Italian ironclad Enrico Dandolo

Enrico Dandolo
Enrico Dandolo shortly after her completion in 1882
History
NameEnrico Dandolo
NamesakeEnrico Dandolo
Laid down6 January 1873
Launched1878
Commissioned1882
Decommissioned4 July 1920
General characteristics
Class and typeDuilio-class ironclad turret ship
Displacement
Length109.16 m (358 ft 2 in)
Beam19.65 m (64 ft 6 in)
Draft8.36 m (27 ft 5 in)
Installed power
Propulsion
Speed15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Range3,760 nmi (6,960 km; 4,330 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement420
Armament
Armor
  • Belt: 546 mm (21.5 in)
  • Turrets: 432 mm (17 in)
  • Deck: 30 to 51 mm (1.2 to 2 in)

Enrico Dandolo was the second of two Duilio-class ironclad turret ships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1870s. They were fitted with the largest guns available, 450 mm (18 in) rifled, muzzle-loading guns, and were the largest, fastest and most powerful ships of their day.[1] 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 254 mm (10 in) guns in place of the old 17.72 in 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 harbor defense ship, first in Tobruk, Libya in 1913 and then in Brindisi and Venice during World War I. The ship was ultimately broken up for scrap in 1920.

  1. ^ Silverstone, p. 285