Why Italy lost its all-big-gun head start

Italy could plausibly have begun an all-big-gun ship in 1902, but its political institutions were still consolidating after unification. Cuniberti also faced the familiar problem of a prophet whose faults and earlier failures were well known at home. Italian shipyards, skilled labor, and designers nevertheless gave the country the practical capacity to compete. Once Italy entered the dreadnought race, Dante Alighieri's speed, twelve-gun broadside, and unusually early turreted secondary guns placed it near the qualitative forefront.