 The Principe Amedeo class was a pair of ironclad warships built for the Italian Regia Marina ( Royal Navy ) in the 1870s and 1880s . They were the culmination of a major naval construction program designed to give Italy a powerful fleet of ironclads . The two ships , Principe Amedeo and Palestro , were the last Italian ironclads to feature sailing rigs and wooden hulls . They were armed with a battery of six 10 @-@ inch ( 254 mm ) guns and were capable of a speed in excess of 12 knots ( 22 km / h ; 14 mph ) . The ships had uneventful careers , spending much of it in Italy 's colonial empire . By the late 1880s , they were withdrawn from service and employed in secondary roles , first as headquarters ships for harbor defenses . Principe Amedeo was converted into a depot ship in 1895 and was discarded in 1910 , while Palestro was used as a training ship from 1894 to 1900 before being scrapped in 1902 – 04 . 
