450 



ITALY. 



vessels for local service. The iron-clad navy- 

 includes the four most powerful men-of-war 

 in the world, double-turret ships, each carry- 

 ing four 100-ton guns. The Duilio and Dan- 

 dolo, twin ships, of 10,650 tons, are plated 

 with 22-inch armor throughout, and are con- 

 structed for a speed of 14 knots an hour. The 

 Italia, of 14,000 tons, has armor 33 inches thick 

 at the water-line, and is calculated to run 16 

 knots an hour. The armor-plates and arma- 

 ment were not completed in 1883. The Le- 

 panto, the fourth of the colossal ironclads, was 

 launched March 17, 1883. Her keel was laid 

 in August, 1877. She is a sister-ship to the 

 Italia. She measures 122 metres in length 

 and 22J in breadth. Her displacement is 14,- 

 500 tons. The engines, of 18,000 horse power, 

 give a speed of 17 knots. She will carry four 

 100-ton guns and eighteen 4^-ton broadside- 

 guns. The cost of this vessel was nearly $5,- 

 000,000. Three other monster ironclads were 

 on the stocks in 1883, the Francesco Morosini, 

 at Venice; the Ruggiero di Loria, at Castella- 

 mare ; and the Andrea Doria, at Spezzia. The 

 first two are expected to be built and equipped 

 before 1887. The naval project of 1875 is car- 

 ried out, as far as regards monster turret-ships, 

 by the construction of these seven vessels. The 

 scheme was elaborated by Minister St. Bon, 

 whose predecessor in the naval office, Ribotz, 

 had first adopted the idea of surpassing other 

 nations in the development of strength of 

 armor, and size and power of guns, which was 

 already indicated as the direction of naval 

 progress. The Duilio, which excelled in size 

 and strength the Inflexible and the Duperr6e, 

 was begun by him in 1873. Before that time 

 Italy had built an iron-clad fleet, which was 

 on a par with the navies of other nations, 

 when constructed, but was now behind the 

 later vessels of the great powers among whom 

 she was ambitious to maintain her place. The 

 Terribile and the Formidabile were built in 

 1860, with armor 12 centimetres in thickness. 

 The Maria Pia, San Martino, Castelfidardo, and 

 Ancona, begun two years later, were of the 

 same strength. The Venezia, Palestro, and 

 Principe Amadeo, which were built after 1865, 

 were somewhat more heavily plated, and car- 

 ried a 25-ton gun in the bow, and 18-ton in- 

 stead of 12-ton broadside-guns ; but would not 

 bear comparison with the more formidable 

 ironclads with which the other naval powers 

 were beginning to provide themselves. The 

 announcement of the project for a fleet of 

 seven monster ironclads, in which the Duilio 

 was to be outdone, provoked a great deal of 

 discussion and criticism. Many held that small- 

 er ships, carrying guns of equal power, but with 

 fewer in each vessel, would meet the require- 

 ments of modern warfare, and save the Gov- 

 ernment from the risk of having its naval de- 

 fenses crippled by loss of any of these vessels, 

 representing an investment of 25,000,000 francs, 

 which is liable to be wiped out by a single tor- 

 pedo. The problem it was sought to solve in 



the construction of these " high-deck cruisers " 

 is, to combine a speed and facility of evolution 

 which renders them always prepared for at- 

 tack, and room for enormous stores of coal, 

 besides the space taken up by the engines neces- 

 sary to fulfill these conditions, with armor which 

 the most powerful projectiles can not penetrate, 

 and guns which shall not be inferior in power 

 and penetration to any which technical science 

 can produce. The fulfillment of these condi- 

 tions necessitates a peculiar form of construc- 

 tion. The Lepanto has a length of keel of 122 

 metres, an extreme breadth of beam of 22*28 

 metres, and a draught of 9*24 metres. She 

 can take in 3,680 tons of coal, though the usual 

 store is 1,600 tons. The four great breech- 

 loading Armstrong guns are of 43-centimetre 

 calibre. They are above the upper one of the 

 two closed and armored decks in an armor- 

 plated redoubt. The shield of the revolving 

 turret consists of steel plates 55 centimetres 

 thick. Of the smaller guns, 16 in a casemate 

 form a broadside battery ; the other two are 

 on deck. The mean height of the ship's side 

 above the surface of the water is only six 

 metres, though somewhat higher than in the 

 Dandolo. The iron-covered lower deck and a 

 multitude of isolated cubical water-tight com- 

 partments secure the vessel from the danger 

 of filling with water. 



The Government have ordered, in addition 

 to the last, two first-class ironclads of the 

 Italia type, the construction of a torpedo-ram 

 built on the model of the Etna, and four small 

 cruisers of great speed, armed with light guns ; 

 also 18 sea-going torpedo-boats, capable of 

 making 21 knots an hour, of following the 

 squadron in all weather, and of steaming three 

 times the length of the west coast without 

 taking in fresh coal. 



The Italian marines are now armed with 

 repeating-rifles of the Bartoldo model. In 

 1880 a large sum was appropriated for naval 

 stations and coast fortifications. The two 

 stations of Venice and Spezzia are far ad- 

 vanced, and the third one, which was trans- 

 ferred from Naples to Taranto, at the head of 

 the bay of the same name and fronting the 

 coast of Africa, was begun in 1881 and is 

 to be completed in 1889, at a total cost of 

 16,000,000 francs. The harbor is good, and 

 easily defensible by fortifications on the islands 

 at the entrance ; but the navy-yard is on the 

 Mare Piccolo, a basin connecting with the har- 

 bor by two canals. One of these is being 

 deepened to admit vessels of war to the basin, 

 which will constitute the naval harbor proper. 



Experiments were made in the winter of 

 1882-'83 with the new 100-ton gun, of forty- 

 five centimetres bore, against armor forty- 

 eight centimetres thick, of various combina- 

 tions of metal and arrangements of the plates. 

 The penetration was satisfactory, and the min- 

 istry recommended the construction of breech- 

 loaders of the same size and pattern for ships 

 and coast fortresses. 



