Italy's near miss in the dreadnought race

The Italian all-big-gun idea emerged from theoretical advocacy and detailed engineering. Dante Alighieri put twelve 12-inch guns in four triple turrets and reached about 23.8 knots, nearly allowing Italy to define the new battleship type before HMS Dreadnought. Its broadside-oriented layout allowed all twelve guns to bear only when the target lay well off the bow or stern. In the confined Mediterranean and Adriatic, concentrating six guns forward and six aft in superfiring pairs may have been more useful. Masdea's practical engineering contribution is also too often eclipsed by Cuniberti's famous theoretical proposal.