Conte di Cavour

Story of Conte di Cavour

At the turn of the century, Regia Marina (Italian Navy) focused on modernizing the front-line fleet to keep up with developments around it. An initiative resulted in the Conte di Cavour class, which included three Dreadnoughts - Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare and Leonardo da Vinci.

The "dreadnought" classification comes from the HMS dreadnought introduced by the Royal Navy in 1906 - a ship that rewrote the standard of modern battleships at the time with its all-cannon main armament and steam-powered approach.

The Conte di Cavour class was under construction from 1910 to 1915, two of the three warships (da Vinci sunk in 1916) were in service after World War II (1939-1945), the last was commissioned in 1955 retired. The class was originally designed as an improved form of the earlier Dante Alighieri class (only one warship), which served from 1913 to 1928.

At the time of construction, the warship carried a main battery consisting of 13 x 305 mm (12 in) guns arranged in three triple gun turrets and two twin gun turrets. There are 18 x 120 mm (4.7 in) single gun positions supported by 4 x 76.2 mm (3 in) guns.

Rounding out the armament kit are 3 x 450mm (17.7mm) torpedo tubes, giving the ship considerable firepower.

Armor protection is almost 10 inches at the waterline, more than 1.5 inches on the deck, more than 11 inches on the turret, and more than 11 inches on the conning tower.

Service Occupations

Conte di Cavour was ready for World War I, but had little impact on the conflict - she spent her time cruising in the southern Adriatic peacefully, at a time when the conflict had largely devolved into Land, sea and air combat. In 1919 she made a friendly voyage to the coast of the United States. Shortly after the war, her weapons, gear, and mast structure were better updated.

A seaplane launch/recovery system was also installed to increase its tactical value in the open ocean.

The warship was used in support of the Italian army in Corfu in 1923, but after that decade the ship barely moved. As Europe prepared for another world war, it underwent a major rebuilding between 1933 and 1937.

Her hull was lengthened to accommodate changes and improve seaworthiness, while her machinery had a completely new design and layout: 8 Yarrow boilers were installed, powering 2 geared steam turbines, developed through 2 drive waves of approx. 75,000 horsepower. This increased the ship's sea speed by 27 knots and a range of 6,400 nautical miles. In addition, her crew increased to 1,260. Her main guns now consist of 7 x 320mm guns housed in two triple and two twin turrets.

There are also anti-aircraft guns (AA) with 6 x 120mm twin gun mounts and 4 x 100mm twin gun mounts.

After all the work, this warship is essentially a completely new design with improved performance and appropriate offensive/defensive firepower at the time, while retaining its armor protection and tactical/strategic value.

With the start of World War II in September 1939, di Cavour managed not to avoid fighting. In July 1940, she joined her sister ship Giulio Cesare in the eventual indecisive Battle of Calabria against British and Australian naval forces.

She survived some damage to her structure, although her fortunes took a turn for the worse, falling victim to a British torpedo in an attack on Taranto in November of that year and sank where she was moored . The warship was eventually refloated and taken to Trieste for repairs, and with the surrender of Italy in September 1940, the ship was claimed by the Germans (but never returned to the war). In early 1945, an Allied bombing raid sank her again.

With the end of World War II in 1945, the warship depreciated and was eventually scrapped in 1946, which meant the end of her seafaring activities.

Specification

Basic

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Wing