page_title: Italia-class ironclad
section_title: General characteristics and machinery
hierarchical_section_title: Italia-class ironclad / Design / General characteristics and machinery
caption_attribution_description: English: Sketch of the Italian battleship Lepanto class.
context_page_description: The Italia class was a class of two ironclad battleships built for the Italian Regia Marina in the 1870s and 1880s. The two ships—Italia and Lepanto—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 17-inch 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 1905–1908 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.
context_section_description: The ships of the Italia class were 122 meters (400 ft) long between perpendiculars and 124.7 m (409 ft) long overall. Italia had a beam of 22.54 m (74.0 ft), while Lepanto was slightly narrower, at 22.34 m (73.3 ft). The ships had a draft of 8.75 m (28.7 ft) and 9.39 m (30.8 ft), respectively. Italia displaced 13,678 long tons (13,897 t) normally and up to 15,407 long tons (15,654 t) at full load, while Lepanto displaced 13,336 long tons (13,550 t) normally and 15,649 long tons (15,900 t) fully laden. Italia's hull was constructed of iron and steel covered by wood, which in turn was covered by zinc, while Lepanto's hull was made entirely of steel. Both ships were fitted with a single military mast with fighting tops placed directly amidships; a small hurricane deck connected the ships' funnels and the mast. They had a crew of 669–701 officers and men. The ships had 25 feet (7.6 m) of freeboard.
  Their propulsion system consisted of four compound steam engines each driving a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by eight coal-fired, oval boilers and sixteen fire-tube boilers. Italia's boilers were trunked into six funnels, placed in two sets of three all on the centerline. Lepanto only had four funnels in two pairs; during Italia's refit in 1905–1908, her funnels were reduced to an identical arrangement. Italia's engines produced a top speed of 17.8 knots (33.0 km/h; 20.5 mph) from 11,986 indicated horsepower (8,938 kW); Lepanto was faster, with a top speed of 18.4 knots (34.1 km/h; 21.2 mph) from 15,797 ihp (11,780 kW). The ships could steam for 5,000 nautical miles (9,300 km; 5,800 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).
caption: Line drawing of the Italia class
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