Italian battleship Littorio

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Career (Italy)

Laid down:	28 October 1934
Launched:	22 August 1937
Commissioned:	6 May 1940
Struck:	1 June 1948
Status:	Scrapped
General Characteristics
Displacement:	43,835 tons standard, 45,963 tons full load
Length:	224.5 - 237.8 m
Beam:	32.9 m
Draught:	10.5 m
Propulsion:	8 boilers, 4 shafts, 140,000 hp
Speed:	31.50 knots
Range:	3,920 miles at 20 knots
Complement:	1,920
Armament:	3 × 3 15 inch/50 (381 mm) 4 × 3 155/55 mm 12 × 90/50 mm AA 20 × 37/50 mm 30 × 20/65 mm
Armour:	max 350 mm (vertical) 207 mm (horizontal)
Aircraft carried:	3

Littorio was an Italian Vittorio Veneto class battleship that served in the Regia Marina during the World War II.

Littorio, high speed manoeuvres, summer 1940.

Her keel was laid down 1934 at Ansaldo, Genoa; she was launched in 1937, and her construction was completed in 1940, after Italy entered in war against France and United Kingdom. With the fall of Fascism, she was renamed Italia. After the war she was taken by the United States as war compensation, but was scrapped in 1948.

Vittorio Veneto class was designed by General Umberto Pugliese, and was the first battleship which overran the limits of the Washington Treaty (35,000 tons of displacement).

[edit] Actions

1940

1 September: operation Hats
29 September: operation MB 5
11 November: Night of Taranto (damaged)

1941

27 September: convoy Albert to Malta
17 December: First Battle of Sirte, convoy M 42

1942

3 January: Italian convoy M 43
22 March: Second Battle of Sirte
15 June: Vigorous convoy to Malta

1943

30 July: changed name to Italia
9 September: surrender of the Italian fleet

Littorio participated in 46 war missions, 9 of which were enemy hunting and 3 were as an escort. After the 8 September 1943 armistice, she was positioned in the Great Bitter Lake in Egypt until the end of the war.