commissioned, they formed the first broadside ironclads of the Italian Regia Marina. Following up on these ships, Italy launched a substantial program to bolster the strength of the Regia Marina. The Italians believed that building a strong navy would play a crucial role in making the recently unified kingdom a Great Power. These actions captured the attention of the Austrian Empire, which viewed Italy with great suspicion and worry, as irredentist claims by Italian nationalists were directed at key Austrian territories such as Venice, Trentino, and Trieste. In response to the growing strength of the Regia Marina, the Imperial Austrian Navy subsequently ordered two ironclads in 1860. In the years immediately after the unification of Italy, Austria and Italy engaged in a naval arms race centered upon the construction and acquisition of ironclads. This arms race between the two nations continued for the rest of Ferdinand Max's tenure as Oberkommandant. Novara Expedition Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian also initiated a large-scale scientific expedition (1857–1859) during which the frigate became the first Austrian warship to circumnavigate the globe. The journey lasted 2 years and 3 months and was accomplished under the command of Kommodore Bernhard von Wüllerstorf-Urbair, with 345 officers and crew, and 7 scientists aboard. The expedition was planned by the Imperial Academy of Sciences in Vienna and aimed to gain new knowledge in the disciplines of astronomy, botany, zoology, geology, oceanography and hydrography. SMS Novara sailed from Trieste on 30 April 1857, visiting Gibraltar, Madeira, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town, St. Paul Island, Ceylon, Madras, Nicobar Islands, Singapore, Batavia, Manila, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Puynipet Island, Stuarts, Sydney (5 November 1858), Auckland, Tahiti, Valparaiso and Gravosa before returning to Trieste on 30 August 1859. In 1863 the Royal Navy's battleship , the flagship of Admiral Charles Fremantle, made a courtesy visit to Pola, the main port of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. In April 1864 Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian stepped down as Commander-in-Chief of the Navy and accepted the throne of Mexico from Louis Napoleon, becoming Maximilian I of Mexico. He traveled from Trieste to Veracruz aboard the SMS Novara, escorted by the frigates (Austrian) and (French), and the Imperial yacht Phantasie led the warship procession from his palace at Schloß Miramar out to sea. When he was arrested and executed four years later, admiral Wilhelm von Tegetthoff was sent aboard the Novara to take Ferdinand Maximilian's body back to Austria. Second Schleswig War The