Why the Adriatic invited specialised warships

Faà di Bruno and Grillo frame a wider argument about operating conditions in the Adriatic. Italy had prepared a blue-water fleet but found itself needing vessels suited to confined littoral warfare. Both the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies had a strong peacetime case for purpose-built monitors during the 1910s, when heavy guns and shallow-water utility matched the likely theatre. Even the smaller Austro-Hungarian fleet could have fielded a limited specialist force alongside its full-size warships. Peacetime construction would have allowed reliable engines and fewer hurried compromises, whether the ships carried six-inch guns like the M29 class or heavier fifteen-inch weapons.