Ironclad Battleships: Duilio Class

[Brian James]

Duilio Class Ironclad Turret Ship RM Dandalo on the ways on launch day at La Spezia on July 10th 1878. They were fitted with the largest guns available, Elswick Ordnance Co 17.72 inch rifled, muzzle-loading guns, and were the largest, fastest and most powerful ships of their day. Enrico Dandolo was built in La Spezia, with her keel laid in January 1873 and her hull launched in July 1878. Construction was finally completed in April 1882 when the ship, named for the 41st Doge of Venice, was commissioned into the Italian fleet.
Enrico Dandolo spent much of her career in the Active Squadron of the Italian fleet, primarily occupied with training exercises. She was heavily modernized in 1895–1898, receiving a new battery of fast-firing 10 inch guns in place of the old 17.72 inch guns. The ship served in the Reserve Squadron after 1905, and then became a Gunnery Training Ship. During the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, Enrico Dandolo was among the few ships of the Italian fleet to see no action. She was employed as a harbour defense ship, first in Tobruk, Libya in 1913 and then in Brindisi and Venice during WW I. She was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1920.