The San Giorgio-class cruisers and the battleship Dante Aligiheri

Between 1905 and 1911 the Italian Navy built two San Giorgio-class armoured cruisers. They were named the San Giorgio and the San Marco, and both were active during the Italo-Turkish War and First World War. By the end of the latter, both ships were nearing obsolescence as the armoured cruiser had been replaced in most of the larger navies by battlecruisers.

San Marco in 1910.

San Marco in 1910.

Both ships were well-armed, having a main armament of four 10-inch guns in twin turrets, supplemented by eight 7.5-inch guns in twin turrets arranged in two turrets on each beam amidships, and eighteen single 3-inch guns mounted in five casemates along each side and eight on the superstructure.

The San Marco spent part of 1924 sailing to and from South America with Crown Prince Umberto aboard, after which she supported operations in Italian Somaliland in 1925 and 1926. From 1931 to 1935 the ship was disarmed and converted into a radio-controlled target ship, and she was still acting in this role when she was seized by the German in 1943. She sank in the harbour of La Spezia when the war ended, and by 1949 she had been raised and scrapped.

After the First World War, the San Giorgio served in the Far East. By 1930 she had returned to Italy and was being used as a training ship. In 1936 she was deployed to protect Italian interests in Spain during the early stages of the Civil War, but in 1937 she was reconstructed at La Spezia so that she could serve as a training ship for naval cadets. The reconstruction saw her boilers reduced in number and converted to oil firing, her two pairs of funnels trunked together, and her 3-inch guns were removed and replaced by four (later five) twin-mounted 4-inch guns. This armament was latter supplemented by a number of light anti-aircraft guns (six Breda 37mm (1.5-inch) 54-cal. guns, a dozen 20mm (0.79-inch) Breda Model 35 autocannon and four 13.2mm (0.52-inch) Breda Model 31 machine guns in twin mountings.

San Giorgio after her reconstruction.

San Giorgio after her reconstruction.

In May 1940 San Giorgio was sent to Tobruk to act as a floating anti-aircraft battery. It was at this point that the additional twin 4-inch guns were mounted on the ship's forecastle and her light anti-aircraft gun armament was increased by five more twin 13.2mm (0.52-inch) machine gun mountings. San Giorgio was scuttled in Tobruk harbour on 22nd January 1941. Her wreck was raised in 1952, but sank whilst under tow back to Italy.

The Dante Aligiheri* was the first dreadnought battleship built for the Italian Navy. She was designed by Rear Admiral Engineer Edoardo Masdea (the Chief Constructor of the Italian Navy) who based her design on the ideas proposed by General Vittorio Cuniberti. She was built by Regio Cantiere di Castellammare di Stabia (near Naples) and her construction took from June 1909 until January 1913.

Dante Aligiheri in 1913.

Dante Algliheri in 1914.

Her main armament comprised twelve 12-inch guns mounted in four triple turrets, all of which were along the ships centreline. These were supplemented by twenty 4.7-inch guns which were mounted in four twin turrets and twelve single casemated mountings, and thirteen single 3-inch guns, most of which were mounted on the tops of the main turrets.

Dante Aligiheri in 1920.

She served mainly in the Adriatic and Ionian Sea during the First World War, and after the war she remained in service until she was stricken as a cost-cutting exercise in July 1928.

---

* She was named after the fourteenth century Italian poet Dante Aligiheri. He is usually known in the English-speaking world just as Dante and is famous for being the author of the 'Divine Comedy' (Divina Commedia) as well as numerous other major works. I understand that this battleship is the only one to have ever been named after a poet.