Faà di Bruno: a floating 15-inch battery

Faà di Bruno combined a twin 15-inch turret with a very shallow, almost rectangular hull and a concrete cofferdam nearly three metres thick. A single boiler fed two engines for only about 465 indicated horsepower, leaving the vessel with a top speed a little over three knots. Its shallow draft and heavy armament suited coastal bombardment, but mobility and seaworthiness were severe constraints. The monitor shows how concentrating protection and firepower around one narrow mission could produce a vessel closer to a floating battery than a conventional warship.