.jpg) Formidabile
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 Kingdom of Italy | |
| Name | Formidabile |
| Laid down | December 1860 |
| Launched | 1 October 1861 |
| Completed | May 1862 |
| Stricken | 1903 |
| Fate | Broken up |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Formidabile-class ironclad warship |
| Displacement | |
| Length | 65.8 m (215 ft 11 in) |
| Beam | 14.44 m (47 ft 5 in) |
| Draft | 5.45 m (17 ft 11 in) |
| Installed power |
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| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Range | 1,300 nmi (2,400 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 371 |
| Armament |
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| Armor | Belt armor: 109 mm (4.3 in) |
Formidabile was the lead ship of the Formidabile-class ironclad warships, the first ships of that type to be built for the newly formed Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy). Formidabile and her sister, Terribile, were both built in France; Formidabile was laid down in December 1860, was launched in October 1861, and was completed in May 1862. She was a broadside ironclad, equipped with four 203 mm (8 in) and sixteen 164 mm (6.5 in) guns.
The ship took part in the operation off Lissa in 1866 during the Third Italian War of Independence. There, she silenced the Austrian coastal batteries protecting the main port, but she was too badly damaged to take part in the ensuing Battle of Lissa. The ship's postwar career was limited due to a combination of drastically reduced naval budgets and the appearance of more modern ironclads. Formidabile was used as a training ship starting in 1887; she was discarded in 1903 and broken up for scrap.