Italian ironclad Palestro

Palestro at anchor in La Spezia in 1887
History
Kingdom of Italy
Name	Palestro
Namesake	Palestro
Builder	Arsenale di La Spezia[1]
Laid down	August 1865
Launched	30 September or 2 October 1871
Completed	11 July 1875
Stricken	1895
Fate	Scrapped, 1902–04
General characteristics
Class and type	Principe Amedeo-class ironclad warship
Displacement	Normal: 5,761 long tons (5,853 t) Full load: 6,318 long tons (6,419 t)
Length	78.82 m (258 ft 7 in)
Beam	17.3 m (56 ft 9 in)
Draft	8 m (26 ft 3 in)
Installed power	6 fire-tube boilers 6,117 ihp (4,561 kW)
Propulsion	1 × marine steam engine 1 × screw propeller
Speed	12.85 knots (23.80 km/h; 14.79 mph)
Range	1,780 nmi (3,300 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	548
Armament	6 × 254 mm (10 in) guns 1 × 279 mm (11 in) gun
Armor	Belt armor: 221 mm (8.7 in) Casemate: 140 mm (5.5 in) Conning tower: 61 mm (2.4 in)

Palestro was an ironclad warship, the second and final member of the Principe Amedeo class, built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1860s and 1870s. She was armed with a battery of six 254 mm (10 in) guns and one 279 mm (11 in) gun. The last sail-rigged ironclad of the Italian fleet, she had a single steam engine that was capable of propelling the ship at a speed of slightly over 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph).

Obsolescent before she entered service, Palestro had an uneventful career. She served primarily in Italy's colonial empire and did not see action. In 1880, she took part in an international naval demonstration off Ragusa to enforce the Treaty of Berlin. Palestro was employed in the defense of La Maddalena from 1889 to 1894, and thereafter as a training ship. She was stricken from the naval register in 1900 and broken up for scrap in 1902–1904.