Formidabile-class ironclad
Terribile in Naples in 1869
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Formidabile class |
| Builders: | Société Nouvelle des Forges et Chantiers de la Méditerranée |
| Operators: |
 Regia Marina
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| Preceded by: | None |
| Succeeded by: | Principe di Carignano class |
| Built: | 1860–1862 |
| In commission: | 1861–1904 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Retired: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ironclad warship |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 65.8 m (215 ft 11 in) |
| Beam: | 14.44 m (47 ft 5 in) |
| Draft: | 5.45 m (17 ft 11 in) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | One single-expansion steam engines |
| Speed: | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Range: | 1,300 nmi (2,400 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 371 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: | Belt armor: 4.3 in (109 mm) |
The Formidabile class was a pair of ironclad warships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1860s. The class comprised two ships, Formidabile and Terribile. Initially ordered for the Regia Marina Sarda (Royal Sardinian Navy), by the time they were completed the Kingdom of Sardinia had unified the rest of the Italian states and created the Regia Marina. They were the first ironclads built for the Italian fleet. Wooden-hulled vessels plated with 4.3 inches (109 mm) of wrought iron, they were armed with a battery of twenty guns in a broadside arrangement.
Both vessels were involved in the operations off Lissa in July 1866, but neither took part in the Battle of Lissa on 20 July. Formidabile had been damaged by Austrian coastal fortifications the day before, and had withdrawn for repairs; Terribile was ready for action, but had been preparing to attack Lissa and was too far south to take an active role in the battle. Both ships saw minimal use in the 1870s and 1880s, until both were withdrawn from service for use as training ships. Formidabile and Terribile served in this capacity until 1903 and 1904, respectively, when they were sold and broken up for scrap.
The two ships of the Formidabile class were ordered by Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, then both the Prime Minister and Naval Minister of the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, shortly before the unification of Italy. The ships were originally intended to be armored floating batteries, but they were redesigned as sea-going ironclads after construction began. These ships were the first components of a major naval expansion program that was designed to prepare a fleet of ironclad warships capable of defeating the Austrian Navy. Italy considered the Austrian Empire to be its main rival, since it controlled predominantly Italian areas, including Venice.
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