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
Italy (1916/1937) Battleships Caio Duilio, Andrea Doria Cavour’s sister class: Doria The Andrea Doria class (or Caio Duilio class for Italians sources) was the last dreadnought battleship class of the Regia Marina to see service in WW1, started in 1912 and completed 1916. The Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio were an incremental improvement over the … Read more
Dante Alighieri (1910) Italy (1910) Dreadnought Battleship 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 … 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
Regina Elena class battleships (1904) 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 … 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
Regina Margherita class battleships (1901) 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 … 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
