Wednesday's weird warship, the Italian Navy Duilio class battleships
Displacement. 12071 t.
Lenght. 358.2'
Beam. 64.8'
Draft 27.4'
Speed 15 kts
Complement. 420
Armament. 4 17.7" muzzle loaders, 5 4.7", 16 57mm, 4 14" torpedo tubes
Laid down in 1878 and commissioned in 1882, the Duilio and Dandolo were armed with two pairs of giant 17.7 inch guns. The only other battleships to carry bigger guns were the Japanese Musahi and Yamato in WWII.
They caused quite a stir when they joined the Italian Navy. Nothing at sea in 1882 could resist the sledgehammer blows from the 17.7" muzzle loading (that's right, muzzle loading) rifled guns. However their rate of fire was only one round in 15 minutes. They were the first ships in the world with steel armor, 12.5" maximum thickness. They were subdivided into 83 watertight compartments. The two twin turrets were disposed en echelon, to port and starboard admidship to allow a degree of end on fire as well as to allow all four guns to be trained on either beam.
The Duilio was decomissioned in 1909 and turned into a floating oil tank. The Dandolo was modernized in 1900, with 10" breech loaders replacing the 17.7" muzzle loading monsters. She was decomissioned in 1920 and scrapped in 1923.