Roma-class ironclad

The Roma class was a pair of ironclad warships built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1860s and 1870s. The class comprised two ships, ITALIAN IRONCLAD Roma and ITALIAN IRONCLAD Venezia.

Design
The Roma class was designed by Insp. Eng. Giuseppe De Luca, who initially planned to build both ships as broadside ironclads. By this time, however, other navies had begun to build central battery ships, which concentrated a smaller number of guns in an armored casemate that had limited capability for end-on fire. This change allowed the ship to be shorter, which in turn required less armor and made the ship more maneuverable. As a result, De Luca re-designed the second ship of the class, Venezia, into a central battery ironclad while she was under construction.

General characteristics and machinery
The ships of the Roma class had wooden hulls, though they did incorporate some iron in their construction. The two ships varied slightly in their dimensions, a result of Venezia having been converted into a central battery ship during construction. Roma was 79.67 m long between perpendiculars; she had a beam of 17.33 m and an average draft of 7.57 m. Venezia was 79.65 m between perpendiculars, with a beam of 17.48 m and a draft of 7.6 m. Roma displaced 5698 MT normally, while Venezia displaced 5722 MT. Both ships displaced 6151 MT at full load. The ships had a crew of 549–551 officers and men.

The ships' propulsion system consisted of one single-expansion steam engine that drove a single screw propeller, with steam supplied by six coal-fired, cylindrical fire-tube boilers. The boilers were trunked into a single funnel amidships. The engines produced a top speed of 13 kn from 3670 ihp. They could steam for 1940 nmi at a speed of 10 kn. The ships were fitted with a three-masted barque rig to supplement the steam engine for long distance cruising. Each ship had 31833 sqft of sail area.

Armament and armor
Roma was a broadside ironclad, and she was armed with a main battery of five 10 in guns and twelve 8 in guns. Venezia was completed as a central battery ship, with a battery of eighteen 10 in guns placed in an armored casemate. Both ships had their armament revised throughout their careers. In 1874–75, the ships' batteries were replaced with eleven 10 in guns for Roma and eight 10 in and one 220 mm for Venezia. From 1886, Roma carried eleven 220 mm guns; four years later her armament was reduced to five 8 in guns. Venezia was converted into a training ship in 1881, and was equipped with four 75 mm guns and four 57 mm guns.

Both ships were protected by wrought iron belt armor that was 5.9 in thick and extended for the entire length of the hull at the waterline. Venezia's casemate had 4.75 in of wrought iron protecting the guns.