Scouts (Cruisers, then destroyers) Alessandro Poerio, Cesare Rossarol, Gugliemo Pepe 1915-1937 Huesca and Teruel (1937-1957) The Alessandro Poerio class were on paper three scout cruisers (“esploratore”) built before World War I and in 1921 given their small size, the two surviving ships were reclassified as destroyers. They were capable of 30 kts and at least … Read more
Italy – Regia Marina: RN Francesco Caracciolo, Marcantonio Colonna, Cristoforo Colombo, Francesco Morosini (1914-1921) The first Italian Fast Battleships The last class of Italian dreadnoughts conceived before the war was the Caracciolo class, started in 1914-15. They were radically new battleships, much faster and heavily armed: They presented the new generation of Italian ‘super dreadnought’ … Read more
Italian Colonial Cruiser (1892-1924) Calabria was a small protected cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina which was to serve across the growing Italian empire. Construction took six years, and she was armed with four 6-in main guns, four 4.7 in guns with the size and displacement of a typical large gunboat. She saw a lot … Read more
Italy (1894-1904) 10 Armoured Cruisers (+1 cancelled). Italy: Giuseppe Garibaldi, Francesco Ferruccio, Varese The best Italian Armoured Cruisers ? Among the best armoured cruisers of their time with 10 ships built (11 planned, one cancelled), The Garibaldi class were sold to Argentina, Spain and Japan. Italy operated Varese (launched 1899), Guiseppe Garibaldi (1899) and Francesco … Read more
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
