The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1891-04-04
itaIy's Naval Strength.


For the qualification Of those excltable per-
sons who see war cloud in the New Orleans
affair, we give some interesting facts about
the naval strength Of Italy.
The Italian navy is the third In Europe,
and for the highest types of vessels 1t can
show the equal Of any that England has put
into the water.
The Italia and the Lepanto stood from 1888
till recently as the largest warships afloat
and now are surpassed only slightly by three
English ships. and to-day the Italian navy
carries more guns of eighty tons and over
than that Of any other nation.
The Italia and the Lepanto are of 137OO
tons displacement, 490 feet long, IA feet
broad, with draft Of more than 80 feet, and
make sixteen to seventeen knots. Tney are
armed each with four 100ton breech-loading
rifles, with a br0adside battery Of seven 6
inch guns In one and nine In the other, be-
sides number Of lighter guns. The 10O-ton
ored with g. inches Of steel. They will carry
20OO.pound projectile, and will perforate
Is inches OF wrought iron at distance Of
1000 yards.
The Re Umbesto. the Stella and the Sarde-
qua are Of the same general type. as the
Italia. The Re Umberto, launched in 1888,
Is Of 13, ,2S9 tons displacement and for her
main battery has four 104 ton guns in bar
bettes of 10 inch inclined compound armor.
The secondary battery Is twelve 6-inch guns,
six 3-iBch guns and ten machine and quick
firing guns and torpedo tubes. The engines
are OF $500 horse power and give maximum
speed of eighteen knots. The Stella and the
Sardegua are Of practically the same descrip-
tion as the Re Umberto., The second rank
of Italy's first-class battle ships consists of
the Dandola, Duilo, Ruggiero dI Sanria,
Andrea Doria ana francesca Morosini. The
DuilO and the Dand0la have 22-inch armor On
the citadel. The others have 1S-inch plates.
They are of a little over 10000 tons displace-
ment. have speed Of fourteen or fifteen
knots, and are armed with 100-ton guns. Be-
sides these Italy has some Of the finest cruis-
ers atioat. The Giovanni Bausan Is modelled
after the celebrated Chilian Esmeralda, but
Is more powerful. She was built In England
In 1885. She is go feet long. AZ feet broad,
with a draught0f IS feet inches, 5000 tons
displacement and makes seventeen knots.
She Is armed with two 10-lnch breech-load-
ers forward and aft, and six 6-inch breeeh-
leaders on broadsde. 1t will be seen that
she Is a smaller and slower vessel than the
Charleston, but more heavily armed.
The swiftest cruiser yet built was added to
the Italian feet In 1SS9-the Piemonte, OF 800
feet length and 2500 tons draught. She made
20.4 knots mean speed on her trial and %
maximum speed. She Is armed with six rapid
fire 6inch guns, six Of 476-inch callber, ten
6-pounders and six 1-pounder HOtchkiss
guns. She can, by her superior make Of guns,
fire double the weight Of metal In a given
time that could be fired by the largest war
ship afioat. This is the type Of navy that
could be send against us by Italy. The PIE
monte could catch or run away from any
ship we have ahoat. We have nothing to
compare with the Italia and the four big sis
ter ships OF her class. The three big 10000
ton battle ships, for which contracts were
let last fall, might cope on even terms with
the Italian ships, but they have not had
their keels laid. The Puritan and the
Miantonomah might be Of some use for bar,
Dor defense In case New York was attacked
by hostile fleet, but they would be so far
0yerweighted that they would probably Dc
captured In case they were not sunk, In case
three or four Of the big ships appeared oe-
fore the harbor together. The Vesuvius pos
sibly could sink them II she got near enough,
with her dynamite guns, but she would
probably be blown out OF the water before
| she got anywhere within her firing distance.
A drawback to the efficiency Of these big
war-ships Is the fact that they are heavily
oyerarmed and that they would be disabled
by few rounds of their own fire. The
Giovanni Bausan, for instance, 100 tons
smaller than the Charleston, has fore and
aft 1O-inch guns. The Charleston has Rinch
guns, The San Franchises largest gun Is .
inch. The Monterey was planned 10 haye
one 16.ineh 100-ton gun on the forward
barbette and a 12-inch ait. This has beer
changed to two II inch forward and a 10-incf
aft, the two forward guns weighing about a:
much as tne one gun that they displace.