Roma-class ironclad

The Roma class was designed by Insp. Eng. Giuseppe De Luca, who initially planned to build both ships as broadside ironclads, during the Austro-Italian ironclad arms race.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=339}} By this time, however, other navies had begun to build central battery ships, which concentrated a smaller number of guns in an armored casemate that had limited capability for end-on fire. This change allowed the ship to be shorter, which in turn required less armor and made the ship more maneuverable.{{sfn|Sondhaus 1994|p=44}} As a result, De Luca re-designed the second ship of the class, {{ship|Italian ironclad|Venezia||2}}, into a central battery ironclad while she was under construction.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=339}}

The ships of the Roma class had wooden hulls, though they did incorporate some iron in their construction. The two ships varied slightly in their dimensions, a result of Venezia having been converted into a central battery ship during construction. {{ship|Italian ironclad|Roma||2}} was {{convert|79.67|m|sp=us}} long between perpendiculars; she had a beam of {{convert|17.33|m|abbr=on}} and an average draft of {{convert|7.57|m|abbr=on}}. Venezia was {{convert|79.65|m|abbr=on}} between perpendiculars, with a beam of {{convert|17.48|m|abbr=on}} and a draft of {{convert|7.6|m|abbr=on}}. Roma displaced {{convert|5698|LT|sp=us|lk=on}} normally, while Venezia displaced {{convert|5722|LT|abbr=on|sp=us}}. Both ships displaced {{convert|6151|LT|sp=us|abbr=on}} at full load. The ships had a crew of 549–551 officers and men.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=339}}

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 amidships. The engines produced a top speed of {{convert|13|kn|lk=in}} from {{convert|3670|ihp|lk=in}}. They could steam for {{convert|1940|nmi|lk=in}} at a speed of {{convert|10|kn}}. The ships were fitted with a three-masted barque rig to supplement the steam engine for long-distance cruising. Each ship had {{convert|31833|sqft}} of sail area.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=339}}

Roma was a broadside ironclad, and she was armed with a main battery of five {{cvt|10|in|0|order=flip}} guns and twelve {{cvt|8|in|0|order=flip}} guns. Venezia was completed as a central battery ship, with a battery of eighteen 254 mm guns placed in an armored casemate. Both ships had their armament revised throughout their careers. In 1874–75, the ships' batteries were replaced with eleven 254 mm guns for Roma and eight 254 mm and one {{convert|220|mm|abbr=on}} for Venezia. From 1886, Roma carried eleven 220 mm guns; four years later her armament was reduced to five 8 in guns. Venezia was converted into a training ship in 1881, and was equipped with four {{convert|75|mm|abbr=on|0}} guns and four {{convert|57|mm|abbr=on}} guns.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=339}}

Both ships were protected by wrought iron belt armor that was {{cvt|5.9|in|0|order=flip}} thick and extended for the entire length of the hull at the waterline. Venezia{{'}}s casemate had {{cvt|4.75|in|order=flip}} of wrought iron protecting the guns.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=339}}

File:Venezia pirofregata corazzata.jpg

The two ships, completed too late to see action in the Third Italian War of Independence, had uneventful careers. Roma was obsolescent by the time she entered service, having been superseded by more advanced central battery ships.{{sfn|Sondhaus 1994|pp=43–46}}{{sfn|Ordovini, Petronio, & Sullivan|p=348}} Venezia was modified during construction into a central battery ship, but the changes necessitated lengthy delays. Ironically, by the time she was completed, the Italian navy had moved on to yet further advanced turret ships like the {{sclass|Duilio|ironclad|4}}.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=339}}{{sfn|Sondhaus 2001|p=112}} Roma was mobilized during the Franco-Prussian War, during which Italy took advantage of the French defeat to seize Rome. Roma and the rest of the fleet was to attack the port of Civitavecchia, but the fleet was unable to assemble sufficient forces for the operation.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=336}}

In 1880, Roma 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, she was involved in a collision with the ironclad {{ship|Italian ironclad|Principe Amedeo||2}}, 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}} That year, Venezia was converted into a torpedo training ship, while Roma remained in service until 1890, when she became a guard ship at La Spezia. In 1895, both ships were stricken from the naval register. Venezia was broken up for scrap the following year, but Roma was converted into a depot ship in La Spezia. On 28 July 1896, she was set on fire by a lightning strike and badly burned. The damage proved to be beyond economical repair, and so she was broken up for scrap.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|p=339}}

{{notelist}}

{{reflist|20em}}

• {{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 1994}}

}}

• {{cite book

|last=Sondhaus

|first=Lawrence

|title=Naval Warfare, 1815–1914

|location=New York

|publisher=Routledge

|year=2001

|isbn=978-0-415-21478-0

|ref={{sfnref|Sondhaus 2001}}

}}

• {{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/roma_pirofregata.aspx Classe Roma] Marina Militare website {{in lang|it}}

{{Portal bar|Italy|Engineering}}

{{Roma class ironclads}}

{{Italian ironclads}}