Italian battleship Napoli Napoli was a pre - dreadnought battleship built for the Italian " Regia Marina " ( Royal Navy ) in 1903 – 08 . She was the last member of the four - ship class , which included the lead ship " Regina Elena " , " Vittorio Emanuele " , and " Roma " . " Napoli " was armed with a main battery of two and twelve guns , and was capable of a top speed of . " Napoli " saw action in the Italo - Turkish War in 1911 and 1912 ; she took part in the attack on Derna , Libya , and the amphibious assaults on the islands of Rhodes and the Dodecanese in the Aegean Sea . " Napoli " remained in service during World War I in 1915 – 18 , but saw no action as a result of the cautious policies of both the Italian and Austro - Hungarian navies . She remained in the Italian inventory until she was stricken from the naval register in August 1926 and was subsequently broken up for scrap . Design . " Napoli " was long overall and had a beam of and a maximum draft of . She displaced at full combat load . Her propulsion system consisted of two vertical triple expansion engines rated at . Steam for the engines was provided by twenty - eight coal - fired Babcock & Wilcox boiler s . The ship ' s propulsion system provided a top speed of and a range of approximately at . " Napoli " had a crew of 742 – 764 officers and enlisted men . As built , the ship was armed with two 40 - caliber guns placed in two single gun turret s , one forward and one aft . The ship was also equipped with twelve 40 - cal . guns in six twin turrets amidships . Close - range defense against torpedo boats was provided by a battery of twenty - four 40 - cal . guns . She was also equipped with two torpedo tube s placed in the hull below the waterline . " Napoli " was protected with Krupp steel manufactured in Terni . The main belt was thick , and the deck was thick . The conning tower was protected by of armor plating . The main battery guns had thick plating , and the 8 - inch gun turrets had thick sides . Service history . The keel for " Napoli " was laid down at Castellammare di Stabia on 21 October 1903 . She was launched on 10 September 1905 , and completed on 1 August 1908 . " Napoli " served in the active duty squadron through 1910 , which included her three sisters and the two s . At the time , these six battleships represented Italy ' s front - line battle fleet . The active duty squadron was typically in service for seven months of the year for training ; the rest of the year they were placed in reserve . Italo - Turkish War . On 29 September 1911 , Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire in order to seize Libya . For the duration of the conflict , " Napoli " served in the 1st Division of the 1st Squadron with her three sister ships , under the command of Vice Admiral Augusto Aubry . After the outbreak of war , " Napoli " , her sister " Roma " , and the armored cruiser s " Pisa " and " Amalfi " , were sent to blockade Tripoli in North Africa . On 2 October , the battleship " Benedetto Brin " and the training squadron arrived to relieve " Napoli " and the other ships , which thereafter left to rejoin the flagship , " Vittorio Emanuele " . On 15 October , " Napoli " , which had been detached to reinforce the armored cruisers in the 2nd Division , 1st Squadron , arrived in Derna , Libya in company with several troopships . After a request sent to the defending Ottoman garrison to surrender was rejected , " Napoli " and the armored cruisers bombarded the town . In the span of 30 minutes , they had razed the town . At 14 : 00 , the Italians attempted to land a contingent of 500 infantry , but heavy Turkish fire repulsed the assault , which prompted further bombardment from the Italian fleet . On 18 October , the Turks retreated from the town , which was thereafter occupied by the Italian army . In the meantime , " Napoli " had rejoined the 1st Division , and on 18 October , the unit had escorted a convoy of troopships to Benghazi . The Italian fleet bombarded the city the next morning after the Ottoman garrison refused to surrender . During the bombardment , parties from the ships and the infantry from the troopships went ashore . The Italians quickly forced the Ottomans to withdraw into the city by evening . After a short siege , the Ottoman forces withdrew on 29 October , leaving the city to the Italians . In November , the Ottomans launched a major attempt to retake the town . Toward the end of the month , the Italians launched a counter - attack that consisted of three battalion s of infantry and 150 men from " Napoli " . By December , " Napoli " and the other ships of the 1st Squadron were dispersed in the ports of Cyrenaica ; " Napoli " remained in Derna . In early 1912 , most of the fleet , including " Napoli " , withdrew to Italy for repairs and refit , leaving only a small force of cruisers and light craft to patrol the North African coast . On 13 April , the 1st Division left Taranto , bound for the island of Rhodes . Meanwhile , the 3rd Division escorted a convoy of troopships from Tobruk to the island . The Italian heavy ships demonstrated off the city of Rhodes while the transports landed the expeditionary force to the south on 4 May ; the soldiers quickly advanced on the city , supported by artillery fire from the Italian fleet . The Turks surrendered the city the following day . Between 8 and 20 May , " Napoli " was involved in the seizure of several islands in the Dodecanese between Crete , Rhodes , and Samos . In June , " Napoli " and the rest of the 1st Division was stationed at Rhodes . Over the next two months , the ships cruised in the Aegean to prevent the Turks from attempting to launch their own amphibious operations to retake the islands Italy had seized in May . The 1st Division returned to Italy in late August for repairs and refitting , and were replaced by the battleships of the 2nd Squadron . The 1st Division left port on 14 October , but was recalled later that day , when the Ottomans had agreed to sign a peace treaty to end the war . World War I . Italy declared neutrality after the outbreak of World War I in August 1914 , but by July 1915 , the Triple Entente had convinced the Italians to enter the war against the Central Powers . Italy ' s traditional naval rival , the Austro - Hungarian Navy , was the primary opponent in the conflict , and lay directly across the narrow Adriatic Sea . Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel , the Italian Naval Chief of Staff , understood that Austro - Hungarian submarine s presented too serious a threat to his capital ship s for him to mount an active fleet policy . Instead , Revel decided to implement blockade at the relatively safer southern end of the Adriatic with the battle fleet , while smaller vessels , such as the MAS boats conducted raids on Austro - Hungarian ships and installations . Meanwhile , Revel ' s battleships would be preserved to confront the Austro - Hungarian battle fleet in the event that it sought a decisive engagement . As a result , the ship was not particularly active during the war . During the war , " Napoli " and her three sisters were assigned to the 2nd Division . They spent much of the war rotating between the bases at Taranto , Brindisi , and Valona , but did not see combat . On 14 – 15 May 1917 , three light cruiser s of the Austro - Hungarian Navy raided the Otranto Barrage ; in the ensuring Battle of the Strait of Otranto , " Napoli " and her sisters raised steam to assist the Allied warships , but the Italian commander refused to permit them to join the battle for fear of risking their loss in the submarine - infested Adriatic . In early 1922 , the world ' s major navies , including Italy , signed the Washington Naval Treaty . According to the terms of the treaty , Italy could keep " Napoli " and her three sisters , along with the newer dreadnought battleships . Due to the small size and age of the ships , particularly in comparison to the modern dreadnoughts , the Italians could have kept the ships in service indefinitely . They could not , however , be replaced by new battleships under the normal practice of the Treaty system , which provided for replacements after a ship was 20 years old . " Napoli " was retained for a few years , but was stricken from the naval register on 3 August 1926 and sold for scrap .