Re d'Italia-class ironclad
Re d'Italia or her sister Re di Portogallo
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| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Re d'Italia class |
| Builders: | William H. Webb |
| Operators: |
 Regia Marina
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| Preceded by: | Principe di Carignano class |
| Succeeded by: | Regina Maria Pia class |
| Built: | 1861–1864 |
| In commission: | 1864–1875 |
| Completed: | 2 |
| Retired: | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Ironclad warship |
| Displacement: | 5,700 long tons (5,800 t) |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 16.76 m (55 ft 0 in) |
| Draft: | 6.17 m (20 ft 3 in) |
| Installed power: | |
| Propulsion: | 1 shaft, 1 single-expansion steam engine |
| Sail plan: | Barque-rigged |
| Speed: | 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Range: | 3,120 nmi (5,780 km; 3,590 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Complement: | 565 |
| Armament: |
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| Armor: | |
The Re d'Italia class was a pair of ironclad warships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1860s. The class comprised two ships, Re d'Italia and Re di Portogallo. The two ships were built in the United States, and were based on the French ironclad Gloire; they were armed with a battery of thirty-eight guns in a broadside arrangement and were protected with 120 millimeters (4.7 in) of wrought iron plating.
Re d'Italia served as the flagship of the Italian fleet until moments before the Battle of Lissa on 20 July 1866; Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano's hasty transfer to another vessel deprived the fleet of central command, and in the ensuing melee, Re d'Italia was rammed and sunk. Re di Portogallo was also rammed, but was not seriously damaged and she survived the action. The ship remained in service until 1871, when she became a training ship; this service did not last long, as the green wood used to build her hull had badly deteriorated by 1875, so she was sold and broken up for scrap that year.
Following the unification of Italy in 1861, the new Regia Marina (Royal Navy) began a construction program 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. The nascent Italian shipyards were incapable of building the number of ships the new fleet would require, so most of this first generation of ironclads were built by foreign ship builders. In 1861, the two ships of the Re d'Italia class were ordered from the American shipyard owned by William H. Webb, under the direction of General Luigi Federico Menabrea, then the Italian Navy Minister. The design for the ships was based heavily on the contemporary French ironclad Gloire, but they did not meet the high expectations the Italian fleet placed upon them.
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Wikipedia