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The ''Italia'' class was a class of two ironclad battleships built for the Italian ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) in the 1870s and 1880s. The two ships— and —were designed by Benedetto Brin, who chose to discard traditional belt armor entirely, relying on a combination of very high speed and extensive internal subdivision to protect the ships. This, along with their armament of very large guns, has led some naval historians to refer to the ''Italia'' class as prototypical battlecruisers. Despite serving for over thirty years, the ships had uneventful careers. They spent their first two decades in service with the Active and Reserve Squadrons, where they were primarily occupied with training maneuvers. ''Lepanto'' was converted into a training ship in 1902 and ''Italia'' was significantly modernized in 1905–08 before also becoming a training ship. They briefly saw action during the Italo-Turkish War, where they provided gunfire support to Italian troops defending Tripoli. ''Lepanto'' was discarded in early 1915, though ''Italia'' continued on as a guard ship during World War I, eventually being converted into a grain transport. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1921. ==Design== Starting in the 1870s, following the Italian fleet's defeat at the Battle of Lissa, the Italians began a large naval expansion program, at first aimed at countering the Austro-Hungarian Navy.〔Greene & Massignani, p. 394〕 The ''Italia''s were the second class of the programme, which also included the , designed in the mid-1870s by Insp Eng Benedetto Brin. The ships were authorized in 1875, with funding allocated to begin construction the following year.〔Sondhaus (1994), p. 50〕 They were faster and more seaworthy than the preceding ''Caio Duilio'' class, owing to their higher freeboard. Brin intended them to be capable of fighting successfully against any foreign warship in service, and so he opted for very large guns for the main battery.〔Gibbons, p. 106〕 Brin originally planned for the ships to displace 13,850 tons (14,066 tonnes), to have a secondary armament of eighteen 6-inch (152-mm) guns, and to carry 3,000 tons (3,047 tonnes) of coal for increased range over that of the ''Caio Duilio'' class. In the end, however, the 6-inch (152-mm) armament was reduced to eight 6-inch (152 mm) and the coal capacity to 1,700 tons (1,727 tonnes) on 15,000 tons (15,237 tonnes) displacement.〔 The number of 6-inch (152-mm) guns was reduced because it was found that the additional guns could not have been manned when the 17-inch (432-mm) guns were in use.〔 Unlike other ships built at the time, the two ''Italia''-class ironclads dispensed with vertical belt armor. Brin believed that contemporary steel alloys could not effectively defeat armor-piercing shells of the day. Additionally, fitting belt armor on a ship the size of ''Italia'' would cause a prohibitive increase in displacement, and so he discarded it completely in favor of a thin armored deck.〔 They were very large and fast warships for their time, displacing over 15,000 tons at full load; could make , while could achieve .〔 Other ironclads of the era could not make more than .〔 Their high speed, powerful main battery, and thin armor protection has led to many naval historians to characterize the ships as proto-battlecruisers.〔Sondhaus (2001), p. 112〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Italia-class ironclad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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