Italian battleship Vittorio Veneto
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 Vittorio Veneto firing upon Allied cruisers during the Battle of Cape Matapan |
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| Career (Italy) |  |
|---|---|
| Name: | Vittorio Veneto |
| Namesake: | Battle of Vittorio Veneto[1] |
| Operator: | Regia Marina[2] |
| Ordered: | 10 June 1934[3] |
| Builder: | 'San Marco' Trieste, Cantieri Riuniti dell' Adriatico (C.R.D.A.)[2] |
| Laid down: | 28 October 1934[2] |
| Launched: | 25 July 1937[2] |
| Sponsored by: | Signora Maria Bertuzzi[4] |
| Commissioned: | 28 April 1940[2] |
| Decommissioned: | 1 February 1948[2] |
| Struck: | 1 February 1948[5] |
| Fate: | Scrapped at La Spezia 1951-52[2] |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Littorio-class battleship |
| Displacement: | 37,613 long tons (38,217 t) (light)[5] 40,516 long tons (41,166 t) (standard)[5] 42,935 long tons (43,624 t) (normal)[5] 45,029 long tons (45,752 t) (full load)[5] |
| Length: | 780.05 ft (237.76 m) oa[6] 734.070 ft (223.745 m) pp[6] |
| Beam: | 108.104 ft (32.950 m) max beam[6] 106.408 ft (32.433 m) waterline[6] |
| Draft: | 34.252 ft (10.440 m) @ 45,029 long tons (45,752 t; 50,432 ST)[6] |
| Installed power: | 128,222 shp (95,615 kW) (normal)[7] 138,085 shp (102,970 kW) (overload)[7] |
| Propulsion: | 8 × Yarrow boilers[7] 4 × steam turbines[7] 4 × shafts[7] |
| Speed: | 29 kn (33 mph; 54 km/h) (full-load)[7] 31.428 kn (36.167 mph; 58.205 km/h) (speed trials)[8] |
| Range: | 4,580 mi (7,370 km; 3,980 nmi) at 16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph)[9] 3,920 mi (6,310 km; 3,410 nmi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph)[9] 1,770 mi (2,850 km; 1,540 nmi) at 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)[9] |
| Complement: | 1,802-1,960[10] |
| Sensors and processing systems: |
EC 3 ter 'Gufo' Radar[11] |
| Armament: | 3 × 3 381 mm (15.0 in)/50 cal guns[12] 4 × 3 152 mm (6.0 in)/55 cal guns[12] 4 × 1 120 mm (4.7 in)/40 guns for illumination[12] 12 × 1 90 mm (3.5 in)/50 anti-aircraft guns[12] 20 37 mm (1.5 in)/54 guns (8 × 2; 4 × 1)[12] 10 × 2 20 mm (0.79 in)/65 guns[12] 6 × 1 8 mm (0.31 in) guns[13] |
| Armor: | max 350 mm (14 in) (vertical)[12] max 207 mm (8.1 in) (horizontal)[12] |
| Aircraft carried: | 3 aircraft (IMAM Ro.43 or Reggiane Re.2000)[12] |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 stern catapult[12] |
Vittorio Veneto was the lead ship of her class of battleships that served in the Regia Marina during World War II. She was named after the Italian victory at Vittorio Veneto, during World War I.
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[edit] Construction
Vittorio Veneto's keel was laid in 1934 at Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico, Trieste; she was launched on 25 July 1937, and her construction was completed in 1940, after Italy had entered in war against France and the United Kingdom.
Vittorio Veneto was designed by General Umberto Pugliese, and was the first battleship to exceed the limits of the Washington Naval Treaty (35,000 long tons (36,000 t) of displacement). In 1942, Vittorio Veneto was the first Italian battleship to be equipped with a radar device, a "Gufo" E.C. 4.
[edit] Actions
Vittorio Veneto took part in the battle of Cape Teulada (27 November 1940), where a barrage of 19 shells from her main guns, fired in seven salvos, forced the seven-cruiser British squadron to disengage.[14]
During a mission on 26–29 March 1941, Vittorio Veneto participated in the battle of Cape Matapan, fought along the south western coast of Crete, where she drove off a squadron of four Allied light cruisers and three destroyers near the island of Gavdos, inflicting minor splinter damage on them. She was in return damaged by a torpedo bomber and forced to sail back to Italy; the Italian fleet adopted an exceptional formation on five lines to protect the Vittorio Veneto, but a second aircraft attack — and a subsequent night battle — caused the sinking of three heavy cruisers and two destroyers to British battleship gunfire. Despite taking on 4,000 long tons (4,100 t) of water due to the extensive torpedo damage, the battleship was able to reach Taranto, but remained out of service for about five months.
During the war in the Mediterranean Sea, Vittorio Veneto took part in 56 war missions, 11 of them sorties against enemy shipping.
1940
- 1 September: operation Hats;
- 29 September: operation MB 5;
- 11 November: Battle of Taranto;
- 17 November: operation White
- 27 November: Battle of Cape Spartivento or Battle of Cape Teulada;
1941
- 27 March: Battle of Gavdos island;
- 28 March: Battle of Matapan. The commander of the ship was Capitano di Vascello Giuseppe Sparzani and the commander of the Italian fleet, flagship Vittorio Veneto, was Ammiraglio di Squadra Angelo Iachino;
- 27 September: convoy Albert to Malta;
- 14 December: cancelled Italian convoys in the Mediterranean Sea;
1942
- 15 June: Vittorio Veneto also participated in the Battle of Mid-June, where she and her sister ship Littorio successfully fenced off a large British convoy from Alexandria by their mere presence at sea;
1943
- 9 September: surrender of the Italian fleet.
After the armistice of 8 September 1943, Vittorio Veneto was sent to Egypt, and was interned in the Great Bitter Lake, in the Suez Canal; a proposal to allow the battleship to fight side-by-side with the Allies in southern France and in the Pacific Ocean was dismissed because of political and operational considerations. After the war, she was taken by the U.K. as war compensation. Vittorio Veneto was eventually returned to Italy where she was dismantled, in 1948.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ Whitley, "Battleships of World War Two", 171
- ^ a b c d e f g Bagnasco and de Toro, "The Littorio Class", 46
- ^ Bagnasco and de Toro, "The Littorio Class", 34
- ^ Bagnasco and de Toro, "The Littorio Class", 118
- ^ a b c d e Garzke and Dulin, Axis and Neutral Battleships, 428
- ^ a b c d e Garzke and Dulin, Axis and Neutral Battleships, 430
- ^ a b c d e f Garzke and Dulin, Axis and Neutral Battleships, 434
- ^ Garzke and Dulin, Axis and Neutral Battleships, 425
- ^ a b c Garzke and Dulin, Axis and Neutral Battleships, 435
- ^ Bagnasco and de Toro, "The Littorio Class", 112
- ^ Bagnasco and de Toro, "The Littorio Class", 101-102
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Bagnasco and de Toro, "The Littorio Class", 48
- ^ Bagnasco and de Toro, "The Littorio Class", 86
- ^ Battle of Cape Teulada, by Cristiano D'Adamo
[edit] Bibliography
- Bagnasco, Erminio; de Toro, Augusto (2010). The Littorio Class. S Yorkshire: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978 1 59114 445 8.
- Garzke, William H.; Dulin, Robert O. (1985). Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-101-3.
- Whitley, M.J. (1998). Battleships of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-184-X. OCLC 40834665.
[edit] External links
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