Italian battleship Roma ( 1907 ) Roma was an Italian pre - dreadnought battleship , laid down in 1903 , launched in 1907 and completed in 1908 . She was the third member of the , which included three other vessels : " Regina Elena " , " Napoli " , and " Vittorio Emanuele " . " Roma " was armed with a main battery of two guns and twelve guns . She was quite fast for the period , with a top speed of nearly . " Roma " saw action in the Italo - Turkish War in 1911 and 1912 ; she took part in the attack on Benghazi , and the amphibious assaults on the islands of Rhodes and the Dodecanese in the Aegean Sea . " Roma " 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 September 1926 and was subsequently broken up for scrap . Design . " Roma " 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 . " Roma " 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 . " Roma " 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 . " Roma " was laid down at the La Spezia shipyard on 20 August 1903 and launched on 21 April 1907 . After fitting - out work , the ship was completed on 17 December 1908 . After her commissioning , " Roma " was assigned to the active duty squadron , where she remained 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 . Italy declared war on the Ottoman Empire in order to seize Libya and other Ottoman holdings in the Mediterranean on 29 September 1911 . For the duration of the conflict , " Roma " served in the 1st Division of the 1st Squadron with her three sister ships , under the command of Vice Admiral Augusto Aubry . On 30 September , " Roma " , her sister " Vittorio Emanuele " , and the armored cruiser " Pisa " conducted a sweep in the Aegean , in the hopes of catching the Turkish training squadron , which was at the time returning from the Levant to Constantinople . Shortly thereafter , " Roma " , her sister " Napoli " , and the armored cruisers " Pisa " and " Amalfi " conducted a blockade of the port of Tripoli . The ships were relieved on 3 October by the battleships " Benedetto Brin " and the three vessels of the . On 18 October , " Roma " and the rest of the 1st Division escorted a convoy of eight 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 . By December , " Roma " and the other ships of the 1st Squadron were dispersed in the ports of Cyrenaica . " Roma " remained stationed at Benghazi along with her sister " Regina Elena " , along with the armored cruiser " San Marco " and the " Agordat " . While there , the ships assisted in the defense of the recently conquered city from Turkish counter - attacks . In early 1912 , " Roma " and the bulk of the fleet withdrew to Italy for maintenance necessary after several months of combat operations . Only a small force of cruisers and light craft was left to patrol the North African coast , since the Ottoman fleet remained confined to port . The 1st Division left Taranto on 13 April for a demonstration off the Anatolian coast , along with the battleships of the 3rd Division , which had left from Tobruk . The two squadrons met on 17 April off the island of Stampalia , after which the combined fleet steamed north . The following day , the ships cut submarine telegraph cable s between Imbros , Tenedos , Lemnos , Salonica , and the Dardanelles . The ships then steamed to the entrance to the Dardanelles in an attempt to lure out the Ottoman fleet . When the Ottoman coastal fortifications began to take the Italian ships under fire , the Italians returned fire and inflicted serious damage on them . On 19 April , " Roma " and most of the fleet returned to Italy , leaving only " Pisa " , " Amalfi " , and a flotilla of torpedo boat s to cruise off the Ottoman coast . On 30 April , the 1st Division again departed from Taranto , bound for the island of Rhodes . Meanwhile , the 3rd Division battleships escorted a convoy of troopships from Tobruk to the island . The Italian heavy ships cruised 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 , " Roma " was involved in the seizure of several islands in the Dodecanese between Crete , Rhodes , and Samos . In June , " Roma " 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 with promises of territory acquisition in " Italia irredenta " . The Austro - Hungarian Navy , which had been Italy ' s primary rival for decades , was the primary opponent in the conflict . The Austro - Hungarian battle fleet lay in its harbors directly across the narrow Adriatic Sea . Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel , the Italian naval chief of staff , believed that Austro - Hungarian submarine s and minelayers could operate too effectively in the narrow waters of the Adriatic . The threat from these underwater weapons to his capital ship s was too serious for him to use the fleet in an active way . 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 , " Roma " and her sisters did not see significant action during the war . For the duration of the conflict , " Roma " 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 ensuing Battle of the Strait of Otranto , " Roma " 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 . The world ' s major navies , including Italy , signed the Washington Naval Treaty in early 1922 in an effort to stop naval arms race s , which were seen as one of the causes of the Great War . According to the terms of the treaty , Italy could keep " Roma " and her three sisters , along with the newer dreadnought battleships . Due to the small size and age of the ships 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 . " Roma " was retained for only a few years after the signing of the treaty . On 3 September 1926 , " Roma " was stricken from the naval register and subsequently broken up for scrap .