 Re d 'Italia was built by William H. Webb at his shipyard in New York City . She was laid down on 21 November 1861 and launched on 18 April 1863 . The ship arrived in Italy in April 1864 and was commissioned into the Italian fleet on 18 September 1864 . Less than two years later , in June 1866 , Italy declared war on Austria , as part of the Third Italian War of Independence , which was fought concurrently with the Austro @-@ Prussian War . The Italian fleet commander , Admiral Carlo Pellion di Persano , initially adopted a cautious course of action ; he was unwilling to risk battle with the Austrian Navy , despite the fact that the Austrian fleet was much weaker than his own . Persano claimed he was simply waiting on the ironclad ram Affondatore , en route from Britain , but his inaction weakened morale in the fleet , with many of his subordinates openly accusing him of cowardice . 
