Principe Amedeo-class ironclad
Painting of Principe Amedeo
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| Class overview | |
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| Name: | Principe Amedeo class |
| Builders: | |
| Operators: |
 Regia Marina
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| Preceded by: | Affondatore |
| Succeeded by: | Caio Duilio class |
| Built: | 1865–1875 |
| In commission: | 1874–1900 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Retired: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ironclad warship |
| Displacement: |
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| Length: | 79.73 m (261 ft 7 in) |
| Beam: | 17.4 m (57 ft 1 in) |
| Draft: | 7.9 m (25 ft 11 in) |
| Installed power: |
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| Propulsion: | One single-expansion steam engines |
| Speed: | 12.2 knots (22.6 km/h; 14.0 mph) |
| Range: | 1,780 nmi (3,300 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement: | 548 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: |
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The Principe Amedeo class was a pair of ironclad warships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1870s and 1880s. They were the culmination of a major naval construction program designed to give Italy a powerful fleet of ironclads. The two ships, Principe Amedeo and Palestro, were the last Italian ironclads to feature sailing rigs and wooden hulls. They were armed with a battery of six 10-inch (254 mm) guns and were capable of a speed in excess of 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph). The ships had uneventful careers, spending much of it in Italy's colonial empire. By the late 1880s, they were withdrawn from service and employed in secondary roles, first as headquarters ships for harbor defenses. Principe Amedeo was converted into a depot ship in 1895 and was discarded in 1910, while Palestro was used as a training ship from 1894 to 1900 before being scrapped in 1902–04.
In 1862, the Italian government under Prime Minister Urbano Rattazzi and his naval minister Carlo Pellion di Persano made the decision to build a fleet of ironclad warships. The Italian fleet had already acquired a pair of small, French-built armored frigates of the Formidabile class, and two more vessels of the Re d'Italia class had been ordered from the United States. Five more ironclads were ordered from foreign shipyards, three wooden steam frigates already under construction were converted into armored ships, and four more ironclads were ordered from Italian shipyards. The two Principe Amedeo-class ships were the last two of this first generation of Italian ironclads. The design for Principe Amedeo was prepared by Inspector Engineer Giuseppe De Luca. He had initially planned on using entirely wooden hulls for the ships, but had changed to composite wood and iron construction by the time the ships were laid down.
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