Re Umberto-class ironclad

Sicilia
Class overview
Name	Re Umberto
Builders	Regio Cantiere di Castellammare di Stabia
Operators	Regia Marina
Preceded by	Ruggiero di Lauria class
Succeeded by	Ammiraglio di Saint Bon class
Subclasses	Sardegna
Built	1884–1895
In commission	1893–1918
Completed	3
Scrapped	3
General characteristics
Type	Ironclad battleship
Displacement	Normal: 13,673 long tons (13,892 t) Full load: 15,454 long tons (15,702 t)
Length	418 ft 7.5 in (127.6 m)
Beam	76 ft 10.5 in (23.4 m)
Draft	30 ft 6 in (9.3 m)
Installed power	19,500 ihp (14,541 kW) 18 × fire-tube boilers
Propulsion	2 × compound steam engines 2 × screw propellers
Speed	18.5 knots (34.3 km/h; 21.3 mph)
Range	4,000–6,000 nmi (7,408–11,112 km)
Complement	733
Armament	4 × 343 mm (13.5 in) guns 8 × 152 mm (6 in) guns 16 × 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 16 × 57 mm (2.2 in) six-pounder guns 10 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns 5 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Belt and side: 102 mm (4 in) Deck: 76.2 mm (3 in) Barbettes: 349 mm (13.75 in) Turrets: 102 mm (4 in) Conning tower: 300 mm (11.8 in) Casemates: 51 mm (2 in)

The Re Umberto class were a group of three ironclad battleships built for the Italian Navy in the 1880s and 1890s. The ships—Re Umberto, Sicilia, and Sardegna—were built as the culmination of a major naval expansion program begun in the 1870s following Italy's defeat at the Battle of Lissa in 1866. The Re Umbertos incorporated several innovations over previous Italian designs, including a more efficient arrangement of the main battery, installation of wireless telegraphs, and in Sardegna, the first use of triple-expansion steam engines in an Italian capital ship. Designed by Benedetto Brin, they retained the very thin armor protection and high top speeds of his earlier designs.

All three ships served in the Active Squadron for the first decade of their careers, which proved to be uneventful. They were transferred to the Reserve Squadron in 1905, and by the outbreak of the Italo-Turkish War in 1911, they were serving as training ships. They provided fire support to Italian troops fighting in Libya during the conflict and took part in the seizure of several Ottoman ports, including Tripoli. During World War I, Sardegna was used as a guard ship in Venice, while Re Umberto served as a floating battery in Brindisi and Sicilia was reduced to a depot ship. All three ships survived the war and were broken up for scrap in the early 1920s.