Littorio class battleship

The "Littorio" (or "Vittorio Veneto"; the two ships were laid down on the same date) was a class of battleship of the Regia Marina, the Italian navy, the most modern used by Italy during World War II.

The "Littorios" were developed in response to the French Dunkerque class battlecruisers, with a second pair ordered in response to the Richelieu class battleships. They were part of Benito Mussolini's overall strategy of achieving Italian dominance in the Mediterranean Sea and the creation of a new Roman Empire. The first full-fledged battleships laid down after the expiration of the Washington and London naval treaties, the first two ships were laid down in 1935.

Like all other battleships of this period, their nominal displacement was given as 35,000 tons standard, although they greatly exceeded those figures. This was in common with all post-treaty battleships except the British "Nelson" class. The first pair of ships were commissioned in late April and early May 1940. Thus, they were the first completed super-dreadnoughts of the post-Washington era.

Design

The "Littorio" class's design was notable in several respects. Well-balanced warships, they combined excellent vertical armour, a powerful main battery, and high speed. They were strikingly graceful ships, with a tall but balanced superstructure, twin funnels, and a flush-deck design with a lower quarterdeck.

Designed by Umberto Pugliese, all four ships incorporated a unique underwater protection system that shares his name. Using a flooded hollow tube 3.8 m in diameter, separated from the ship's inner hull by an armoured wall 40 mm thick, the Pugliese system was a revolutionary approach to defense against torpedo attack. However, subsequent experience would reveal the system as inferior to the more common multiple torpedo bulkhead system—the Pugliese system provided an insufficient crush zone to absorb impact energy and was badly manufactured. It was designed to resist a 770 lb torpedo warhead. The only foreign power to adopt the system was the Soviet Union, in its Sovetsky Soyuz class, designed by Italian firm Ansaldo. The rest of the ships' protective system was conventional, and compared well to its contemporaries.

Having chosen convert|381|mm|in|abbr=on over convert|406|mm|in|abbr=on main armament as a weight-saving and reliability measure - this caliber was developed during the Great War for the never completed "Caracciolo" battleship class in 381/L40 version - the Regia Marina sought to maximize hitting power by adopting three triple turrets, armed with especially long-barreled (50 calibers) naval guns. These provided extraordinary range (42.8 km) and muzzle velocity (870 m/s), but consequently suffered barrel lives just half as long as their counterparts in other navies, and inconsistent shell patterning. This last problem was exacerbated by uneven powder loading and the sheer weight of the shell (885 kg). Also, the main battery could only average 1.3 rounds/gun/minute but this would not have had a great impact on any likely engagement.

In typical Axis practice, the secondary battery was divided between large-caliber anti-ship weapons and smaller high-angle anti-aircraft weapons. This contrasted sharply to British and American practice of a single dual-purpose secondary battery, which eased fire control coordination and improved anti-aircraft hitting power. The presence of the larger-calibre guns was mainly to combat the contre-torpilleurs (large destroyers) built by France in the inter-war period. The secondary anti-ship battery (also in triple turrets) used the 152 mm/55 gun, with a fantastic 925 m/s muzzle velocity and effective range of 25.7 km with a 49.5 kg shell, 4.5 shots per minute. Anti aircraft battery was based upon the 90/53 gun, with a maximum elevation of 75°, a muzzle velocity of 900 m/s, a 16 km range with an 18 kg shell, 18 rounds per minute. Finally, four WWI 120 mm/40 guns were carried for firing starshells.

The "Vittorio Veneto"'s were among the fastest of European battleships; the rather short range was acceptable to the Italian Navy in light of the confined waters of the Mediterranean.

hips in class

The "Vittorio Veneto" class consisted of four vessels:
* "Vittorio Veneto" – hit by an aerial torpedo during the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and again struck by a torpedo from the British submarine "HMS Urge" two months later. Also suffered light damage by air raids over La Spezia harbour in June 1943. Interned by the Allies in September 1943, scrapped 1948. The brass letters of her name were taken from her stern and are now on display in the Naval Museum of Venice.
* "Littorio" – sunk in shallow water by three torpedoes in the Battle of Taranto, later raised. Renamed "Italia" after the fall of Mussolini in July 1943 (the littorio being the Fascist symbol). Interned by the Allies in September 1943, scrapped 1948.
* "Roma" – entered in service in late 1942, suffered light damage by air raid over La Spezia in June 1943 and was sunk by German FX 1400 (Fritz-X) air-launched anti-ship missiles after while sailing into Allied internment on 9 September 1943, becoming the first major warship to be sunk by guided missiles. One Fritz-X hit amidship and exploded under the bottom, the other hit abreast the bridge, penetrated the forward magazine and exploded.
* "Impero" – never completed, scrapped after the war.
* Two additional ships of the class were contemplated in 1936, but Italy's general industrial situation (and the coming of war) prevented these plans from being carried out.

The "Vittorio Veneto" class in foreign service

The "Vittorio Veneto" and "Italia" (ex-"Littorio") were handed over to the Allies at the conclusion of Italy's involvement in World War II, but were not kept in service for long. Both were scrapped by the start of the 1950s

Spain's General Franco briefly considered a naval building programme (in a bid to build his nation's prestige and influence in European affairs) in the 1930s that would have seen the building of three "Vittorio Veneto" class battleships to a slightly modified design. These plans were abandoned due to cost and the disintegrating situation in Europe.

The "Vittorio Veneto" design also had a strong influence on the Soviet Union's "Sovetsky Soyuz "class battleships, which shared some features with the Italian class. One of the early studies for what became the "Sovietsky Soyuz" was completed by the Italian firm Ansaldo. Called UP41, it was essentially a slightly enlarged "Vittorio Veneto" with 406 mm main guns. These ships were never completed due to the invasion of the Soviet Union by Germany in 1941.

References

*cite book|title=Battleships and Battle Cruisers, 1905–1970|first=Siegfried |last=Breyer|publisher=Doubleday |year=1973|id=ISBN 0-385-07247-3
*cite book|title=The Italian Navy and Fascist Expansionism, 1935–1940|first=Robert |last=Mallett|publisher= Frank Cass |year=1998|id=ISBN 0-7146-4878-7
*cite book|title=All the word battleships - 1906 to the present|first=Ian |last=Sturton

External links

* [http://digilander.libero.it/planciacomando/unita/litto.htm Littorio class] - Plancia di Comando
* [http://www.regiamarina.net/arsenals/ships_it/battleships/battle_us.htm Italian Battleships] - www.regiamarina.net