Postwar retrenchment versus battleship prestige

Italy emerged from the First World War with its merchant fleet having lost two-thirds of its wartime tonnage and standing at about half its 1914 size, while the navy fell from roughly 120,000 to 34,000 personnel. Francesco Saverio Nitti's government therefore pursued demobilisation, and the first postwar program emphasized minelayers, destroyers, submarines, and MAS boats. Nationalists and heavy industry nevertheless pressed for a large fleet to support commercial expansion in the Balkans, Levant, and Africa, while naval advocates sought money to revive obsolete battleships. One proposal would have spent about a quarter of the entire 847-million-lira program on four reconstructions whose military value was already doubtful. The dispute shows battleship prestige competing directly with the country's fiscal condition and the practical needs of rebuilding maritime strength.