Littorio (Italia)

History of Littorio (Italy)

The arrival of the fast Dunkirk-class battleships of the French Navy in the 1930s prompted the Italians to fight back with their Littorio-class, a group of four battleships that represented the last battleships completed by the Italian Navy. Littorio leads the class, which also includes sisters Vittorio Veneto, Impero and Roma.

Littorio itself survived the war and was abandoned in the early 1950s. Not only did Littorio become one of the first modern battleships to actually join the Royal Yachting, but it marked the first battleship to enter service since the end of World War I (November 1918) - a 35,000-ton A steel monster, destined to fulfill a battleship.

She was ordered on June 10, 1934, to be built by Ansaldo of Genoa-Sestri Bonante, and construction began on October 28 of that year. The ship was launched on August 22, 1937, and officially commissioned on May 6, 1940.

World War II began with Germany's invasion of Poland on September 1, 1939, when Europe was already at war.

She has three three-armed turrets with 15" guns, two at the front and one at the rear. In particular the rear turret was raised from the main deck to protect it from blast damage. A catapult was installed in the stern for launching recoverable seaplanes (three planes were carried in total). The midship has two chimneys in a row, and the bridge structure is vaguely behind the second turret. Behind the main gun are 4 x 6" guns with three turrets, 4 x 120mm flare guns, 12 x 90mm guns, 20 x 37mm guns and 10 x 20mm guns (dual turrets).

Armor protection reaches 14 inches on the main conveyor belt and 10 inches on the conning tower. Power comes from 8 x Yarrow boilers feeding 4 x 128,000hp steam turbines on 4 x shafts. It has a top speed of 30 knots and a range of up to 4,000 miles.

Well-equipped and relatively fast, the Littorio was a solid addition to the Italian Navy's ranks.

When the Royal Navy launched its famous air raid (Battle of Taranto) on 11 November 1940, Littorio was unfortunately moored at Taranto, the warship was torpedoed by three torpedoes from the "Swordfish" bombers Damaged, flew them for repairs the following March. Since then, the warship has become part of the Italian fleet tasked with suppressing the British Navy in the Mediterranean, and these waterways were vital to both sides of the war - especially to protect and strengthen forces in North Africa and the Balkans.

The Second Battle of Sirte took place on March 22, 1942, in which Littorio was the only battleship involved in a fleet of cruisers, destroyers and some submarines. The outnumbered Royal Navy fleet was able to torpedo the mighty battleship, but two enemy destroyers were disabled, and three cruisers and three destroyers were damaged.

The battle was largely seen as a British victory.

In July 1943, after the fall of the fascist-led government in Italy, Littorio changed his name to Italy. Now allied with the Axis Powers, Italy went to detention, but was targeted by German bombers on September 9. Her bow was badly damaged in a Fritz X radio-controlled bomb attack, and her sister Roma was sunk (Italy officially surrendered in September 1943). She was eventually buried in Malta, Alexandria, before ending her wartime years at the Suez Canal until 1947.

From 1952 to 1954, she was given to the United States as a war prize, stripped of its use and scrapped in La Spezia. [ /p]

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