THE ITALIAN NAVY.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume LXIX, Issue LXIX, 31 May 1915, Page 3

THE ITALIAN NAVY.

f, BIG* AIR SERVICE. Italy has a nayy;jthat is more power* ful than' that •of -. either Russia or- Austria. . The Italian .navy, will rank fourth in the l:st of navies actively engaged in the ,waiv following tfreat iirirain, Germany, and France in that order. She has 6 Dreadnoughts, 9 battleships (pre-Dreadnoughts> t 10 armored cruisers, 7 lignt cruisers, kzb destroyers," 87 torpedo boats, and about 20 submarines. • 'The warwitn 'lurkey (1911), the acquisition of Libia, ana the struggle wiin the balkans/' says the Navy Annual, "all showed that Italian policy required" the' support of a strong fleet." The outcome of . a discussion in the Italian Parliament in December, 1913, led by Signor Giolitti, President or tne Couiicus, waa mm, i v was decided to build four of the most powerful battleships by 1917, and thence onward to begin one each year. ' • it will thus be seen that in all probability the Italian Navy, as given above, has been considerably augmented by .this time. It only one of tiie four ''most powerful" ships—they were to be of about 28,000 tons —has been added to her fleet, it will make a great ditference to the fighting force,' when acting in co-operatton with the British and u'rench Dreadnoughts. These four new ships, moreover, were each to carry eight 45-inch gunsy, and to have a speed or 20. knots. It is possible that two of these are now included in the fleet. Already the fleets of the Allies have a great superiority over those of the enemy, but this has been largely discounted by the fact that the enemy fleets have been bottled up. The addition of the Italian fleet should have an immediate effect on both the moral and material attitude of the enemy. Another interesting feature about the Italian navy is tnat for 12 months or more the administration of; the Ministry of Marine has been in the hands of Rear-Admiral Enrico Millo, who was the officer who led the famous raid by Italian destroyers on the Dardanelles during the war with Turkey It is worthy of note that five of the largest battleships in the Italian navy are new ships, having been completed between ,1912 and 1915. The latest plans used in Italian naval construction work are an adaptation of those of the Queen Elizabeth, which has been doing such splendid work in the Dardanelles. The latest battle practice of which there is any official record is said to have been conducted under conditions more severe than on any former occasion. Heavy ordnance was used, and the range for battleships, and cruisers was 8000 metres (five miles) at towed targets. The King of ■Italy was present aboard the Dante Ahghien, and the Italian papers declared that the demonstration showed a marked increase in efficiency for all classes of .guns. The same report declared that the personnel of the navy was being substantially increased The latest official lilt of the ltal:an navy gives the following first line fighting ships: BATTLESHIPS.—FIFTEEN. K uil. io • »...'.... 23,025 tons J?°" a ••-• 23,025 tons ' Conde di Cavour 22,340 tons Guiho Cesare 22,340 tons • Leonardo da Vinci ... 22,340 tons . Dante Ahghieri 19,400 tons Ke Umberto 13,673 tons bordegna ..,. 13,640 tons Benedetto Brin 13,214 tons gegina Margherita ... 13,214 tons Siciha.. ....13,087 tons JNappli. 12,425 tons Kegma Elena ......... 12,425 tons Roma : .. v. 12,425 tons VittonoEmanuelelll. 12,425 tons ARMORED CRUISERS,—TEN. Pisa *. 9,956 tons Amalfi 9,956 tons San Giorgio 9,832 tons San Marco 9,832 tons Varese 7,294 tons Francesco Ferruccio... 7,294 tons Vettor Pisani 6,596 tons Carlo Alberto 6,396 tons Giuseppe Garibaldi ... 7,294 tons Marco Polo 4,511 tons

In addition to these, there are, as stated, a large number of light cruisers, destroyers, torpedo boats, and submarines.

Italy.is also strong in military aeroplanes and seaplanes. A vigorous building programme has been lately instituted, and, all told, Italy has nearly 200 aeroplanes and seaplanes. Most of these are apparently of the latest description, and fitted with the most powerful engines. The Parseval type of airship seems to be most favored in Italy. It is declared that the work of these machines during the Tripoli campaign was of a most conspicuous character. Two of the machines aggre^aied 91 flights during those hostilities, engaged the enemy on 46 occasions, and dropped 330 'bombs. At the conclusion of hostilities the pilots indulged in, over 100 more flights before returning to Italy. A feature of the aircraft service of Italian pilots during the Tripoli campaign was the extensive use of photography. It is said that the whole scene of operations in Tripoli was beautifully mapped by photography by the Italian airmen.