The Ibiza class was the culmination of twenty years of trial and error to produce the perfect 'Battleship' for the Tyrrhenian Navy. The search was for a ship that could fight if it wanted to, but could escape if it thought it might be overmatched by its opponent. Current battleships of the time were making speeds of 17-18 knots and were armed with four by 12" main guns and with a secondary armament of four to twelve 7.5" to 10" guns. These were the semi-dreadnoughts . The Ibiza was armed with the normal four 12" and a secondary battery of eight by 9.2", an armament that was as good if not better than most. Armour thicknesses ran from 10"-12" on foreign ships while the Ibiza only had an 8" armoured belt. What this allowed for was an extra 3-4 knots of speed advantage by the Ibiza over its foreign competitors. This fell in with the Tyrrhenian 'Pirate' reputation. Like the Xebecs of old these ships could fly out of their hidden cove deployment, overwhelm and/or capture the enemy shipping then dive back into its hole before the escort could interfere.
Originally a three funnel design, the first funnel was trunked into the second when the new tripod mast and bridge system was fitted at almost the last minute. A similar design was featured aboard the Cyprus class battleships.
Paired with the Cyprus Class in Battleship Division One, the four ships were all at Gallipoli where three of the four were lost to mines in under ten minutes. The Turks had managed to lay a new mine field which the ships of the Tyrrhenian force were first to find. Only the Rhodes emerging still upright.
