List of battleships of Italy

File:Italian battleship Roma (1940) starboard bow view.jpg

Battleship Template:Ship in 1940

Starting in the 1890s, the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) began building a series of modern battleships. Early designs were marked by their small size, light armor, and high speed compared to contemporary foreign counterparts. The first pre-dreadnought battleship design, the Template:Sclass, was constrained by budgetary limits imposed by the legislature. Two ships were ordered by the class's namesake, Admiral Simone de Pacoret Saint Bon, though the design was also influenced by Benedetto Brin, who replaced di Saint Bon as naval minister after his death. Brin designed the next pair of battleships, the Template:Sclass. These ships were larger than the preceding class, and were intended to challenge the Austro-Hungarian Template:Sclasss then under construction. Brin himself died during the construction process. Vittorio Cuniberti designed the next class of small pre-dreadnoughts, the Template:Sclass, which were the fastest battleships in the world at the time of their completion.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These ships all served in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912, where they were primarily used to provide naval gunfire support for the Italian ground troops, as the Ottoman Navy largely confined itself to port.Template:Sfn

By the time that the Regina Elenas had been built in the early 1900s, the British battleship Template:HMS had been completed, a revolutionary design that rendered all previous battleships obsolete. Therefore, a new dreadnought-type battleship was needed. The new ship was Dante Alighieri, and was designed by Rear Admiral Edoardo Masdea.Template:Sfn The Italian Navy built five further battleships to two similar designs: the Template:Sclass and Template:Sclasses. These six dreadnoughts formed the core of the Italian fleet during World War I, as a further four-ship class was cancelled.Template:Sfn Both the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies adopted cautious fleet policies and neither chose to risk their capital ships in a major engagement; as a result, the Italian battle line spent the war in harbor and did not see combat.Template:Sfn Nevertheless, the dreadnought Leonardo da Vinci was destroyed by a magazine explosion in August 1916.Template:Sfn The pre-dreadnought Benedetto Brin was also destroyed by an internal explosion in September 1915, and her sister Regina Margherita was sunk by a German mine in December 1916.Template:Sfn The remaining battleships of the Ammiraglio di Saint Bon and Regina Elena classes were discarded after the end of the war.Template:Sfn

In the interwar period, the Italian Navy—along with the rest of the major naval powers—was limited by the Washington Naval Treaty, which granted Italy parity with the French Navy.Template:Sfn The Italians had Template:Convert worth of battleship tonnage available for new vessels before they would reach their treaty limits, but they avoided new construction in the 1920s due to severe budgetary problems and to avoid a naval arms race with France.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn These financial limitations also forced the Italians to scrap Dante Alighieri in 1928.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Nevertheless, the Regia Marina decided to make use of its excess tonnage by the early 1930s, which resulted in the four Template:Sclasss. Two were finished early in World War II and were used extensively to escort convoys during the North African Campaign. The third ship, Roma, was finished in 1942, but was sunk in September 1943 by a German radio-controlled bomb when Italy surrendered to the Allies. The fourth ship, Impero, was never finished and was instead sunk by American bombers and scrapped after the end of the war. The two surviving ships, Littorio and Vittorio Veneto, were surrendered to the Allies and were later broken up for scrap.Template:Sfn Of the surviving members of the Conte di Cavour class, Conte di Cavour was scrapped after the end of the war and Giulio Cesare was surrendered to the Soviet Union as war reparations. Only the two Andrea Doria-class battleships survived in Italian service for any significant length of time after the conclusion of hostilities; both served as training ships until the mid-1950s, when they too were broken up for scrap.Template:Sfn

Key

Armament	The number and type of the primary armament
Armor	The thickness of the belt armor
Displacement	Ship displacement at full combat load
Propulsion	Number of shafts, type of propulsion system, and top speed/horsepower generated
Service	The dates work began and finished on the ship and its ultimate fate
Laid down	The date the keel began to be assembled
Commissioned	The date the ship was commissioned

Pre-dreadnought battleships

Ammiraglio di Saint Bon class

File:Italian battleship Ammiraglio di Saint Bon.jpg

Ammiraglio di Saint Bon underway

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The first of the Italian Navy's modern battleships, the Ammiraglio di Saint Bon class were smaller than their contemporaries due to limitations imposed by the Italian government and indecision in the naval design staff over what kind of battleship should be built. They were designed under the supervision of Admiral Simone di Pacoret Saint Bon, the namesake of the lead ship, and Benedetto Brin. Ultimately, the ships' small size, weak main battery, and slow speed made them ineffective capital ships, since they were not strong enough to engage foreign battleships, and too slow to catch cruisers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Both ships served in the active duty squadron early in their careers, and participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912. They took part in the Italian offensives in North Africa and the island of Rhodes, but did not see combat with the Ottoman fleet.Template:Sfn They were reduced to harbor defense ships by the outbreak of World War I, and spent the war in Venice. The ships were discarded shortly after the end of the war, both having been stricken in 1920.Template:Sfn

Summary of the Ammiraglio di Saint Bon class

ShipTemplate:Sfn	ArmamentTemplate:Sfn	ArmorTemplate:Sfn	DisplacementTemplate:Sfn	PropulsionTemplate:Sfn	ServiceTemplate:Sfn
					Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Template:Ship	4 × Template:Convert guns	Template:Convert	Template:Convert	2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	18 July 1893	24 May 1901	Discarded, 1920
Template:Ship			Template:Convert		5 October 1893	16 April 1902

Regina Margherita class

File:Regina Margherita.png

Regina Margherita on sea trials in 1904

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The pattern of experimentation in Italian capital ship construction continued with the Regina Margherita class. The negative experience with the Ammiraglio di Saint Bon class convinced the constructors, led by Benedetto Brin, to design a larger battleship that could engage its foreign counterparts. The new class was designed specifically to counter the new Template:Sclasss of the Austro-Hungarian Navy. For this purpose, the ships were armed with the Template:Convert gun that had become standard for most pre-dreadnought battleships of the day. As was typical for Italian capital ships of the period, armor protection was reduced in order to secure high speed.Template:Sfn Brin died during the construction process, and the Italian Navy named the second vessel after him.Template:Sfn

The two ships also saw action in the Italo-Turkish War, alongside the Ammiraglio di Saint Bon class in the 3rd Division of the fleet. Benedetto Brin took part in the attack on Tripoli in October 1911, and both ships were involved in the campaign to seize Rhodes in the eastern Aegean Sea.Template:Sfn The Regina Margherita class had become obsolete by the outbreak of World War I and had been reduced to training ships. Both were lost during the war: Benedetto Brin to an internal explosion in Brindisi in September 1915, and Regina Margherita to a German mine in December 1916.Template:Sfn

Summary of the Regina Margherita class

ShipTemplate:Sfn	ArmamentTemplate:Sfn	ArmorTemplate:Sfn	DisplacementTemplate:Sfn	PropulsionTemplate:Sfn	ServiceTemplate:Sfn
					Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Template:Ship	4 × Template:Convert guns	Template:Convert	Template:Convert	2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	20 November 1898	14 April 1904	Sunk, 1916
Template:Ship			Template:Convert		30 January 1899	1 September 1905	Destroyed, 1915

Regina Elena class

File:Italian battleship Regina Elena 17 May 1907.jpg

Regina Elena 1907

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The final class of Italian pre-dreadnoughts were designed by Vittorio Cuniberti, the naval architect whose projected design for the first "all-big-gun" battleship would quickly make the Regina Elena class obsolescent. These ships sacrificed two of the 12-inch guns to obtain a powerful secondary battery of twelve Template:Convert guns. Their high speed—the fastest of any battleship then built, including the revolutionary, turbine-powered Template:HMS—permitted them to also engage cruisers.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

All four ships served in the 1st Division of the Italian fleet during the Italo-Turkish War, and were the workhorses of the operations off North Africa and in the eastern Mediterranean.Template:Sfn During World War I, the ships were primarily based in Brindisi, Taranto, and Valona;Template:Sfn they saw no action during the war due to the cautious fleet policies adopted by both the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies.Template:Sfn The ships remained in the Italian fleet for a few years after the war, but all were discarded and broken up for scrap by 1927.Template:Sfn

Summary of the Regina Elena class

ShipTemplate:Sfn	ArmamentTemplate:Sfn	ArmorTemplate:Sfn	DisplacementTemplate:Sfn	PropulsionTemplate:Sfn	ServiceTemplate:Sfn
					Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Template:Ship	2 × 12 in guns	9.8 in	Template:Convert	2 shafts, 2 triple-expansion steam engines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	27 March 1901	11 September 1907	Discarded, 1923
Template:Ship					18 September 1901	1 August 1908
Template:Ship					20 September 1903	17 December 1908	Discarded, 1927
Template:Ship					21 October 1903	1 September 1908	Discarded, 1926

Dreadnoughts

Dante Alighieri

File:Italian battleship Dante Alighieri.jpg

Dante Alighieri at high speed

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Dante Alighieri was the first dreadnought battleship built by the Italian Navy, and was designed by Rear Admiral Edoardo Masdea. Cuniberti's call for heavy artillery arranged to emphasize broadside fire led to the placement of four triple 12-inch gun turrets along the centerline.Template:Sfn This allowed a broadside of all twelve guns, while the first generation of British dreadnoughts could only fire eight of their guns on the broadside.Template:Sfn Dante Alighieri was the first battleship to mount her main battery in triple turrets, though the Austro-Hungarian Template:SMS was completed first.Template:Sfn

The ship had a very limited service life. At the outbreak of World War I, she was the flagship of the 1st Battle Squadron, based in Taranto. But due to the policy of restraint adopted by the Italian Navy, Dante Alighieri and the other battleships of the Italian fleet saw no action.Template:Sfn Financial limitations in the post-war period forced the navy to scrap the ship to reduce the naval budget.Template:Sfn The ship was accordingly stricken on 1 July 1928 and sold for scrap.Template:Sfn

Summary of the Dante Alighieri class

ShipTemplate:Sfn	ArmamentTemplate:Sfn	ArmorTemplate:Sfn	DisplacementTemplate:Sfn	PropulsionTemplate:Sfn	ServiceTemplate:Sfn
					Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Template:Ship	12 × 12 in guns	10 in	Template:Convert	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	6 June 1909	15 January 1913	Discarded, 1928

Conte di Cavour class

File:RNConte di Cavour-Original.jpg

Conte di Cavour as originally built

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The first design in the second generation of Italian dreadnoughts, the Conte di Cavour class was also designed by Edoardo Masdea. They were ordered in response to the French Template:Sclasss. They remedied many of the deficiencies of the previous design; the most significant improvement was a dramatically more effective arrangement of the main battery. Ten guns were arranged in twin turrets superfiring over triple turrets forward and aft, and a third triple turret was placed amidships.Template:Sfn All thirteen guns could fire on the broadside, but the firing arcs for most of the guns were significantly improved.Template:Sfn

The three ships had limited careers during World War I, and did not see action.Template:Sfn On the night of 2/3 August 1916, Leonardo da Vinci was sunk by an internal explosion.Template:Sfn She was raised in 1919; the navy planned to repair and modernize her, but lacked sufficient funds,Template:Sfn and she was sold in 1923.Template:Sfn The two surviving ships were heavily rebuilt in the mid-1930s, and both saw action during World War II. On the night of 11/12 November 1940, both ships were attacked by British torpedo bombers in the Battle of Taranto. Conte di Cavour was badly damaged, and had not been fully repaired when Italy surrendered in September 1943.Template:Sfn Giulio Cesare meanwhile escaped unscathed, and participated in the battles of Cape Spartivento and First Sirte in November 1940 and December 1941, respectively.Template:Sfn After the end of the war, Conte di Cavour was scrapped,Template:Sfn and Giulio Cesare was surrendered to the Soviet Union. Renamed Novorossiysk, she was ultimately sunk in October 1955 by an old German mine left over from World War II. Her wreck was later salvaged in 1957 and broken up thereafter.Template:Sfn

Summary of the Conte di Cavour class

ShipTemplate:Sfn	ArmamentTemplate:Sfn	ArmorTemplate:Sfn	DisplacementTemplate:Sfn	PropulsionTemplate:Sfn	ServiceTemplate:Sfn
					Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Template:Ship	13 × 12 in guns	10 in	Template:Convert	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	10 August 1910	1 April 1915	Scrapped, 1947–1952
Template:Ship			Template:Convert	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	24 June 1910	14 May 1914	Ceded to the USSR, 1948 destroyed in 1955 by a mine
Template:Ship			Template:Convert	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	18 July 1910	17 May 1914	Sunk, 1916

Andrea Doria class

File:Italian battleship Andrea Doria.jpg

Template:Ship after her reconstruction in 1937

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Vice Admiral Giuseppe Valsecchi was responsible for the next battleship design, the Andrea Doria class. The class comprised two vessels—Andrea Doria and Duilio—and the design was based on the previous Conte di Cavour with minor modifications. These two ships were ordered in response to the French Template:Sclass.Template:Sfn As with the Conte di Cavours, the two Andrea Doria-class battleships were significantly modernized in the late 1930s along similar lines: the central turret was removed, the propulsion system was completely replaced with more efficient machinery, and the secondary battery was replaced with new turret-mounted guns.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

The two ships entered service in 1916, and were based in Taranto with the rest of the main fleet for the duration of World War I. Both ships were involved in the Corfu incident in 1923. The ships' modernization work was completed after Italy entered World War II. Duilio was damaged at the Battle of Taranto, while Andrea Doria was not hit. Both ships were present at the First Battle of Sirte, though only Andrea Doria engaged British forces. The two ships survived the war, and were the only battleships the Allies permitted Italy to retain after the conclusion of hostilities. They served in the Italian Navy for another decade until they were discarded in the mid-1950s.Template:Sfn

Summary of the Andrea Doria class

ShipTemplate:Sfn	ArmamentTemplate:Sfn	ArmorTemplate:Sfn	DisplacementTemplate:Sfn	PropulsionTemplate:Sfn	ServiceTemplate:Sfn
					Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Template:Ship	13 × 12 in guns	10 in	Template:Convert	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	24 March 1912	13 March 1916	Discarded, 1956
Template:Ship			Template:Convert		24 February 1912	10 May 1915

Francesco Caracciolo class

File:Caracciolo class.jpg

Line-drawing of the Francesco Caracciolo class

{{#invoke:Labelled list hatnote|labelledList|Main article|Main articles|Main page|Main pages}} The next Italian battleship design represented a major qualitative step forward. The design was prepared by Rear Admiral Edgardo Ferrati, and was intended to match the latest foreign battleships, such as the British Template:Sclass. The new ships were to be armed with a main battery of eight Template:Convert guns and had a top speed of Template:Convert, much faster than any contemporary design. The Francesco Caracciolo class was ordered in 1914; the lead ship was laid down that year, and the other three vessels were laid down in 1915. After Italy entered World War I in May 1915, work slowed dramatically, as resources were diverted to more pressing needs. Work on the ships stopped completely by March 1916, and the three ships begun in 1915 were scrapped shortly after the end of the war.Template:Sfn In 1919, the Italian Navy considered completing Francesco Caracciolo as an aircraft carrier similar to the British Template:HMS or as a floatplane carrier, but both proposals were too expensive for the cash-strapped navy. Ultimately, she was broken up for scrap in 1926.Template:Sfn

Summary of the Francesco Caracciolo class

ShipTemplate:Sfn	ArmamentTemplate:Sfn	ArmorTemplate:Sfn	DisplacementTemplate:Sfn	PropulsionTemplate:Sfn	ServiceTemplate:Sfn
					Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Francesco Caracciolo	8 × Template:Convert guns	Template:Convert	Template:Convert	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	16 October 1914	—	Scrapped, 1926
Cristoforo Colombo					14 March 1915		Discarded, 1921
Marcantonio Colonna					3 March 1915
Francesco Morosini					27 June 1915

Littorio class

File:Roma56.jpg

CG rendering of Template:Ship

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The final group of Italian battleships was the Littorio class. These ships, which weighed in excess of Template:Convert standard displacement, violated the naval arms limitation system created by the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn The ships were armed with a battery of nine 15-inch guns in three triple turrets, and they incorporated a novel underwater protection system designed by Umberto Pugliese. Littorio and Vittorio Veneto were laid down in 1934 and completed in early 1940; a second pair, Roma and Impero, were laid down in 1938. Roma was finished in mid-1942, while Impero was not completed.Template:Sfn

The first two ships entered service in August 1940, shortly after Italy joined World War II. Littorio was badly damaged in the November 1940 raid on Taranto, and repairs lasted until March 1941. Vittorio Veneto was undamaged, and later that month took part in the Battle of Cape Spartivento. In March 1941, she was damaged by British torpedo bombers after the inconclusive Battle of Cape Matapan. Both ships were back in action for the First and Second Battle of Sirte in January and March 1942, respectively. By the end of the year, Roma was ready for service and replaced Littorio as the fleet flagship. After Benito Mussolini fell from power in July 1943, Littorio was renamed Italia. During the Italian surrender in September 1943, Roma was hit by a pair of Fritz-X guided glide bombs; her ammunition magazines blew up in a tremendous explosion and she quickly sank. Italia was hit by one Fritz-X and was badly damaged. The United States and Britain received Italia and Vittorio Veneto, respectively, in the peace treaty; both ships were scrapped in the late 1940s, as was the incomplete Impero.Template:Sfn

Summary of the Littorio class

ShipTemplate:Sfn	ArmamentTemplate:Sfn	ArmorTemplate:Sfn	DisplacementTemplate:Sfn	PropulsionTemplate:Sfn	ServiceTemplate:Sfn
					Laid down	Commissioned	Fate
Template:Ship/Italia	9 × 15 in guns	Template:Convert	Template:Convert	4 shafts, 4 steam turbines, Template:Convert, Template:Convert	28 October 1934	6 May 1940	Scrapped, 1948–1955
Template:Ship			Template:Convert		28 October 1934	28 April 1940	Scrapped, 1948–1951
Template:Ship			Template:Convert		18 September 1938	14 June 1942	Sunk, 1943
Template:Ship			Template:Convert		14 May 1938	—	Scrapped, 1948–1950

See also

• List of battleships
• List of ironclad warships of Italy
• List of ships of the line of Italy

References

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External links

• Corazzate e Navi da Battaglia Marina Militare website Template:In lang