Caio Duilio-class ironclad
Enrico Dandolo shortly after her completion in 1882
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Caio Duilio-class ironclad |
| Operators: |
 Regia Marina
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| Preceded by: | Principe Amedeo class |
| Succeeded by: | Italia class |
| Built: | 1873–82 |
| In service: | 1880–1920 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Scrapped: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | ironclad battleship |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 109.16 m (358 ft 2 in) |
| Beam: | 19.74 m (64 ft 9 in) |
| Draft: | 8.31 m (27 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | Two compound steam engines |
| Speed: | 15.04 knots (27.85 km/h; 17.31 mph) |
| Range: | 3,760 nmi (6,960 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 420 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The Caio Duilio class was a pair of ironclad turret ships built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1870s and 1880s. They were fitted with the largest guns available, 17.72 in (450 mm) rifled muzzle-loading guns, and were the largest, fastest and most powerful ships of their day. 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 were 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 1895–98, Enrico Dandolo was heavily reconstructed, but the excessive cost of the modernization prevented Caio Duilio from being similarly rebuilt. Both ships were reassigned as training ships in the early to mid-1900s. Caio Duilio was stricken from the naval register in 1909 and converted into a floating oil tank, while Enrico Dandolo remained in service as a guard ship during World War I. She was sent to the breaker's yard in 1920. Caio Duilio's ultimate fate is unknown.
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. 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. The program began with the Caio Duilio class, which was designed by the naval architect Benedetto Brin. Originally intended to carry Armstrong 35 t (34 long tons; 39 short tons) muzzle-loading guns, they were modified several times during their lengthy construction time to accommodate the largest guns that Armstrong produced, next to 60 t (59 long tons; 66 short tons) guns and ultimately to the 100-long-ton (102 t) 450 mm gun.
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