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VOL. XXXV. THE ITALIAN NAVY. In 1898 Messrs. C. & T. T. Pattison, of Naples, were commissioned by the Italian government to build a number of 30-knot destroyers. The design and working drawings of the hulls and ma- chinery were supplied by Messrs. John I. Thornycroft & Co., of Chiswick and Southampton, the boats being of a similar type to those built by them CLEVELAND, JUNE the IS, ae = 9 ; <a 1 . . four-cylinder, triple-expansion Thornycroft inclined: condensing type each set having four cylinders as fol-' lows: High pressure cylinder 22 ins. in diameter, intermediate cylinder 29 ins. in diameter, and two low pressure cylinders each 30 ins. diameter, The stroke is 18 ins. 'The contract is for 6,000. 1., Hi. P.. and: the designed boileg pressure is 220 lbs. The armament consists of one I2- TORPEDO BOAT ESPERO UNDER FULL SPEED, for the British and Japanese navies. There is kindly supplied herewith by Messrs. Pattison through -Thornycroft, a drawing showing a section and plan of the Nembo, the first of the eight de- stroyers built by them in Naples, which clearly shows their general arrange- ment and construction, and a view of the Espero, one of the Nembo class traveling at full speed. The dimen- sions of this class are as follows: Length 210 ft. 0 in., beam-19 ft. 6 in., draught 7 ft. 6 in. The engines are of pounder quick firing gun and five 6- pounder quick firing guns, and oe are two torpedo tubes. aoe 'All the eight destroyers of this elas -have been launched and have fulfilled most satisfactorily the guaranteed con- ditions, each boat attaining a spéed of at least 30 knots. It is interesting to note that they were the first destroy- ers to be built in Italy and they re- flect great credit on the builders, as the results obtained with them were as good as those obtained by Messrs. 1907. 4 No. 24 Thornycroft in this country with boats of similar design. _ "Messrs. Pattison also obtained or- ders for four first class torpedo boats from designs supplied by Messrs. Thornycroft, which resembled boats recently built at Chiswick for the British government except that twin screws were fitted instead of single screws. These boats also have gone through their trials with great suc- cess. : The following table shows the mean speeds obtained on the 3 hours' official trial of six of the torpedo boats. Pegaso «>. See -25.46 knots Perseo; 6s) ee es Re Procione 32.2 ea2b02 20 Palade sg PRE os 26.63..." Cigno ooh et 0: Cassioped 3. s.e5 ce pen 25.40° -* The contract speed was 25 knots. it will be seen that this was well exceeded in every case, the Pallade, for example, making 26.63 knots. Subsequently to the placing of these orders the Italian government called for tenders from Italian builders for destroyers and torpedo boats which were to be of 'Thornycroit= type. Messrs. Ansaldo Armstrong & Co., of Genoa, and Messrs. Odero fu Alesso of Sestri Ponente became licensees of Messrs. Thornycroft in Italy, and or- - ders were placed with the former firm for four- destroyers and with the lat- six torpedo boats, Messrs. . also getting six additional ter for Pattison torpedo boats. In the design of the new destroyers. Messrs. John I. Thornycroft & Co., Ltd., at the desire of the Italian gov- ernment, arranged for complete coal protection of the engines as well as the boilers of both types of 'boat. In the destroyers the engines are echel-- oned and each engine is in a separate water-tight compartment. The leading dimensions are: Lenzth