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Conte di Cavour at anchor in Taranto, 9 June 1917
Class overview
NameConte di Cavour class
Operatorslist error: <br /> list (help)
 Regia Marina
 Soviet Navy
Preceded byDante Alighieri
Succeeded byTemplate:Sclass-
Built1910–1915
In commission1914–1955
Completed3
Lost1
Scrapped2
General characteristics (as built)
TypeDreadnought battleship
Displacementlist error: <br /> list (help)
23,088 long tons (23,458 t) (standard)
25,086 long tons (25,489 t) (deep load)
Length176 m (577 ft 5 in) (o/a)
Beam28 m (91 ft 10 in)
Draught9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
Installed powerlist error: <br /> list (help)
30,700–32,800 shp (22,900–24,500 kW)
20 × Water-tube boilers
Propulsionlist error: <br /> list (help)
4 × Shafts
4 × Steam turbines
Speed21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Range4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement31 officers and 969 enlisted men
Armamentlist error: mixed text and list (help)
  • 3 × 3, 2 × 2 - 305 mm (12 in) guns
  • 18 × 1 - 120 mm (4.7 in) guns
  • 14 × 1 - 76.2 mm (3 in) guns
  • 3 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armorlist error: mixed text and list (help)
General characteristics (after reconstruction)
Displacement29,100 long tons (29,600 t) (deep load)
Length186.4 m (611 ft 7 in)
Beam33.1 m (108 ft 7 in)
Installed powerlist error: <br /> list (help)
75,000 shp (56,000 kW)
8 × Yarrow boilers
Propulsionlist error: <br /> list (help)
2 × Shafts
2 × Geared steam turbines
Speed27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range6,400 nmi (11,900 km; 7,400 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement1,260
Armamentlist error: mixed text and list (help)
  • 2 × 3, 2 × 2 - 320 mm (12.6 in)
  • 6 × 2 - 120 mm (4.7 in)
  • 4 × 2 - 100 mm (3.9 in) AA guns
Armorlist error: <br /> list (help)
Deck: 166–135 mm (6.5–5.3 in)
Barbettes: 280–130 mm (11.0–5.1 in)

The Conte di Cavour-class battleship was a group of three dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1910s. Completed during World War I, none of the three ships saw combat during the war. Leonardo da Vinci was sunk by a magazine explosion in 1916 and sold for scrap in 1923. The two surviving ships, Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare, supported operations during the Corfu Incident in 1923. A decade later, they were extensively reconstructed between 1933 and 1937 with more powerful guns, additional armor and considerably more speed than before.

Both ships participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940 where Giulio Cesare was lightly damaged. Both ships were present when British torpedo bombers attacked the fleet at Taranto in November 1940 although only Conte di Cavour was torpedoed. She was grounded with most of her hull underwater and her repairs were not completed before the Italian surrender in September 1943. Conte di Cavour was ultimately scrapped in 1946. Giulio Cesare escorted a number of convoys and participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in late 1940 and the First Battle of Sirte in late 1941 before being relegated to a training ship in early 1942. She escaped to Malta after Italy surrendered. The ship was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1949 and renamed Novorossiisk. The Soviets also used her for training until she was sunk when a mine exploded in 1955. Novorossiisk was scrapped in 1957.

Design and description

The Conte di Cavour-class ships were the first full class of dreadnoughts in the Regia Marina, although the first Italian dreadnought, Dante Alighieri, had been completed in 1913.[1] The ships were designed by Rear Admiral Engineer Edoardo Masdea, Chief Constructor of the Regia Marina, and were ordered in response to French plans to build the Template:Sclass-s. They were intended to be superior to Courbets and to remedy Dante Alighieri's perceived flaws of weak protection and armament. While not designed to reach the 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph) of their predecessor, nonetheless the ships were planned to be 1.5 to 2 knots (2.8 to 3.7 km/h; 1.7 to 2.3 mph) faster than the 20-to-21-knot (37 to 39 km/h; 23 to 24 mph) standard of most foreign dreadnoughts.[2] The ships' armament of 305-millimeter (12 in) guns was chosen because Italy lacked the ability to build larger guns,[3] even though foreign dreadnoughts were being designed with 13.5-inch (340 mm) guns. An additional gun, making a total of 13, was added to offset this deficiency.[4]

The ships took four to five years to build, leaving the Conte di Cavour class inferior in protection and armament to their contemporaries in most foreign navies,[5] with the exception of the French.[3] Construction was delayed by late deliveries of the 305-millimeter guns, armor plates and labor shortages. The Italo-Turkish War of 1911–1912 diverted workers at the shipyards for repairs and maintenance of the ships participating in the war. The Italians imported the raw nickel steel for their armor from America and Britain and processed it into their equivalent of Krupp armor (Terni cemented), but there were problems with this process and suitable plates took longer to produce than planned.[6]

Basic characteristics

The ships of the Conte di Cavour class were 168.9 meters (554 ft 2 in) long at the waterline, and 176 meters (577 ft 5 in) overall. They had a beam of 28 meters (91 ft 10 in), and a draft of 19.3 meters (63 ft 4 in).[7] They displaced 23,088 long tons (23,458 t) at normal load, and 25,086 long tons (25,489 t) at deep load. The Conti de Cavour class was provided with a complete double bottom and their hulls were subdivided by 23 longitudinal and transverse bulkheads. They had a crew of 31 officers and 969 enlisted men. The ships had two rudders, both on the centerline.[6]

Propulsion

The original machinery for all three ships consisted of four Parsons steam turbines, arranged in three engine rooms and each driving one propeller shaft. A center engine room with two turbines was flanked by compartments on either side, each housing one turbine which powered the outer shafts. Steam for the turbines was provided by 20 Blechynden water-tube boilers in Conte di Cavour and Leonardo da Vinci, eight of which burned oil and twelve of which burned both oil and coal. Giulio Cesare used a dozen each oil-fired and mixed-firing Babcock & Wilcox boilers. Designed to reach a maximum speed of 22.5 knots (41.7 km/h; 25.9 mph), none of the ships reached this goal on their sea trials, despite generally exceeding the rated power of their turbines. They only achieved speeds ranging from 21.56 to 22.2 knots (39.93 to 41.11 km/h; 24.81 to 25.55 mph) using 30,700 to 32,800 shaft horsepower (22,900 to 24,500 kW). The ships' could store a maximum of 1,450 long tons (1,470 t) of coal and 850 long tons (860 t) of fuel oil[8] that gave them a range of 4,800 nautical miles (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph), and 1,000 nmi (1,900 km; 1,200 mi) at 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph).[7]

Armament

Original main armament layout

As built the main armament consisted of thirteen 46-caliber 305-millimeter guns,[9] designed by Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers,[10] in five gun turrets. The turrets were arranged all on the centerline, with a twin-gun turret superfiring over a triple-gun turret in fore and aft pairs, and a third triple turret amidships, designated 'A', 'B', 'Q', 'X', and 'Y' from front to rear. This was just one less gun than the Brazilian Rio de Janeiro, then the most heavily armed battleship in the world, though Rio de Janeiro's guns were mounted in seven twin-gun turrets.[9] The turrets had an elevation capability of −5° to +20 degrees and the ships could carry 100 rounds for each gun, although 70 was the normal load. Sources disagree regarding these guns' performance, but naval historian Giorgio Giorgerini claims that they fired 452-kilogram (996 lb) armor-piercing (AP) projectiles at the rate of one round per minute and that they had a muzzle velocity of 840 metres per second (2,800 ft/s) which gave a maximum range of 24,000 meters (26,000 yd).[11][Note 1]

The secondary armament on the first two ships consisted of eighteen 50-caliber 120-millimeter (4.7 in) guns, also designed by Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers,[13] mounted in casemates on the sides of the hull. These guns could depress to −10 degrees and had a maximum elevation of +15 degrees; they had a rate of fire of six shots per minute. They could fire a 22.1-kilogram (49 lb) high-explosive projectile with a muzzle velocity of 850 meters per second (2,800 ft/s) to a maximum distance of 12,000 yards (11,000 m). The ships carried a total of 3,600 rounds for them. For defense against torpedo boats, the ships carried fourteen 50-caliber 76 mm (3.0 in) guns; thirteen of these could be mounted on the turret tops, but they could be mounted in 30 different positions, including some on the forecastle and upper decks. These guns had the same range of elevation as the secondary guns, although their rate of fire was higher at 10 rounds per minute. They fired a 6-kilogram (13 lb) AP projectile with a muzzle velocity of 815 meters per second (2,670 ft/s) to a maximum distance of 10,000 yards (9,100 m). The ships were also fitted with three submerged 45-centimeter (18 in) torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and the third in the stern.[14]

Armor

The Conte di Cavour-class ships had a complete waterline armor belt that was 2.8 meters (9 ft 2 in) high; 1.6 meters (5 ft 3 in) of this was below the waterline and 1.2 meters (3 ft 11 in) above. It had a maximum thickness of 250 millimeters (9.8 in) amidships, reducing to 130 millimeters (5.1 in) towards the stern and 80 millimeters (3.1 in) towards the bow. The lower edge of this belt was a uniform 170 millimeters (6.7 in) in thickness. Above the main belt was a strake of armor 220 millimeters (8.7 in) thick that extended 2.3 meters (7 ft 7 in) up to the lower edge of the main deck. Above this strake was a thinner one, 130 millimeters thick, that extended 138 meters (452 ft 9 in) from the bow to 'X' turret. The upper strake of armor protected the casemates and was 110 millimeters (4.3 in) thick. The ships had two armored decks: the main deck was 24 mm (0.94 in) thick in two layers on the flat that increased to 40 millimeters (1.6 in) on the slopes that connected it to the main belt. The second deck was 30 millimeters (1.2 in) thick, also in two layers. Fore and aft transverse bulkheads connected the armored belt to the decks.[15]

The frontal armor of the gun turrets was 280 millimeters (11.0 in) in thickness with 240-millimeter (9.4 in) thick sides, and a 85-millimeter (3.3 in) roof and rear.[16] Their barbettes also had 230-millimeter armor above the forecastle[17] deck that reduced to 180 millimeters (7.1 in) between the forecastle and upper decks and 130 millimeters below the upper deck. The forward conning tower had walls 280 millimeters thick those of the aft conning tower were 180 millimeters thick.[18] The total weight of the protective armor was 5,150 long tons (5,230 t),[7] just over 25 per cent of the ships' designed displacement. The total weight of the entire protective system was 6,122 long tons (6,220 t), 30.2 per cent of their intended displacement.[16]

Modifications and reconstruction

Shortly after the end of World War I, the number of 50-caliber 76 mm guns was reduced to 13, all mounted on the turret tops, and six new 40-caliber 76-millimeter guns were installed abreast the aft funnel. In addition two license-built 2-pounder anti-aircraft (AA) guns were mounted on the forecastle deck abreast 'B' turret. In 1925–26 the foremast was replaced by a quadripod mast, which was moved forward of the funnels,[19] the rangefinders were upgraded, and the ships were equipped to handle a Macchi M.18 seaplane mounted on the center turret. Around that same time, one or both of the ships was equipped with a fixed aircraft catapult on the port side of the forecastle.[Note 2]

Office of Naval Intelligence drawing of the Conti di Cavour class, January 1943

The sisters began an extensive reconstruction program in October 1933. This lasted until June 1937 for Conte di Cavour and October 1937 for Giulio Cesare, and resulted in a number of changes. A new bow section was grafted over the existing bow which increased their length by 10.31 meters (33 ft 10 in) to 186.4 meters (611 ft 7 in) and their beam increased to 28.6 meters (93 ft 10 in). Their draft at deep load increased to 10.02 meters (32 ft 10 in) for Conte di Cavour and 10.42 meters (34 ft 2 in) for Giulio Cesare.[21] All of the changes made during their reconstruction increased their displacement to 26,140 long tons (26,560 t) at standard load and 29,100 long tons (29,600 t) at deep load. The ships' crew increased to 1,260 officers and enlisted men.[22]

Two of the propeller shafts were removed and the existing turbines were replaced by two Belluzzo geared steam turbines rated at 75,000 shp (56,000 kW).[21] The boilers were replaced by eight superheated Yarrow boilers with a working pressure of 22 atm (2,229 kPa; 323 psi). On her sea trials in December 1936, before her reconstruction was completed, Giulio Cesare reached a speed of 28.24 knots (52.30 km/h; 32.50 mph) from 93,430 shp (69,670 kW).[23] In service their maximum speed was about 27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph). The ships now carried 2,550–2,605 long tons (2,591–2,647 t) of fuel oil which provided them with a range of 6,400 nautical miles (11,900 km; 7,400 mi) at a speed of 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph).[24]

The center turret and the torpedo tubes were removed and all of the existing secondary armament and AA guns were replaced by a dozen 120 mm guns in six twin-gun turrets and eight 102-millimeter (4.0 in) AA guns in twin turrets. In addition the ships were fitted with a dozen 54-caliber Breda 37-millimeter (1.5 in) light AA guns in six twin-gun mounts and twelve 13.2-millimeter (0.52 in) Breda M31 anti-aircraft machine guns, also in twin mounts.[25] The 305-millimeter (12.0 in) guns were bored out to 320 millimeters (13 in) and their turrets were modified to use electric power, a fixed loading angle of +12 degrees, and the guns could now elevate to +27 degrees.[26] The 320 mm AP shells weighed 525 kilograms (1,157 lb) and had a maximum range of 28,600 meters (31,300 yd) with a muzzle velocity of 830 m/s (2,700 ft/s).[27] In 1940 the 13.2  mm machine guns were replaced by 65-caliber 20-millimeter (0.8 in) AA guns in twin mounts. Giulio Cesare received two more twin mounts as well as four additional 37 mm guns in twin mounts on the forecastle between the two turrets in 1941.[20]

The deck armor was increased during reconstruction to a total of 135 millimeters (5.3 in) over the engine and boiler rooms and 166 millimeters (6.5 in) over the magazines, although its distribution over three decks, each with multiple layers, meant that it was considerably less effective than a single plate of the same thickness. The armor protecting the barbettes was reinforced 50-millimeter (2.0 in) plates.[28] All this armor weighed a total of 3,227 long tons (3,279 t).[20] The existing underwater protection was replaced by the Pugliese system that consisted of a large cylinder surrounded by fuel oil or water that was intended to absorb the blast of a torpedo warhead. It lacked, however, enough depth to be fully effective against the torpedoes in use at that time. A major problem of the reconstruction was that the ships' increased draft meant that their waterline armor belt was almost completely submerged with any significant load.[28]

Ships

Ship Namesake Builder Laid down[29] Launched[29] Completed[16] Fate[30]
Conte di Cavour Count Camillo Benso di Cavour[31] La Spezia Arsenale, La Spezia 10 August 1910 10 August 1911 1 April 1915 Sunk during the Battle of Taranto 12 November 1940, salvaged 1941, and scrapped, 1946
Giulio Cesare Julius Caesar[32] Gio. Ansaldo & C., Genoa 24 June 1910 15 October 1911 14 May 1915 Transferred to the Soviet Union, 1949, and sank 29 October 1955 after hitting a mine, salvaged 1957, and subsequently scrapped
Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci[33] Odero Shipbuilding Co., Sestri Ponente, Genoa 18 July 1910 14 October 1911 17 May 1914 Sunk by magazine explosion, 2 August 1916, salvaged 1919, and sold for scrap, 22 March 1923[29]

Service

Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare served as flagships in the southern Adriatic Sea during World War I,[29] but saw no action and very little time at sea.[34] Leonardo da Vinci was also little used and she was sunk by an internal magazine explosion at Taranto harbor on the night of 2/3 August 1916 while loading ammunition. Casualties included 21 officers and 227 enlisted men[35] killed.[29] The Italians blamed Austro-Hungarian saboteurs, but unstable propellant may well have been responsible.[9] The ship was refloated, upside down, on 17 September 1919 and righted on 24 January 1921.[20] The Regina Marina planned to modernize her by replacing her center turret with six 102-millimeter (4 in) AA guns,[7] but ultimately lacked the funds to do so and sold her for scrap on 22 March 1923.[29]

In 1919, Conte di Cavour sailed to North America and visited a number of ports in the United States as well as Halifax, Canada. Giulio Cesare made port visits in the Levant that same year as well as in 1920. Conte di Cavour was mostly inactive in 1921 because of personnel shortages and was refitted at La Spezia from November to March 1922. Both ships supported Italian operations during the Corfu incident in 1923. Conte di Cavour escorted King Victor Emmanuel III and his wife, aboard Dante Aligheri, on a state visit to Spain in 1924 and was placed in reserve upon her return until 1926 when she conveyed Benito Mussolini on a voyage to Libya. The ship was again placed in reserve from 1927 until 1933 while her sister became a gunnery training ship in 1928, after having been in reserve since 1926. Conte di Cavour was reconstructed at the CRDA Trieste Yard while Giulio Cesare was rebuilt at Cantieri del Tirreno, Genoa between 1933 and 1937. Both ships participated in a naval review by Adolf Hitler in the Bay of Naples in May 1938 and covered the invasion of Albania in May 1939.[36]

Early in World War II, the sisters took part in the Battle of Calabria (also known as the Battle of Punto Stilo) on 9 July 1940, as part of the 1st Battle Squadron, commanded by Admiral Inigo Campioni, during which they engaged major elements of the British Mediterranean Fleet. The British were escorting a convoy from Malta to Alexandria, while the Italians had finished escorting another from Naples to Benghazi, Libya. Admiral Andrew Cunningham, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, attempted to interpose his ships between the Italians and their base at Taranto. The fleets spotted each other in the middle of the afternoon and the escorting cruisers were the first to fire, although without effect. The Italian battleships opened fire first at 15:53 at a range of nearly 29,000 yards (27,000 m) and the two leading British battleships, HMS Warspite and Malaya, returned fire a minute later. Three minutes after opening fire, shells from Giulio Cesare began to straddle Warspite which made a small turn and increased speed, to throw off the Italian ship's aim, at 16:00. At that same time, a shell from Warspite struck Giulio Cesare at a distance of about 26,000 yards (24,000 m). The shell pierced the rear funnel and prematurely detonated inside the funnel, blowing out a hole in it nearly 20 feet (6.1 m) across. Fragments ignited several fires and their smoke was drawn into the boiler rooms, forcing four boilers off line as their operators could not breathe, which reduced the ship's speed to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph). Uncertain how severe the damage was, Campioni ordered his battleships to turn away in the face of superior British numbers and they successfully disengaged.[37] Repairs to Giulio Cesare were completed by the end of August and both ships attempted to intercept British convoys to Malta without success in August and September.[38]

On the night of 11 November 1940, Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare were at anchor in Taranto harbor when they were attacked by 21 Fairey Swordfish torpedo bombers from the British aircraft carrier HMS Illustrious, along with several other warships. The torpedo exploded underneath 'B' turret at 23:15, and her captain requested tugboats to help ground the ship on a nearby 12-meter (39 ft) sandbank. His admiral vetoed the request until it was too late and Conte di Cavour had to use a deeper, 17-meter (56 ft), sandbank at 04:30 on 12 November. In an effort to lighten the ship, her guns and parts of her superstructure were removed and Conte di Cavour was refloated on 9 July 1941. Temporary repairs to enable the ship to reach Trieste for permanent repairs took until 22 December. Her guns were operable by September 1942, but replacing her entire electrical system took longer and she was still under repair when Italy surrendered a year later.[39] The Regia Marina made plans to replace her secondary and anti-aircraft weapons with a dozen 135-millimeter (5.3 in) dual-purpose guns in twin mounts, twelve 64-caliber 65-millimeter (2.6 in), and twenty-three 65-caliber 20 mm AA guns.[25] Her hulk was damaged in an air raid and she capsized on 23 February 1945. Refloated shortly after the end of the war, Conte di Cavour was scrapped in 1946.[40]

Giulio Cesare participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento on 27 November 1940, but never got close enough to any British ships to fire at them. The ship was damaged in January 1941 by a near miss during an air raid on Naples; repairs were completed in early February. She participated in the First Battle of Sirte on 17 December 1941, providing distant cover for a convoy bound for Libya, again never firing her main armament.[41] In early 1942, Giulio Cesare was reduced to a training ship at Taranto and later Pola.[40] She steamed to Malta in early September 1943 after the Italian surrender. The German submarine U-596 unsuccessfully attacked the ship in the Gulf of Taranto in early March 1944.[42]

Following the end of the war, Giulio Cesare was allocated to the Soviet Union as war reparations in 1949, and renamed Novorossiisk, after the Soviet city on the Black Sea. The Soviets used her as a training ship when she was not undergoing one of her eight refits in their hands. In 1953, all remaining Italian light AA guns were replaced by eighteen 37 mm 70-K AA guns in six twin mounts and six singles. They also replaced her fire-control systems and added radars, although the exact changes are unknown. The Soviets intended to rearm her with their own 305 mm guns, but this was forestalled by her loss. While at anchor in Sevastopol on the night of 28/29 October 1955, she detonated a large German mine leftover from World War II. The explosion blew a hole clean through the ship, making a 4-by-14-meter (13 by 46 ft) hole in the forecastle forward of 'A' turret. The flooding could not be controlled and she later capsized with the loss of 608 men. Novorossiisk was stricken from the Navy List on 24 February 1956, salvaged on 4 May 1957, and subsequently scrapped.[43]

Notes

  1. ^ Friedman provides a variety of sources that show armor-piercing shell weights ranging from 416.92 to 452.32 kilograms (919.16 to 997.2 lb) and muzzle velocities around 861 metres per second (2,820 ft/s).[12]
  2. ^ Sources disagree if Giulio Cesare was fitted with a catapult or not. Giorgerini says both ships received one,[19] however Whitley and Bagnasco & Grossman say that only Conte di Cavour received one.[20][21]

Footnotes

  1. ^ Hore, pp. 174–176
  2. ^ Giorgerini, pp. 268–70, 272
  3. ^ a b Stille, p. 12
  4. ^ Gorgerini, p. 269
  5. ^ Giorgerini, p. 270
  6. ^ a b Giorgerini, pp. 270, 272
  7. ^ a b c d Gardiner & Gray, p. 259
  8. ^ Giorgerini, pp. 268, 272
  9. ^ a b c Hore, p. 175
  10. ^ Friedman, p. 234
  11. ^ Giorgerini, pp. 268, 276
  12. ^ Friedman, pp. 233–34
  13. ^ Friedman, pp. 240–41
  14. ^ Giorgerini, pp. 268, 277–77
  15. ^ Giorgerini, pp. 270–71
  16. ^ a b c Giorgerini, p. 272
  17. ^ McLaughlin, p. 421
  18. ^ Giorgerini, pp. 270–72
  19. ^ a b Giorgerini, p. 277
  20. ^ a b c d Whitley, p. 158
  21. ^ a b c Bagnasco & Grossman, p. 64
  22. ^ Brescia, p. 58
  23. ^ McLaughlin, p. 422
  24. ^ Bagnasco & Grossman, pp. 64–65
  25. ^ a b Bagnasco & Grossman, p. 65
  26. ^ McLaughlin, p. 420
  27. ^ Campbell, p. 322
  28. ^ a b McLaughlin, pp. 421–22
  29. ^ a b c d e f Preston, p. 176
  30. ^ Brescia, pp. 58–59
  31. ^ Silverstone, p. 296
  32. ^ Silverstone, p. 298
  33. ^ Silverstone, p. 300
  34. ^ Georgerini, p. 277
  35. ^ Whitley, pp. 157–58
  36. ^ Whitley, pp. 158–61
  37. ^ O'Hara, pp. 28–35
  38. ^ Whitley, p. 161
  39. ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, pp. 81–93
  40. ^ a b Brescia, p. 59
  41. ^ Whitley, pp. 161–62
  42. ^ Rohwer, pp. 272, 298
  43. ^ McLaughlin, pp. 419, 422–23

References

  • Bagnasco, Erminio; Grossman, Mark (n.d.). Regia Marina: Italian Battleships of World War Two: A Pictorial History. Missoula, Montana: Pictorial Histories Publishing. ISBN 0-933126-75-1.
  • Brescia, Maurizio (2012). Mussolini's Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regina Marina 1930–45. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-544-8.
  • Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
  • Cernuschi, Ernesto; O'Hara, Vincent P. (2010). "Taranto: The Raid and the Aftermath". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2010. London: Conway. pp. 77–95. ISBN 978-1-84486-110-1.
  • Gardiner, Robert; Gray, Randal, eds. (1984). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships: 1906–1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
  • Giorgerini, Giorgio (1980). "The Cavour & Duilio Class Battleships". In Roberts, John (ed.). Warship IV. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 267–79. ISBN 0-85177-205-6.
  • Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
  • Hore, Peter (2005). Battleships. London: Lorenz Books. ISBN 0-7548-1407-6.
  • McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
  • O'Hara, Vincent P. (2008). "The Action off Calabria and the Myth of Moral Ascendancy". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2008. London: Conway. pp. 26–39. ISBN 978-1-84486-062-3.
  • Preston, Antony (1972). Battleships of World War I: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of the Battleships of All Nations 1914–1918. New York: Galahad Books. ISBN 0-88365-300-1.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
  • Silverstone, Paul H. (1984). Directory of the World's Capital Ships. New York: Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-88254-979-0.
  • Stille, Mark (2011). Italian Battleships of World War II. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84908-831-2.
  • Whitley, M. J. (1998). Battleships of World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-184-X.

Further reading

  • Faccaroli, Aldo (1970). Italian Warships of World War I. London: Ian Allan. ISBN 0-7110-0105-7.
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