Regina Margherita class battleships

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 were fast and powerful albeit at the cost of some protection. Main armament was massive, since outside the usual two twin 305 mm (12 inches) turrets, the secondary battery comprised no less than twelve 203 mm guns (8 inches). Brin passed out before he can see the completion of his ambitious design. Naval Engineer Ruggero A. Micheli took over the blueprints and looked for a more reasonable artillery. Many aspects of the design later went into the Regina Elena class.

The Regina Margherita class ships were 2 knots faster than the previous class, agile and good sea going vessels due to their higher freeboard. The symmetry of their initial design was intended to deceive gunners and submariners on their real direction at low speed. In terms of propulsion, there was a simplification of the all-coal burning boilers, dropping of the old mixed system. Started in 1898-99, launched in 1901 and completed in 1904-1905, these ships participated actively in the Italo-Turkish war of 1911-12, Cyreanica campaign, the Margherita struck two mines (UC14, December 11, 1916) off Valone, and Brin sank in Brindisi on September 27, 1915 because of an explosive charge laid by Austrian swimmers.

Development

Depiction of the class on Brassey’s naval annual 1900
The whole philosophy behind this class was driven from the previous painful experience of the “cheap” Ammiraglio di Saint Bon class. Made on a budget they proved at the same time too weak to engage foreign battleships, and too slow to catch cruisers. The admiralty wanted a larger ship, of effective size in particular to answer to the new Habsburg-class battleships from Austria-Hungary. First, they wanted the 12-inch (305 mm) artillery back, but at the same time were ready to accept a loss in armor protection to achieve the required speed.

Launch of Benedetto Brin
In short, these ships were a crossover of an armoured cruiser and a proper battleship with glorified armoured cruiser protection and battleship armament. Benedetto Brin’s initial design was even more radical as said above as he proposed a design with only two single turrets for 12-inch guns but twelve 8 in (203 mm) guns. After he passed out, Admiral Ruggero Alfredo Micheli modified the design in a more conventional way, and probably for the best as this secondary artillery was massive and probably would have caused stability concerns. The final design was a compromise with three main calibers, 12-in, 8-in and 6-in guns. The mix of 12-in and 8-in in equal number denote already some “semi-dreadnought” character. Brin would have a posthumous success with the next Regina Elena, which indeed had single 12-in gun turrets, and twelve 203 mm (8 in)/45 guns as he wanted in the first place…

Design of the Regina Margherita

Hull & General Layout

In its final form these ships were 13,215 t (13,006 long tons; 14,567 short tons, 13,427 in others sources) standard and 14,093 to 14,737 t (13,870 to 14,504 long tons; 15,535 to 16,245 short tons, 14,574t in other sources) fully loaded and dimensions were 138.65 m (454 ft 11 in) in lenght overall for 130 meters between parallels, 23.84 m (78 ft 3 in) to the beam with a draft of 8.81 to 9 m (28 ft 11 in to 29 ft 6 in). This was far larger than the preevious Ammiragio Di Bon class indeed.

As for the general outlook, it was symmetrical like most ironclads of that era. They had a flus deck but with a taller, sloped up foredeck, and a ram bow which started up and ended in a crescent shape, then an half-moon curve down to the keel. The amount of flare was very limited. The entry lines were fine however with the ship reaching its greatest beam reached amidship and fine exit lines, albeit fuller aft plus a rounded stern poop with gallery. The hull was only unprotected by steps fore and aft, with two line of portholes. They had counterkeels. The ship had two forward anchors, two smaller berthing anchor aft. There were two identical military masts with fighting tops, booms, and two funnels plus flying decks all along between the fore and aft bridges of smilar size but not depts. They sat on arched structures identical fore and aft. Both fore and aft bridges also had beam-wide wings. They had a dozen deck and davits boats, coal barges, whalers, cutters, yawls, dinghies, for a complement of 812–900, but in some sources started to be 797. The symmetry is shown notably with the very similar bridges fore and aft plus conning towers. The aft bridge proved useful in service for all around observations in operations still.

Powerplant

They had an installed power of 21,790 ihp (16,249 kW) for 2 shafts, driven by two triple expansion steam engines, the steam coming from coal firing 28 boilers with three funnels, two in a forward pair and a single one at the rear. They diverged between ships, Regina having Niclausse, and Brin having Belleville boilers. Thus Brin diverged in output at 20,475 hp. Top speed was therefore 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) for Brin buy 20.3 knots for Regina Margherita and range 10,000 nmi (18,520 km; 11,508 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) based on 2,000 tonnes of coal. This was backwards step for the sake of simplification.

Armour Protection

Protection consisted in Terni Harvey steel armour (made under licence at Terni, but the process was complex and deliveries were delayed by a full year due to quality issues). This plating manufactured in Terni was placed in a scheme reminiscent of the previous battleship, with some sacrifices:
Main Belt: 6in (152 mm) all along, to the ends. There was a 80mm deck above.
Armoured Deck: 3.1 in (78.7 mm), often rounded to 80 mm. It cover all the vitals, running from stem to stern.
Turrets: 8 in (220 mm face, 203 mm side and rear) or 8.66, 8 inches.
Conning Tower: 6 in (152 mm)
Casemates: 6 in (152 mm)
ASW protection was light, consisting in many Coal-filled compartments. They were used to contribute extensively in it, laid in the internal double hull as a cushion to prevent underwater damage.

Armament

Main armament was two twin 305 mm (12 in)/40 guns, secondary armament comprised in the final form only four 203 mm (8 in)/45 guns in deck barbettes on the four corners of the superstructure, then twelve 152 mm (6 in)/40 guns, twenty 76 mm (3 in)/40 guns, two 47 mm (1.9 in)/40 guns, two 37 mm (1.5 in)/40 guns and four 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes above the waterline, broadside (For conways, underwater).
The choice of having lower caliber spared probably some structural and stability problems.

305 mm (12 in)/40 M

These were noted as Armstrong Whitworth 12-inch 40-calibre naval gun, “M” pattern related to export and Italy. These were widely exported (1900 design) to the IJN as well.
Mass: 49 long tons (50 t).
Barrel length: 40-foot-5-inch (12.32 m) bore (40 calibres)
Shell: 850 pounds (390 kg) separate charges and shell
Calibre: 12 inches (305 mm)
Breech: Welin interrupted screw
Elevation: −5/+15 degrees, traverse +150/−150 degrees
Rate of fire: 1 round per minute
Muzzle velocity Japanese service : 2,400 ft/s (732 m/s)
UK service: 2,481 ft/s (756 m/s), 2,612 ft/s (796 m/s) King Edward VII class.
Effective firing range 15,000 yards (14 km); 15° elevation
It should be noticed that the top of the turret was lightly armoured and in addition to three persicopes usable as backup fire control posts, one either side and one at the back, were placed around a large ventilation grille, louvres for extra ventilation, which was unusual and certainly not a good idea in case of plunging fire.

203mm/45 (8 inches) W

To complement the two pairs of main guns there were two pairs of 8-inches placed in corner casemates. That way, the ship could fire forward and aft two 12-in and two 8-in shells at once. They were also available for broadsides. They were part of the large femily of the EOC 8 inch 45 calibre gun in service from 1896 to 1945 and widely exported, seeing much action. These were Pattern W, also mounted on the Guiseppe Garibaldi clas cruisers, and Regina Elenea class battleship. They were also well used by the Italian on teir ground war and coastal defence.
Mass: 19 t (19 long tons)
Length: 9.5 m (31 ft 2 in)
Barrel length: 7.8 m (25 ft 7 in) 45 calibre
Shell: Separate loading bagged charge and projectile
Shell weight: 116 kg (256 lb), Calibre 203 mm (8.0 in)
Rate of fire: 2 rpm, Muzzle velocity: 790 m/s (2,600 ft/s)
Maximum firing range: 18 km (11 mi) at 30°.

Depiction on Brassey’s naval annual

152mm/40 A99 A

These QF 6-inch naval gun Pattern Armstrong 99 were specific to these Italian exports: The Elswick export designation for Italy was Pattern Z, “Cannone da 152/40 A Modello 1891”. They also ended on armoured cruisers, protected cruisers and scout cruisers. They were located on the side casemates, four below and two above, with the upper corner casemates, in the battery deck, could also fire forward and aft.
Mass: 6.6 tons – Calibre 6-inch (152mm)
Barrel length: 240 inches (6.096 m) bore
Shell 100 pounds (45 kg) QF, separate cartridge and shell
Elevation -5 /+20 degrees, Traverse +150/-150 degrees.
Rate of fire: 5–7 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity 2,154 feet per second (657 m/s)
Effective firing range 10,000 yards (9,140 m) at 20° elevation.

76mm (3 inches)/40 A

All shielded and distributed on wings, battery roof, structures fore and aft plus in recesses fore and aft. In British service they were known as the QF 12-pounder 12 cwt naval gun. They were produced under licence in Italy by Gio. Ansaldo & Company, as the Cannone da 76/40 Modello 1916.
Mass: 12 cwt (0.6 tons, 510 kg)
Length 10 ft 3 in (3.12 m), Barrel 10 ft (3 m)
Shell: Fixed QF 3-inch (7.62 cm).
Breech: single-motion screw
Rate of fire: 15 rounds per minute
Muzzle velocity 2,210 ft/s (670 m/s)
Effective firing range 11,750 yd (10,740 m) at 40°.

47 mm (1.9 in)/40 guns

In most sources they were described having a pair of 47mm/40 Hotchkiss 3-pdr and two 37mm/25 Hotchkiss “lungo”. There were four guns in the fighting tops.
The 47 mm Hotchkiss needs no intro as they were widespread in most navies of the time as ligh naval guns to deal with torpedo boats.
Mass: 240 kg (530 lb), Length 2 m (6 ft 7 in)
Barrel length 1.8 m (5 ft 11 in) 40 caliber.
Shell 3 kg (6.6 lb) Fixed QF 47 × 376 mm R, 1.5 kg (3.3 lb) projectile
Breech: Vertical sliding-wedge, Rate of fire 30 rpm
Muzzle velocity 571 m/s (1,870 ft/s), range 5.9 km (3.7 mi) at +20°.

11.4mm/94 Machine Guns

Some sources states they had also two Nordenfelt hand-crank machine guns. Their location is uncertain and it’s possible they were mounted on a wheeled undercarriage for esay deployment anywhere on the deck, and also carried by the two steam cutters for landing parties.

Torpedo Tubes

They had four submerged torpedo tubes, 450 mm or 18-inches for the widespread Fiume-Whitehead model. They were used by Standard Italian capital-ship and destroyer torpedoes of this era (early 1900s) and were manufactured by the Silurificio Whitehead factory in Fiume, utilizing 45 cm (17.7 in) Whitehead compressed-air designs.

Appareance

This class went the usual way of early century battleships: Her classic peacetime livery was the same as many ships of her day: The hull was black, without separation form the underhull, which was reddish orange or brick red, the classic antifooling color of the era. Acetoareceniate green was adopted much later. There was a white line running on top of the freeboard all the way to the stern. Unlike other battleships and cruisers of the era however instead of having part of the structure in white and many top elements in beige or canvas color. Here some representation shows the funnels and masts in ochre/buff funnels and masts. On an official model (see the source below) however they were painted in white or light silver-gray to deflect intense solar heat. Decks were wooden and varnished but left in their natural colors. It covered most metallic surfaces, the amidship battery, the two structure blocks fore and aft, the bridge, and wings. Only the interior of dorade boxes were paintned in orange. All artillery pieces were however painted black.
Later, likely before and during the time of the war with Turkey in 1910, they were painted in dark grey, with the hull now in green. According to a 1/70 model at the Museo Tecnico Navale from La Spezia it was a very dark grey indeed (src below).

The Regina Margherita in action

Launch of Regina Margherita
Regina Margherita was laid down at the Regia Arsenale di La Spezia on 20 November 1898, was launched on 30 May 1901 and completed in 1904, commissioned on 14 April 1904. The slow completion was due partly to material being not delivered on time, especially the heavy armor. She started her speed trials in the Gulf of Genoa during that summer and afterwards joined the Mediterranean Squadron. At that time budget constraints meant the ships were in active duty for seven months, training and in reserve with a skeleton crew the rest of the year. The Squadron comprised also the three brand new Regina Elena-class battleships and they participated in annual winter maneuvers in 1907, 1908 and 1909.

Margherita served as flagship of Vice Admiral Alfonso di Brocchetti. A few years later, on 29 September 1911, war broke out with the Ottoman Empire. Libya. became the target of the Italian fleet, and Regina Mergherita joined the 1st Division, 2nd Squadron with both Ammiraglio di Saint Bon-class battleships in October. The two squadrons joined forced at Stampalia (Aegean) on 17 April, and raided the northern Aegean, cutting Turkish submarine cables and shelling the Dardanelles fortresses.
Unfortunately, this move to drive the Turkish fleet in open see did not succeed. Both ships from then on went to cut other cables around Rhodes and Marmaris, the latter being shelled in the meantime and troops landed to seize the island of Scarpanto. The ships then retired to being re-barreled and in 1912, receiving four additional 3-inch guns.

Italy was neutral in August 1914, but by July 1915 was at wa, facing the the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel planned a blockade in the adriatic but with smal vessels, preserving the capital ships for a potential decisive battle with the Austro-Hungarian navy. Regina Margherita however was being reduced to a training ship with the 3rd Division. She met her fate however in the night of 11–12 December 1916 sailing in heavy seas off Valona and striking two mines laid by SM UC-14. She blew up and capsized, carrying with her 675 men but her loss was only announced in January 1917.

Brin in Genoa, 1905, German archives
Named after the famous admiral and engineer, this ship was laid down at the Castellammare di Stabia shipyard on 30 January 1899, launched on 7 November 1901 but fitting out lasted for the next four years because of materials and armor shortage like her sister, so she was completed only by 1 September 1905. She served right away with the Mediterranean Squadron, and on service for seven months alternated with reserve. After the the winter maneuvers and on 29 September 1911, was thrown in the conflict opposing Italy to the Ottoman Empire.

Benedetto Brin served with the 1st Division, 2nd Squadron, squadron flagship of Vice Admiral Farvelli. By October, she relieve Roma blockading Tripoli, and later shelled its fortifications with her medium-caliber guns and was never threated by the weak counter-battery fire. On April 1912 she sailed from Tobruk to the Aegean Sea and met the 1st Squadron off Stampalia, joining the northern Aegean to cut Turkish submarine telegraph cables and shelled the Dardanelles fortresses. She went back to italy afterwards to replace worn-out gun barrels in Italy and received four exta four 3-inch guns.

When Italy was at war during WW1, Brin was reduced to inaction and served as a training ship with the 3rd Division in Brindisi. However On 27 September 1915, she was destroyed ant anchor by a massive explosion. It was at first though the work of an Austro-Hungarian swimmer but the enquiry was re-opened recently and the Italian Navy experts concluded to an accident to me the mostly likely cause. 454 died in the explosion including Rear-Admiral Rubin de Cervin. Later 12-inch guns were salvaged and reused in fortresses protecting Venice.

The sinking of the Brin was long attributed to enemy sabotage, but in 2015—exactly 100 years after the event—the Italian Navy officially declared that:

“As has now been established, it was an accident no different from those that occurred in other navies of the era: the cause of the sinking was, in fact, attributable to the new explosives used for propellant and bursting charges—materials that, while essential and increasingly powerful, had been introduced too recently for their stability characteristics to be fully understood.”

A Summary by marina.difesa.it (archived)

“The “Two Lives” of the Battleship Benedetto Brin: It Happened on September 27, 1915. Launched at Castellammare di Stabia in 1901, the battleship Benedetto Brin was indisputably one of the finest, most efficient, and largest Italian naval vessels of the early 20th century. She took part in all activities and operations involving Italy throughout its operational life—a life that came to an end (though only in appearance) on September 27, 1915. While anchored in the roadstead of Brindisi, the ship sank at 8:00 a.m. following a sudden explosion in its aft ammunition magazine.
The aft 305mm turret was blown into the air and crashed onto the ship’s port side; the stern section of the hull, reduced to a mass of wreckage, rapidly submerged, dragging the entire ship to the seabed. There were 9 surviving officers and 473 surviving petty officers and sailors (about a hundred of whom were wounded), while 21 officers and 433 petty officers and sailors lost their lives, including Admiral Rubin de Cervin and Commander Fara Forni.

As has since been established, the incident was a tragedy similar to those that occurred in other navies of the era. The sinking was caused by the new explosives used for propellant and bursting charges; while these were essential and increasingly powerful, they had been introduced too recently for their stability characteristics to be fully understood. However, Brin’s story did not come to an abrupt end with the ship’s sinking; a new, transformed existence awaited it. Thanks to the skill and ingenuity of Navy personnel, some of its components were salvaged and redeployed, serving a strategic role in the defense of the Italian coast during the First World War. While Brin herself was considered obsolete by that time, its guns were not; they were used to equip a new type of vessel—the so-called “Armed Pontoons” of Group E. These vessels, along with other craft that defied the conventions of traditional naval architects, would have a profound impact on the course of the war…”

Read More

Fraccaroli, Aldo (1970). Italian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan
Beehler, William Henry (1913). The History of the Italian-Turkish War: September 29, 1911, to October 18, 1912. NIP
Brassey, Thomas A. (1908). “Comparative Strength”. The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.: 48–57.
Fraccaroli, Aldo (1979). “Italy”. In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway’s All the World’s Fighting Ships 1860–1905.
Halpern, Paul G. (1995). A Naval History of World War I. NIP
Hore, Peter (2006). The Ironclads. London: Southwater Publishing.6.
Leyland, John (1908). Brassey, Thomas A. (ed.). “Italian Manoeuvres”. The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co.

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navypedia.org/
web.archive.org/ marina.difesa.it/ main
web.archive.org/ marina.difesa.it/ explosion on Brin
maritimequest.com/ regina_margherita
stefsap.wordpress.com models

Model Kits/3D

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