[Illustration: H.M.S. “INFLEXIBLE,” 1880. _Photograph by Symonds & Co., Portsmouth._] The affection of the Italians for immense ships and guns to match was demonstrated even more remarkably by those which were built after the battle of Lissa than by those which took part in that memorable and disastrous engagement. Probably the two finest specimens were of the mastless turret type, the sister ships _Duilio_ and _Dandolo_, which were designed to surpass any other fighting ship in existence, no matter what her nationality, and especially to show that Italian naval architects and constructors could surpass the _Inflexible_, on which Britain so justly prided herself. The _Duilio_ was built at Castellamare, and the _Dandolo_ at Spezzia. Their turrets were on much the same plan as those of the _Inflexible_, and quite a dispute arose between Italian and British naval architects as to whom the credit should be given of having first designed this type of ship. The _Duilio_ was of 10,650 tons displacement; her length between perpendiculars was 339 feet 7 inches, her extreme breadth 64 feet 7 inches, and her mean draught was 25 feet 11 inches. The height of her main deck above water was 11 feet, and that of her battery 15 feet 9 inches. The hulls of both these ships were built of iron and steel. Each had a double bottom extending for 230 feet of her length, and the numerous watertight compartments into which the double bottoms were subdivided were so arranged that any one or more of them could be filled with water or emptied as might be found necessary.