 of the 88 military districts. The officers are gen- 

 erally graduates of the military colleges. There 

 are 13,572 active officers in the permanent army, 

 291 retired, 11,152 supplementary officers on 

 leave, 843 auxiliary officers for the mobile militia, 

 and 4,118 effective and 6,263 reserve officers for 

 the territorial militia; total, 13,863 officers in 

 the permanent army, 11,997 reserve officers, and 

 10,381 officers of the territorial militia. The rank 

 and file of the permanent army in active service 

 in 1900 numbered 249,821 of all arms, comprising 

 24.7(iO carabineers, 124,794 infantry, 15,477 bersa- 

 glieri, 11,989 Alpine troops, 874 in military dis- 

 tricts, 22,342 cavalry, 31,435 artillery, 8,812 en- 

 gineers, 1,377 in military schools, 2,811 sanitary 

 troops, 2,189 in the commissariat, 156 in the in- 

 valid and veteran corps, 2,423 in penal establish- 

 ments and disciplinary companies, and 382 in 

 remount depots. The troops of the permanent 

 army on unlimited leave were 4,721 carabineers, 

 269,487 infantry, 31,100 bersaglieri, 21,699 Al- 

 pine troops, 10,403 in military districts, 28,738 

 cavalry, 80,483 artillery, 21,211 engineers, 10,052 

 sanitary troops, 4,297 commissary troops, and 

 10,064 in the police, railroad, and telegraph serv- 

 ices; total, 492,255. The mobile militia consisted 

 of 366 carabineers, 192,104 infantry, 21,082 ber- 

 saglieri, 14,299 Alpine troops, 3,656 unassigned, 

 46,891 artillery, 12,592 engineers, 7.758 sanitary 

 troops, 2,901 commissary troops, and 6,117 in the 

 police, railroad, and telegraph services. The total 

 number of men enrolled in the ranks of the terri- 

 torial army was 2,222,637, making the total Avar 

 strength of the army 36,241 officers and 3,308,650 

 non-commissioned officers and men. In Africa 

 a special corps is maintained consisting of 1,062 

 Europeans and 5,787 native troops, besides 755 

 irregulars. The infantry weapon of the Italian 

 army is the Carcano-Mannlicher rifle of the model 

 of 1891, having a caliber of 6.5 millimeters and a 

 magazine holding 6 cartridges. The territorial 

 militia is provided with Vetterli rifles. 



The Navy. The Italian fleet in 1901 con- 

 isted of 3 second-class and 4 third-class battle- 

 ships, 8 armored cruisers, 5 old battle-ships, 12 

 protected cruisers, 15 torpedo-gunboats. 5 destroy- 

 ers, 11 first-class, 100 second-class, and 71 third- 



class torpedo-boats, and 1 submarine boat. The 

 barbette ships Lauria, Andrea Doria, and Fran- 

 cesco Morosini, of 11,174 to 11,324 tons, built 

 in 1884 and 1885, and at that time accounted the 

 most formidable vessels afloat, each carrying 4 

 17-inch guns, are now antiquated. The refitted 

 and .rearmed Dandolo, of 12,265 tons, armed with 

 2 10.8-inch guns in turrets, with 6 6-inch guns 

 and 5 4.7-inch quick-firers, is considered more 

 effective, and they are surpassed by the Ammiia- 

 glio di Saint Bon and Emanuele Filiberto, of 9,800 

 tons, launched in 1897 and armed with 4 10-inch 

 guns in barbettes and 8 6-inch and 8 4.7-inch 

 quick-firers. The first-class battle-ships Regina 

 Margherita and Benedetto Brin, launched in 1901, 

 having a displacement of 13,500 tons and a speed 

 of 21 knots, with engines of 18,000 horse-power, 

 and 8-inch steel plates, will carry 4 12-inch guns 

 in turrets and a quick-firing armament of 4 

 8-inch, 12 6-inch, and 8 3-inch guns. Two other 

 turret-ships, the Regina Elena and Vittorio 

 Emanuele III, will have a displacement of 12,625 

 tons, 10 inches of armor, engines of 20,000 horse- 

 power to give a speed of 22 knots, and an arma- 

 ment of 2 12-inch guns and 12 8-inch and 12 3- 

 inch quick-firers. The protected cruisers Italia 

 and Lepanto, of 15,654 and 15,900 tons, launched 

 in 1880 and 1883, are to be reconstructed, and 

 their 100-ton guns are to be replaced with 10-inch 

 or 12-inch breech-loaders, as has been done in the 

 Dandolo and will be in other vessels armed with 

 these monster cannons. The Re Umberto, Sarde- 

 gna, and Sicilia, launched in 1888, 1890, and 1891, 

 of 13,893, 14,860, and 13,298 tons, were the fast- 

 est and most powerfully armed cruisers of their 

 time, carrying pairs of 67-ton guns in barbettes 

 fore and aft and 8 6-inch and 16 4.7-inch quick- 

 firers, but with an armor belt only 4 inches thick. 

 The Marco Polo, of 4,583 tons, launched in 1892, 

 and the Vettor Pisani and Carlo Alberti, of 6,500 

 tons, launched in 1895 and 1897, were likewise 

 designed for quick maneuvering, speed, and 

 weight of fire, the former carrying 6 6-inch and 

 10 4.7-inch, the two latter 12 6-inch and 6 4.7- 

 inch quick-firers. In the new Varese, Giuseppe 

 Garibaldi, and Francesco Ferruccio, of 7,400 tons, 

 the armament consists of 1 10-inch turret-gun 

 and 2 8-inch, 10 6-inch, and 6 4.7-inch quick- 

 firers, while their speed is 20 knots, equal to that 

 of the others. In the later Italian vessels due 

 attention is paid to protection. The Ammiraglio 

 di Saint Bon and Emanuele Filiberto have a com- 

 plete 10-inch belt and 3-inch decks, and the later 

 vessels have a complete belt at the water-line 

 and their batteries protected down to the base. 

 The armor is the Terni system and is strong 

 enough at all points to keep out shell, though 

 pervious to heavy shot. The Vittorio Emanuele 

 and Regina Elena have 10 inches on the water- 

 line and the turrets, 8 inches on the bulkheads, 

 and 6 inches over the 8-inch guns. A program 

 of construction to be completed in 1912 requires 

 the expenditure of 203,000,000 lire on the vessels 

 not yet completed and 5 more armor-clads of 

 10,000 tons to be built before 1905; from that 

 date till 1909 the expenditure of 139,000,000 lire 

 on 5 more 10,000-ton armor-clads, 1 smaller one, 

 2 auxiliary ships, and 11 torpedo-boats to replace 

 some that are obsolete; and from 1909 to 1912 

 the expenditure of 77,000,000 lire to replace ob- 

 solete ships. The retrenchments forced upon the 

 Government by its financial embarrassments ne- 

 cessitated the sacrifice by Italy of her rank as 

 a first-class naval power, and only a few years 

 of parsimony left the fleet antiquated and inef- 

 fective. When the financial position improved 

 sufficiently the Ministry of Marine gave its at- 



