text: nino bixio - class cruiser the nino bixio class was a pair of protected cruisers built for the italian regia marina ( royal navy ) in the 1910s . the two ships , nino bixio , and marsala , were built in castellammare between 1911 and 1914 . they were intended to serve as scouts for the main italian fleet , and as such required a high top speed . they were overweight as built , which prevented them from reaching their intended maximum speed . they were a disappointment in service , especially compared to the earlier — and faster — cruiser quarto , which cut their careers short . both ships saw limited action during world war i , largely a result of the cautious strategies employed by the regia marina and its opponent , the austro - hungarian navy . nino bixio was involved in the pursuit of a group of austro - hungarian raiders in december 1915 , but did not engage them before they escaped . marsala briefly battled austro - hungarian cruisers during the battle of the otranto straits in may 1917 . both ships were sold for scrapping in the late 1920s , the victims of very tight naval budgets and their own poor performance . design general characteristics the ships of the nino bixio class were designed as fleet scouts by engineering captain giuseppe rota , along similar lines to the cruiser quarto . the ships were 131 . 4 meters ( 431 ft ) long at the waterline and 140 . 3 m ( 460 ft ) long overall . they had a beam of 13 m ( 43 ft ) and a draft of 4 . 1 m ( 13 ft ) . the ships displaced 3 , 575 metric tons ( 3 , 519 long tons ; 3 , 941 short tons ) and up to 4 , 141 t ( 4 , 076 long tons ; 4 , 565 short tons ) at full load . the ships were fitted with a pair of pole masts equipped with spotting tops located at the forward and aft conning tower . their crew consisted 13 officers and 283 enlisted men . the nino bixio - class ships were only lightly armored , with a 38 mm ( 1 . 5 in ) thick deck , and 100 mm ( 3 . 9 in ) thick plating on their forward conning tower . propulsion system the ships ' propulsion system consisted of three curtiss steam turbines , each driving a screw propeller . steam was provided by fourteen mixed coal and oil firing blechynden boilers that were trunked into four funnels ; the first two were closely spaced just aft of the foremast and the other two were farther spaced further aft . the engines were rated for 22 , 500 shaft horsepower ( 16 , 800 kw ) which should have given the ships a top speed of 29 knots ( 54 km / h ; 33 mph ) , but neither ship reached that speed in service owing to their being overweight . nino bixio 's engines reached 23 , 000 shp ( 17 , 000 kw ) for a top speed of 26 . 82 kn ( 49 . 67 km / h ; 30 . 86 mph ) , while marsala was slightly faster at 27 . 66 kn ( 51 . 23 km / h ; 31 . 83 mph ) at the same horsepower ; both ships were a disappointment , especially compared to the older but faster quarto . the nino bixio - class ships had a range of 1 , 400 nautical miles ( 2 , 600 km ; 1 , 600 mi ) at a cruising speed of 13 kn ( 24 km / h ; 15 mph ) . armament the ships were armed with a main battery of six 120 mm ( 4 . 7 in ) l / 50 guns mounted singly . two were placed side by side forward , with the other four located on the centerline , two amidships and two in a superfiring pair aft of the mainmast . the guns were the pattern ee type , the same type employed as secondary guns on the dreadnought battleships of the dante alighieri and conte di cavour classes , and were manufactured by armstrong whitworth . they were 3 . 35 - metric - ton ( 3 . 30 - long - ton ; 3 . 69 - short - ton ) guns that fired a 22 . 5 - kilogram ( 50 lb ) projectile at a muzzle velocity of 860 meters per second ( 2 , 800 ft / s ) , at a rate of 6 shots per minute . the ships were also equipped with six 76 mm ( 3 . 0 in ) l / 50 guns , the same pattern type guns used on the italian dreadnoughts , which provided close range defense . these guns weighed 1 . 14 t ( 1 . 12 long tons ; 1 . 26 short tons ) and fired 5 . 6 kg ( 12 lb ) and 7 kg ( 15 lb ) shells at 815 m / s ( 2 , 670 ft / s ) . they had a rate of fire of 15 shells per minute . they were also armed with two 450 mm ( 18 in ) torpedo tubes submerged in the hull . the ships were also fitted with equipment to store and launch 200 naval mines . ships service history italy had initially declared neutrality at the start of world war i , despite having been allied to germany and austria - hungary . by may 1915 , the triple entente had convinced the italian government to enter the war against their erstwhile allies . the main italian fleet was kept at the southern end of the adriatic , at brindisi , and in the mediterranean , at taranto , where it would be safe from austro - hungarian u - boats . the austro - hungarians , meanwhile , employed a fleet in being strategy while conducting raids with small craft and u - boats . for the duration of the war , nino bixio and marsala were stationed at brindisi , where they could quickly respond to austro - hungarian raids . in december 1915 , nino bixio and several other warships , including british cruisers , sortied in response to an austro - hungarian attack on transports supplying the serbian army through albania . nino bixio pursued the cruiser sms helgoland before the latter escaped under cover of darkness . marsala saw action during the battle of the otranto straits in may 1917 , though nino bixio did not have steam up in her boilers when the austro - hungarians attacked , so she was unable to join her sister ship . marsala briefly clashed with the austro - hungarian cruisers before rear admiral alfredo acton , the italian commander , broke off the engagement following the arrival of the powerful austro - hungarian armored cruiser sms sankt georg . the and funding cuts that followed the end of the war in 1918 continued into the 1920s for the regia marina , and disposing of the two nino bixio class ships , which had never met design expectations , was an easy means to trim the naval budget . nino bixio and marsala were stricken from the naval register in march 1929 and november 1927 , respectively , and were subsequently sold for scrap .