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.

[Brian James]

Lead Ship, Ironclad Battleship RN Duilio pictured at Genoa c1885..The two ships of Class, Duilio and Enrico Dandolo, were fitted with the largest guns available, 17.7 inch rifled muzzle-loading guns, made by the Elswick Ordnance Company at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, the Class were the largest, fastest and most powerful ships of their day. To save weight on such large vessels, the ship's designer, Benedetto Brin adopted a radical solution for the time: he reserved armour only for the central portion of the ship where it protected the ships' engines and ammunition magazines, while the rest of the hull were extensively sub-divided with watertight compartments.
Both ships had uneventful careers. They spent the majority of their time in service with the Active and Reserve Squadrons of the main Italian fleet. There, they were primarily occupied with conducting training exercises. In 1895–1898, Enrico Dandolo was heavily reconstructed, but the excessive cost of the modernization prevented Duilio from being similarly rebuilt. Both ships were reassigned as Training Ships in the early to mid-1900s. Duilio was stricken from the naval register in 1909 and converted into a floating oil tank, while Enrico Dandolo remained in service as a Guard Ship during World War I. She was sent to the breaker's yard in 1920. Duilio's ultimate fate is unknown.