Italian ironclad Roma

Roma was 79.67 meters (261 ft 5 in) long between perpendiculars; she had a beam of 17.33 m (56 ft 10 in) and an average draft of 7.57 m (24 ft 10 in). She displaced 5,698 long tons (5,698 long tons) normally and up to 6,151 long tons (6,151 long tons) at full load. Her 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 that were vented through a single funnel. Her engine produced a top speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph) from 3,670 indicated horsepower (2,740 kW). She could steam for 1,940 nautical miles (3,590 km; 2,230 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph). The ship was barque-rigged to supplement the steam engine. She had a crew of 549–551 officers and men.[1]

Roma was a broadside ironclad, and she was armed with a main battery of five 254 mm (10 in) guns and twelve 203 mm (8 in) guns. The ship was protected by iron belt armor that was 150 mm (5.9 in) thick and extended for the entire length of the hull at the waterline.[1]

The keel for Roma was laid down at the Cantiere della Foce shipyard in Genoa in February 1863. She was launched on 18 December 1865, and fitting-out work was finished by May 1869.[1] By the time she entered service, other navies had begun to build casemate ships,[2] rendering Roma obsolescent almost immediately after she was completed. In addition, the Italian naval budget was drastically reduced following the defeat at Lissa in 1866, which reflected a stark decrease in the government's confidence in the fleet. As a result, she saw little use during her career;[3][4] indeed the budget was reduced so significantly that the fleet had great difficulty in mobilizing its ironclad squadron to attack the port of Civitavecchia in September 1870, as part of the wars of Italian unification. Instead, the ships were laid up and the sailors conscripted to man them were sent home.[5]

In 1873, the ship was assigned to the 1st Division of the main Italian fleet unit, the Permanent Squadron, where she served as the flagship of Admiral Enrico Di Brocchetti. The other vessels of the division were the ironclads Ancona and Conte Verde. Together with the ships of the 2nd Division, the entire squadron cruised in the Mediterranean that year.[6] In 1874–1875, the ship's armament was revised to eleven 10-inch guns.[1] In November 1880, Roma and the ironclad Palestro took part in a naval demonstration off Ragusa in an attempt to force the Ottoman Empire to comply with the terms of the Treaty of Berlin and turn over the town of Ulcinj to Montenegro.[7] In early November 1881, Roma was moored in Naples when a severe storm tore the ship from her anchors. The heavy winds drove her into the ironclad Principe Amedeo, but neither ship was damaged in the collision.[8]

During the annual fleet maneuvers held in 1885, Roma served in the 2nd Division of the "Western Squadron"; she was joined by the ironclad Affondatore and five torpedo boats. The "Western Squadron" attacked the defending "Eastern Squadron", simulating a Franco-Italian conflict, with operations conducted off Sardinia.[9] The ship had her guns replaced again in 1886, this time with eleven 220 mm (8.7 in) guns.[1] In 1890, Roma was removed from front-line service and tasked with the defense of La Spezia; while there, she served as the flagship of the local defense forces. While serving as a guard ship, her armament was reduced to five 8-inch guns.[1][10] The ship was stricken on 5 May 1895 and thereafter used as an ammunition depot ship based in La Spezia. The ship was accidentally set on fire by a lightning strike on 28 July 1896; her crew scuttled the ship to prevent her from being burned completely. Roma was refloated the following month and then broken up for scrap immediately thereafter.[1]

• von Armingen, Friedrich Geitler, ed. (21 May 1873). "Ausland" [Overseas]. Neue Militär-Zeitung [New Military Newspaper] (in German). Vienna (41): 318. OCLC 224831739.
• Brassey, Thomas, ed. (1886). "Evolutions of the Italian Navy, 1885". The Naval Annual. Portsmouth: J. Griffin & Co. OCLC 896741963.
• Fraccaroli, Aldo (1979). "Italy". In Gardiner, Robert (ed.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1860–1905. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 334–359. ISBN 978-0-85177-133-5.
• Marshall, Chris, ed. (1995). The Encyclopedia of Ships: The History and Specifications of Over 1200 Ships. Enderby: Blitz Editions. ISBN 1-85605-288-5.
• Ordovini, Aldo F.; Petronio, Fulvio & Sullivan, David M. (December 2014). "Capital Ships of the Royal Italian Navy, 1860–1918: Part I: The Formidabile, Principe di Carignano, Re d'Italia, Regina Maria Pia, Affondatore, Roma and Principe Amedeo Classes". Warship International. Vol. 51, no. 4. pp. 323–360. ISSN 0043-0374.
• Sondhaus, Lawrence (1994). The Naval Policy of Austria-Hungary, 1867–1918. West Lafayette: Purdue University Press. ISBN 978-1-55753-034-9.
• "The Naval Demonstration in the Adriatic". The Illustrated London News. London: George C. Leighton. 18 September 1880. p. 278.

• Roma Marina Militare website (in Italian)