Italy's place in the qualitative dreadnought race

The number of dreadnoughts was only one part of the competition over what a modern battleship should be. Dante Alighieri combined a twelve-gun broadside and 22-knot speed with twenty 4.7-inch weapons, including eight in four twin turrets, plus thirteen 3-inch guns. That layered secondary battery was intended to keep destroyers and torpedo boats away while the main armament engaged capital ships. The turreted 4.7-inch mounts mattered because the Royal Navy continued relying heavily on casemates for secondary guns. An Italian design that arrived after Dreadnought could still influence the standards by which later ships were judged.