Principe Amedeo-class ironclad

In 1862, the Italian government under Prime Minister Urbano Rattazzi and his naval minister Carlo Pellion di Persano made the decision to build a fleet of ironclad warships, which sparked the Austro-Italian ironclad arms race.{{sfn|Sondhaus|p=11}} The Italian fleet had already acquired a pair of small, French-built armored frigates of the {{sclass|Formidabile|ironclad|4}}, and two more vessels of the {{sclass|Re d'Italia|ironclad|4}} had been ordered from the United States. Five more ironclads were ordered from foreign shipyards, three wooden steam frigates already under construction were converted into armored ships, and four more ironclads were ordered from Italian shipyards. The two Principe Amedeo-class ships were the last two of this first generation of Italian ironclads. The design for Principe Amedeo was prepared by Inspector Engineer Giuseppe De Luca. He had initially planned on using entirely wooden hulls for the ships, but had changed to composite wood and iron construction by the time the ships were laid down.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|pp=337–340}}

File:Palestro line drawing.png

The two ships differed slightly in size. Principe Amedeo was {{convert|79.73|m|ftin|sp=us}} long between perpendiculars, while Palestro was {{convert|78.82|m|ftin|abbr=on}} long. Principe Amedeo had a beam of {{convert|17.4|m|ftin|abbr=on}} and a draft of {{convert|7.9|m|ftin|abbr=on}}; Palestro{{'}}s beam measured {{convert|17.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}}, and she had a draft of {{convert|8|m|ftin|abbr=on}}. Both ships displaced {{convert|5761|LT|sp=us|lk=on}} normally, but Principe Amedeo displaced {{convert|6020|LT|sp=us|abbr=on}} at full load and Palestro reached {{convert|3218|LT|sp=us|abbr=on}}. The ships had an inverted bow with a naval ram below the waterline. Their superstructure was minimal, consisting primarily of a small conning tower forward. They had a crew of 548 officers and men.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=340}}

The ships' propulsion system consisted of one single-expansion steam engine that drove a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by six coal-fired, cylindrical fire-tube boilers. The boilers were trunked into a single funnel. The lead ship's engine produced a top speed of {{convert|12.2|kn|lk=in}} at {{convert|6117|ihp|lk=in}}, while Palestro made {{convert|12.85|kn|abbr=on}} at the same horsepower. They could steam for {{convert|1780|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}. The ships were barque-rigged to supplement the steam engine; Principe Amedeo and her sister were the last rigged ironclad to be built by Italy. The ships' sail area were {{convert|36738|sqft}} for Principe Amedeo and {{convert|37361|sqft|abbr=on}} for Palestro.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=340}}

Palestro and Principe Amedeo were both armed with a main battery of six {{convert|10|in|abbr=on|0|order=flip}} guns, though they were mounted differently in each ship. Principe Amedeo carried hers in a single armored casemate located amidships, while Palestro{{'}}s guns were mounted in three armored casemates. The first was located forward, toward the bow, the second and third were placed close to the stern on each side of the ship. Both ships also carried an {{convert|11|in|abbr=on|0|order=flip}} gun that was mounted forward as a bow chaser. Later in her career, Principe Amedeo received a secondary battery of six {{convert|2.9|in|abbr=on|0|order=flip}} guns and six machine guns, along with two torpedo tubes.{{sfn|Clowes|p=376}}

The two ships were protected by iron belt armor that was {{convert|8.7|in|abbr=on|0|order=flip}} thick and extended for the entire length of the hull. The casemates were protected with {{convert|5.5|in|abbr=on|0|order=flip}} of iron plating, and the small conning tower had {{convert|2.4|in|abbr=on|0|order=flip}} thick iron plates.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=340}}

File:Italian ironclad Palestro.jpg in 1887]]

Neither ship had a particularly eventful career. They were completed too late to take part in the final stages of the wars of Italian unification. Instead, they were assigned to the Italian colonial empire, with occasional stints in the main Italian fleet.{{sfn|Ordovini, Petronio, & Sullivan|p=358}} In 1880, Palestro took part in a naval demonstration off Ragusa in an attempt to force the Ottoman Empire to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Berlin and turn over the town of Ulcinj to Montenegro.{{sfn|London News|p=278}} The following year, Principe Amedeo was involved in a collision with the ironclad {{ship|Italian ironclad|Roma||2}} during a hurricane, though neither ship was damaged.{{cite news|title=Stray Foreign Facts|newspaper=The New York Times|date=23 November 1881|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1881/11/23/98573417.pdf}}

In the late 1880s, both ships were withdrawn from frontline service and employed as headquarters ships for the defense of Taranto—Principe Amedeo—and La Maddalena—Palestro. Principe Amedeo was stricken from the naval register in 1895 and used as an ammunition depot ship in Taranto until 1910, when she was sold for scrap. Palestro was employed as a training ship between 1894 and 1900, when she too was stricken from the register. She was broken up between 1902 and 1904.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=340}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|20em}}

• {{cite book

|last=Clowes

|first=W. Laird

|author-link=William Laird Clowes

|title=The Naval Pocket-Book

|year=1905

|location=London

|publisher=W. Thacker & Co.

|ref={{sfnref|Clowes}}

}}

• {{cite book

|last=Fraccaroli

|first=Aldo

|editor-last=Gardiner

|editor-first=Robert

|chapter=Italy

|pages=334–359

|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905

|year=1979

|location=London

|publisher=Conway Maritime Press

|isbn=978-0-85177-133-5

| url-access = registration

| url = https://archive.org/details/conwaysallworlds0000unse_l2e2

|ref={{sfnref|Fraccaroli}}

}}

• {{cite magazine

|last1=Ordovini

|first1=Aldo F.

|last2=Petronio

|first2=Fulvio

|last3=Sullivan

|first3=David M.

|title=Capital Ships of the Royal Italian Navy, 1860–1918: Part I: The Formidabile, Principe di Carignano, Re d'Italia, Regina Maria Pia, Affondatore, Roma and Principe Amedeo Classes

|magazine=Warship International

|date=December 2014

|volume= 51

|issue= 4

|pages=323–360

|issn=0043-0374

|name-list-style=amp

|ref={{sfnref|Ordovini, Petronio, & Sullivan}}

}}

• {{Cite book

| last=Sondhaus

| first=Lawrence

| title=The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918

| year=1994

| location=West Lafayette

| publisher=Purdue University Press

| isbn=978-1-55753-034-9

|ref={{sfnref|Sondhaus}}

}}

• {{cite magazine

|title=The Naval Demonstration in the Adriatic

|page=278

|date=18 September 1880

|magazine=The Illustrated London News

|location=London

|publisher=George C. Leighton

|ref={{sfnref|London News}}

}}

{{Commons category}}

• [https://www.marina.difesa.it/noi-siamo-la-marina/mezzi/mezzi-storici/Pagine/PQRS/principe_amedeo.aspx Principe Amedeo] Marina Militare website {{in lang|it}}

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{{Principe Amedeo class ironclads}}

{{Italian ironclads}}