Construction – 1895 was under construction for nearly eight years. She was
laid down at the
Venetian Arsenal on 4 December 1881 and
launched on 30 July 1885. She was not completed for another four years, her construction finally being finished on 21 August 1889. Because of the rapid pace of naval technological development in the late 19th century, her lengthy construction period meant that she was an obsolete design by the time she entered service. The year she entered service, the British began building the ; these ships marked a significant advance over previous types of capital ships and set the standard for future vessels, which became known as
pre-dreadnought battleships. In addition, technological progress, particularly in armor production techniques—first
Harvey armor and then
Krupp armor—rapidly rendered older vessels like obsolete. initially served in the Reserve Squadron in 1895. At that time, the Italian fleet rotated ships between the Active and Reserve squadrons every February. Later that year, she took part in the annual fleet maneuvers of 1894 in 2nd
Division of the Active Squadron, along with the
protected cruiser , the
torpedo cruiser , and four
torpedo boats. She remained in the 2nd Division, which now included the protected cruiser and the torpedo cruisers and , in 1895. The squadron was based at
La Spezia at the time. In February 1896, moved to the Active Squadron, along with her sister and the ironclad ; by 1 April, it also included a pair of cruisers and three torpedo cruisers. Later that year, she cruised off
Crete as the
flagship of the 2nd Division, under Rear Admiral E. Gaulterio. During that year's summer maneuvers, held in July 1896, continued as Gaulterio's flagship; the 2nd Division also included and the protected cruiser . The 1st and 2nd Divisions of the Active Squadron were tasked with defending against a hostile fleet, simulated by older ships in reserve.
1897–1909 , Crete, on 21 December 1898. The French protected cruiser , carrying
Prince George of Greece and Denmark, who will take up duty as High Commissioner of the
Cretan State, leads the column. She is followed (right to left) by the Russian
armored cruiser , the British
battleship , and . deployed to Crete to serve in the
International Squadron, a multinational force made up of ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy,
French Navy,
Imperial German Navy, ,
Imperial Russian Navy, and Royal Navy that intervened in the 1897–1898 Greek uprising on Crete against rule by the
Ottoman Empire. She took part in the squadron's final operations when, as flagship the Italian division of the International Squadron, she departed Crete along with the British battleship (flagship of the commander of British forces in the squadron,
Rear-Admiral Gerard Noel) and the Russian
armored cruiser (flagship of the commander of the squadron's Russian forces,
Rear Admiral Nikolai Skrydlov) in steaming to
Milos with the French protected cruiser , flagship of the International Squadron's overall commander, Rear Admiral
Édouard Pottier. At Milos, they rendezvoused with
Prince George of Greece and Denmark aboard his
yacht. After Prince George boarded on 20 December, ,
Revenge, and escorted to Crete, where Prince George disembarked on 21 December 1898 to take office as the
High Commissioner of an autonomous
Cretan State under the
suzerainty of the Ottoman Empire, bringing the Cretan uprising to an end. In 1898, was transferred to the Reserve Squadron, along with and the ironclad and five cruisers. In 1899, and her two sisters returned to the Active Squadron, which was kept in service for eight months of the year, with the remainder spent with reduced crews. The squadron also included the ironclads , , and . In 1900, and her sisters were significantly modified and received a large number of small guns for defense against torpedo boats. These included a pair of guns, ten 40-caliber guns, twelve guns, five 37 mm
revolver cannon, and two
machine guns. In 1905, and her two sisters were joined in the Reserve Squadron by the three s and , three cruisers, and sixteen torpedo boats. This squadron only entered active service for two months of the year for training maneuvers, and the rest of the year was spent with reduced crews. In 1908, the Italian Navy decided to discard and her sister . She was formally stricken from the
naval register in August 1909, and was thereafter used as a
target ship for a torpedo experiment. On 15 September, she was sunk at La Spezia; the experiment was conducted to test the effect of a torpedo hit in order to develop more a more effective hull design. The explosion tore a hole in the hull, causing her to list severely and sink on her side. Her wreck was later scrapped. ==Notes==