Littorio class

2023-02-01 -

RM LITTORIO

The Littorio class were the most powerful, fastest, well-armed and modern battleships ever built by the Italian Navy. The design featured innovative characteristics from their triple rudder arrangement to extensive use of decapping plates.

The lead ship, RM Littorio, commissioned May 1940, was 780ft 1in long with a draft of 31ft, a beam of 107ft 7in and a displacement of 45,236 tonnes. The basic plan called for three triple turrets and the rest of the ship was designed around them. These turrets were intended to be close together to reduce the length of the citadel which reduced the weight of the ship. Keeping with idea of maintaining the ship as lightweight as possible, her superstructures, the bridge, smokestack and aft mainmast were built close together in the centre portion of the ship. The bridge was made larger and had dual controls for flagship duty. Attached to it was the forward main mast with radio cables running to the pole installed above the conning tower and mounted over that were two armoured rangefinders for forward turrets A and B. A second tower was installed aft with a rangefinder for the aft turret behind the funnel.

The propulsion system consisted of four Belluzzo geared steam turbines powered by eight oil-fired Yarrow boilers for a total output of 128,200shp which pushed the ship through the water at 30 knots.

Making up the heavy firepower were nine powerful Ansaldo Model 34 15in/50cal guns in three triple turrets that could fire their 1,951lb shells at distances exceeding 26 miles. From a ballistics viewpoint, the Italian Model 34 surpassed every other shipboard 15in weapon of WWII. It even exceeded the Unites States 16in weapons and could outrange the 18.1in guns of the Japanese Yamato. However, the superior performance came with a price of excessive dispersion and a very limited barrel life. The main battery was configured much like American battleships by placing a super firing pair of turrets forward and a single turret aft. The barrels were also sufficient to fire the new semi-armour piercing shells weighing 1,706lb.

A unique feature of the Littorio class battleships was height of the aft turret which was raised 10ft over the main deck, placing it at about the same height as the forward upper super firing turret.

This meant the aft main guns could fire over the tops of the 6in secondary gun turrets. The aft section of the superstructure and mainmast were specifically located so as not interfere with the field of fire. This allowed the aft turret to attain a firing arc of 320° around the battleship which allowed the firing of full broadsides at targets if they were more than 20° degrees off the bow. This gave the Littorio class the ability to fire all nine of her guns while chasing a target. No other battleship ever built could accomplish this.

The secondary armament consisted of 12 x 6in L/55 Ansaldo Model 1934 guns contained within four triple turrets, a pair mounted abreast of the forward B turret and the remainder alongside the aft turret. They fired a 110lb AP shell and the gun cradle could elevate the barrel to 45° for a maximum range of 28,150yd.

Littorio was also fitted with a tertiary battery of four 4.7in L/40 guns for the specific purpose of firing illumination rounds for night fighting and her AA battery consisted of 12 x 3.5in guns, 20 x 1.5in guns and 20 x 0.79in guns.

The ships main armour belt was 11in thick, capped with a second layer of steel of 2.8in. Protecting the critical central area

RM Littorio

Class: Littorio

Displacement: 45,237 tonnes

Length: 237.8m (780ft 2in)

Beam: 32.8m (107ft 7in)

Draft: 9.6m (31ft 6in)

Speed: 30 knots

Range: 8,888km (5,523 miles)

Crew: 1,830 to 1,950 men

Armament: 12 × 6in/50cal guns • 4 × 4.7in/40cal guns • 12 × 3.5in guns • 20 × 1.5in guns • 20 × 0.79in guns

Armour: Deck - 162.5mm (6.4in), Waterline belt 355.6mm (14in)

RM VITTORIO VENETO

RM Vittorio Veneto was the second of the Littorio class to be commissioned and one of the most active (not necessarily successful) Italian battleships during WWII. She entered service in April 1940.

On 2 September, Vittorio and five other battleships with destroyer escorts attempted to find and destroy British Convoy MB.3 but failed to intercept them. Four days later, the force sought out another convoy but again, could not locate it. At month's end, another foray against MB.5 was launched and although the Italians made contact, the convoy was too distant to intercept. The root of the conundrum preventing the Italian Navy from succeeding was lack of coordination with aviation and radars.

Adding to the exasperation of the

Italians was the 10 November British attack on the Port of Taranto that damaged several battleships, but miraculously, Vittorio Veneto was not among them. The next week Vittorio Veneto and Giulio Cesare struggled to intercept a convoy to Malta, but again failed to made contact. However, on 26 November both fleets would meet off Cape Spartivento. In addition to the two battleships, the Italian forces included six cruisers and 14 destroyers while the British force had a carrier, battleship and a battlecruiser. Unfortunately, the Italian aerial reconnaissance overstated the strength of the British and the engagement was broken off. Nevertheless, Vittorio had the range and after firing 19 rounds, damaged HMS Manchester. In retaliation, HMS

Ark Royal launched its Swordfish torpedo bombers against the battleship but failed to make a strike.

Trying once again in February 1941, Vittorio Veneto, Giulio Cesare and Andrea Doria made a sortie with eight destroyers, to catch Force H, but no contact was made. On 22 March she sailed to attack British forces off Greece, but a British cruiser spotted the Italians before they closed up. However, Vittorio fired anyway and damaged HMS Orion. In return, British Swordfish planes attacked and hit Vittorio Veneto resulting in damaging a propeller shaft, jamming the port rudder, and flooding the ship with 4,000 tonnes of seawater. The ship was out of commission until August.

She made an unsuccessful attack on 22 August against the British and days later joined Littorio leading a fleet of escorts to attack the convoy of Operation Halberd. The only result was a hit on HMS Nelson by an Italian torpedo bomber.

While providing convoy protection to North Africa on 13 December, Veneto was torpedoed by a British submarine and sustained damage to her port side. Fortunately, the Pugliese hull defence system helped contain the explosion. She went to Taranto for repairs until early 1942.

In June, Vittorio was deployed to attack a British convoy and forced their return to Alexandria then continued sorties until 12 November when the ship was transferred to a safer base in Naples. She was badly damaged by US bombers on 5 June 1943 and pulled into Genoa for repair where she remained until Italy surrendered. Ironically, one of the finest battleships ever built never found the right opportunity to demonstrate her prowess.