ww1 Italian Navy

Italy Dreadnought Battleship (1910). The first Italian Dreadnought With limited industrial capabilities compared to the UK, Italy could not compete in numbers or construction time, when the first world war broke out. Therefore only six of them were built, a “prototype”, the Dante Alighieri, and two series, the Cesare and Cavour, five ships total, partially … Read more

Pisa class armoured cruisers (1907) Italy – Regia Marina Pisa, Amalfi Based on the Regina Elena Battleships These two ships were designed in August 1904 by engineer Giuseppe Orlando on the model of the Regina Elena, but in reduced version. They were started at Orlando, Leghorn, and Odero at Sestri Ponente in February and July … Read more

Italy – Regia Marina – Regina Elena, Roma, Vittorio Emmanuele, Napoli The world’s fastest battleships The last Italian pre-dreadnought battleships were by far the best, and even precursors of a new type of battleship, the Dreadnought. The minister of the navy in 1899, Giovanni Bettolo asked Vittorio Cuniberti, the chief shipbuilding engineer, to prepare the … Read more

Umbria class cruisers (1891) Italy (1891-98) – Umbria, Lombardia, Etruria, Liguria, Elba, Puglia The “Regionali” class, first Italian-designed protected cruisers In 1887, Chief Engineer Edoardo Masdea designed a serie of lightweight protected cruisers designed to perform a variety of roles with a limited budget. The first, Umbria, was started in 1888 in Orlando (Leghorn NyD), … Read more

Italy (1901) Regina Margherita, Benedetto Brin Brin’s modern battleships The two ships of the Margherita class, were the first large Italian modern battleships, designed in 1898 by Benedetto Brin, admiral, chief engineer and later minister of the navy. They had to be powerful and fast, but at the cost of sacrificing some protection. Main armament … Read more

Italy (1886-1920) A quite powerful Italian protected cruiser Piemonte was designed at the request of the Italian government, which wanted to strengthen the Regia Marina in the event of a new war against Austria. The order was placed at the world-renowned Armstrong-Elswick shipyard. Chief Engineer Philip Watts took the opportunity to propose the Italian commission … Read more

Vettor Pisani class armoured cruisers (1895) Italy (1895) – Vettor Pisani, Carlo Alberto These two armoured cruisers succeeded the unique Marco Polo. Criticisms of the latter (armament and armor too light) led the engineers under the direction of Edoardo Masdea to design much heavier ships (7000 tons at full load against 4800 to house a … Read more

Italy – Regia Marina Adm. Di St Bon, Emanuele Filiberto Battleships on a Budget: It’s rather rare that battleships are named after the minister that first proposed them. But such was the case of the Ammiraglio Di Saint Bon. She was the first of a couple of capital ships designed in opposition to previous battleships, … Read more