ww1 Italian Navy

Regia Marina – Scout Cruisers 1898-1923 The last ‘Esploratori’ Agordat and Coatit were built at Castellamare in 1897. They had been designed by Nabor Soliani as protected scout cruisers, launched in 1899 and commissioned in 1900. They derived also from Italian Torpedo Cruisers and became a first modern attempt as creating a scout cruiser or … Read more

About 140 vessels, 9 classes (1880-1918) The saga of Italian Torpedo Boats Italy was not long to take advantage of the Whitehead torpedo, developed by its adversary on the other side of Adriatic, invented 1866 by Robert Whitehead from a rough design conceived by Giovanni Luppis of the Austro-Hungarian Navy in Fiume. The Regia Marina’s … Read more

Regia Marina: (1886-1916) 20 battleships Foreworld about ww1 Italian Battleships Italy started WWI with 16 battleships, several dreadnoughts in completion, construction, or planned. Recoignised as a major naval power in the Mediterranean, the fact it choosed eventually the side of the entente was crucially important for Britain and France to secure access to their colonies. … Read more

WWI Italian Monitors Regia Marina, 14 Monitors: Alfredo Capellini, Faa’ di Bruno, Montfalcone, Monte Santo class, Monte Cucco, Vodice, Carso, Pasubio, Monte Grappa class, Padus Another class used by the Italians during WWI, often overlooked, are Monitors: Fourteen of them indeed served on a localized front barely a few miles in lenght: The northern adriatic … Read more

WW1 Italian Submarines Italy (1892-1918) – 80 submersibles An introduction: Italian Submarines in WW1 Italy during WWI operated no less than 21 different types of submersibles, from midgets to 1200 tonnes cruisers. In addition to most being built in the peninsula, some were also purchased abroad, like the H class built in Canada. This lineage … Read more

WW1 Italian Cruisers Regia Marina (1886-14) approx. 29 cruisers Foreworld about ww1 Italian cruisers Italy started with a motley collection of ships in 1861, coming from an array of regional Royal navies. There will be a fully-blow post about Italian ships in 1870. After a serie of corvettes, starting in 1869, the third, Colombo, was … Read more

Italy – Regia Marina San Giorgio, San Marco Cuniberti’s cruisers The San Giorgio class were a counterpoint to the previous unsatisfactory Pisa class. The latter impressed enough the Greeks however to become the Giorgios Averoff, flagship of the navy, with a very long career. Engineer Edoardo Masdea was entrusted with improving the design, but on … Read more

Italy (1896-22) 52 ships From Torpedo boats to destroyers Audace in 1918 Development of Italian torpedo boats had a lot to do with its immediate Adriatic neighbour and rival, Austria-Hungary. Indeed it’s a subject of the Empire which in the late 1860s and early 1870s developed for the first time a new kind of naval … Read more

Quarto (1911) Italy (1911) Scout Cruiser The best Italian scout cruiser The Quarto was the third Italian modern scout cruiser in service in 1915, when Italy went at war on the side of the entente. She was a light protected cruiser of the Regia Marina started in 1910 at Venice Admiralty NyD and often favourably … Read more

Nino Bixio class cruisers (1912) Italy (1912) Nino Bixio, Marsala The first modern Italian scouts The Nino Bixio class were protected cruisers of the Regia Marina built in Castellammare before WW1. Their main duty was as scouts for the main fleet, therefore emphasis was put on a high speed. However they proved quickly overweight and … Read more