Project by Sir Philip Watts, Piedmont represented in the field of protected cruisers a remarkable progress compared to the previous units of the type for the heaviest and most effective protection, for the high speed and above all for the most powerful armament made up entirely of quick-shooting cannons from 152 and 120 mm. Of the displacement of 2639 t, it was equipped with two alternative drives of the total power of 12.000 hp capable of imparting a speed of 22 nodes.
[Sir Philip Watts (1846-1926) was a brilliant British architect and naval designer famous for the design of the revolutionary protected “Elswick” cruiser and the first battleship with towers at the ends of a long central citadel, the HMS Dreadnought. At the time of the construction of the Piedmont Philip Watts was director of the warships office of the Armstrong & Co. shipyard in Elswick]
Source: Military Navy
