Principessa Clotilde was a screw corvette of the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) built in the 1860s.
She carried 130 long tons (130 t) of coal for her boiler, which allowed Principessa Clotilde to steam for 800 nautical miles (1,500 km; 920 mi) at 9 knots.
The ship was fitted with a three-masted square rig to supplement the steam engine on long voyages overseas.
[1] Principessa Clotilde was armed with a main battery of twenty-four 160 mm (6.3 in) iron guns.
[1] During the voyage, in 1870, Racchia attempted to secure a site on Borneo for an Italian penal colony, but the other European colonialist powers opposed the move, and Italy abandoned the effort.
Principessa Clotilde's captain invited the Austro-Hungarian ship to join the Italians for celebrations marking the 25th anniversary of the reign of Victor Emmanuel II of Piedmont-Sardinia and then unified Italy.
Only San Giovanni was permitted to be sold, owing to her age and poor condition, while Principessa Clotilde and the others were to be retained with the fleet.