Jane 1990, p. 210.Other vessels of the Garibaldi Class are the Guiseppe Garibaldi, (launched 1899) the Varese (launched April 1899), the Francesco Feruccio (launched April 1902). Other Italian vessels which carried 8-inch guns (cf. Vittorio Emanuele Class) also had them mounted in twin turrets (Jane 1990, p. 207). The Argentinians had a series of Garibaldi-Class cruisers ordered from Italian shipyards, which had various configurations, with 2x 8/45 cal. aft and either 1x10 /45 cal. or 2x8/45cal. in the bow: the General San Martin with 4 x 8/45 cal; the General Belgrano with 1x10/45 cal. and 2x 8/45cal. and the Pueyerredon with 2x 10/45 cal. (all 1895-1901, Jane 1990, p.297).
Jane (1990, p. 169) mentions that both the Nisshin and the Kasuga carried 8-inch guns bow and aft, but in his account on the Imperial Japanese Navy (Jane 1904, p 199) he indicates that the Kasuga carried a 10-inch gun at the bow. This serves to illustrate that even classic references on ships, such as Janes Fighting Ships, may occasionally be wrong.
Jane 1904, p.211; Jentschura et a. 1977, p. 100. Single turrets were also manufactured by Stabilimento Armstrong-Pozzuoli for the Benedetto Brin (launched November 1901) and the Regina Margherita (launched May 1901) both of whch carried four 8-inch guns as secondary armament in single turrets.
The thickness or the armour varied depending on the individual specifications. The twin 8-inch turrets of the Nisshin and the Kasuga had armour plating of 5.5-inch thickness on top and the sides (Jane 1904, p. 203; Jane 1990, p. 169), which is basically twice as thick as that observed at Betio. Other Japanese armour for 8-inch twin turrets was 7-inch (Aso/ex-Bayan; Jane 1990, p. 169), and 6-inch (Izumo, Iwate, Asama, Tokiwa, Jane 1990, p. 169).The same armour was chosen for the Eswick Built Chilean vessel Blanca Encalada (Jane 1990, p. 303), while the Argentinian Buenos Aires had only a 3-inch thick shield.
Betio: OPNAV 1945a, Eneen-Kio: Cohen 1983, p.89; Sapuk: figure 5 bottom. In addition, wartime photographs of the Betio guns show that the gun barrel had been wrapped with canvas, apparently to prevent overheating for maintenance purposes (OPNAV 1945a) .