Italian battleship Impero
| RN Impero at her launch in 1939. RN Impero at her launching on November 15, 1939. | |
| History | |
|---|---|
_crowned.svg){kind=small} Italy | |
| Laid down | 14 May 1938 |
| Launched | 15 November 1939 |
| Commissioned | NA; never completed. |
| Fate | Scrapped 1948 - 1950, in Venice |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | (projected) 46,215 tons fully loaded |
| Length | 227.5 - 240.7 m |
| Beam | 32.9 m |
| Complement | (planned) 1,920 |
The Impero was an Italian Littorio class battleship of the Regia Marina during World War II. Designed by Umberto Pugliese, she was the fourth ship of her class and named after the Italian word for Empire, in this case referring to the newly (1936) conquered Italian Empire in East Africa (Somaliland, Eritrea and Ethiopia territories).
History
Built by Ansaldo of Genoa, she was laid down on 14 May 1938 and launched on November 15, 1939. She was never completed however, and when Italy surrendered to the Allies on 8 September 1943 she was captured incomplete by the Germans and used as a target. Sunk by Allied bombers on 20 February 1945, the Impero was raised in 1947 and her hulk was scrapped in Venice from 1948 to 1950.
Had she been completed with her projected displacement of 46,215 tons and length of 227.5 - 240.7 meters, The Impero would have been slightly larger than any of her three sisters: the Vittorio Veneto, the Littorio, and the Roma.