The Italian battleship Dante Alighieri was the first Italian dreadnought war vessel of the Regia Marina. It was laid down at the shipyard of Costellammare di Stabia in 1909 and it was launched the following year, entering service in 1913. It was armed with twelve 305-mm (12-inch) naval guns, which were set up in four triple-gun turrets. It was also fitted with twenty 120-mm guns.
During World War I, the Italian battleship Dante Alighieri was the flagship of the First Battle Squadron which moored at Taranto. Along with the Conte di Cavour and Guilio Cesare, she was assigned to patrolling the waters of the Mediterranean between the Adriatic and Ionian Sea to intercept any warship of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. Having survived the war, she would be decommissioned in 1928.
Specifications
Type: dreadnought battleship
Length: 168.1 m
Beam: 26.6 m
Displacement: 21,900 tons (full load)
Draft: 8.8 m
Powerplant: 4 steam turbines, with 4 shafts; these were fed by 23 water-tube boilers. It had four smokestacks.
Maximum Speed: 22 knots
Range: 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km)
Compliment: 990 sailors and officers.
Below, battleship Dante Alighieri after WW1, in 1919.
The same capital ship in 1912, before it was commissioned.
