Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci

Career (Italy)
Name:	Leonardo da Vinci
Namesake:	Leonardo da Vinci
Laid down:	18 July 1910
Launched:	14 October 1911
Completed:	17 May 1914
Struck:	22 September 1923
Fate:	Sunk 2 August 1916 Refloated 17 September 1919 Sold for scrapping 26 March 1923
General characteristics
Class and type:	Conte di Cavour-class battleship
Displacement:	23,088 tons standard, 25,086 tons full load
Length:	168.9 - 176.1 m
Beam:	28 m
Draught:	9.4 m
Propulsion:	20 boilers, 4 shafts, 31,000 hp
Speed:	21.5 knots (41 km/h)
Range:	4,800 miles at 10 knots
Complement:	1,000
Armament:	13 × 305/46 mm 18 × 120/50 mm 16 × 76/50 mm 6 × 76/40 mm 3 × 450 mm torpedo tubes
Armour:	280 mm max (vertical) 111 mm (horizontal)

Leonardo da Vinci was a Conte di Cavour class battleship of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy). She was 170 metres long, small for a battleship. Her twenty boilers and four shafts generated 24MW and gave a top speed of 11 m/s (41 km/h, 21 knots, 25 mph). She was crewed by about 1,000 men.

Leonardo da Vinci was built between 18 July 1910 and 17 May 1914. During World War I, she capsized in Taranto harbour on 2 August 1916 after an explosion blamed by the Italian authorities on Austro-Hungarian sabotage. The explosion killed 249 of her crew.

Leonardo da Vinci in Taranto harbor on 25 January 1921 during salvage operations, still listing to starboard. She had capsized and sunk in 1916 and had been refloated upside down in 1919.

On 17 September 1919, Leonardo da Vinci was refloated upside down, but repairs were never carried out, and she was sold on 26 March 1923 for scrapping. She officially was stricken on 22 September 1923.

References

• Faccaroli, Aldo (1970). Italian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-010-5. 
• Gardiner, Robert, ed. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1985. ISBN 0-87021-907-3.
• World War I Document Archive: Ship Photo Gallery