By the turn of the 19th century, Ansaldo was largely a railway equipment company with seven lactones employing more than 10,000 people, and was one of the largest heavy engineering concerns in Europe. The expansion into new fields started with the development of shipyards, but it was after 1904, with the acquisition of Ansaldo by the powerful Perrone family, that weapons and metal production were added to the company. These ranged from artillery and large calibre naval guns to battleships, with a rapid expansion caused by the outbreak of the First World War that resulted in the company employing more than 80,000 people in 1918. Attracted by the success of other companies in the field of aviation and the size of the orders for military aircraft, the company directors decided to diversify still further towards the end of 1915. The first aircraft production undertaken by Ansaldo was to build the Sopwith Baby under licence, beginning in 1916. These were the floatplane variant of the Sopwith single seater, and were mostly used as shipborne and coastal reconnaissance and patrol aircraft and trainers by the Italian Navy.
