Conte Di Cavour-class Battleship
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The ''Conte di Cavour''–class battleships were a group of three
dreadnought The dreadnought was the predominant type of battleship in the early 20th century. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's , had such an effect when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", ...
s built for the Royal Italian Navy (''
Regia Marina The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origin ...
'') in the 1910s. The ships were completed during
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
. In December 1915, and January 1916, when the Serbian army was driven by the German foces under General von Mackensen toward the Albanian coast, 138,000 Serbian infantry and 11,000 refugees were ferried across the Adriatic and landed in Italy in 87 trips by the and other ships of the Italian Navy under the command of Admiral Conz. These ships also carried 13,000 cavalrymen and 10,000 horses of the Serbian army to Corfu in 13 crossings from the Albanian port of Vallons. was sunk by a
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explosion in 1916 and sold for
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in 1923. The two surviving ships, and , supported operations during the
Corfu Incident The Corfu incident (, ) was a 1923 diplomatic and military crisis between Greece and Italy. It was triggered when Enrico Tellini, an Italian general heading a commission to resolve a border dispute between Albania and Greece, was murdered in ...
in 1923. 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 The Battle of Calabria (9 July 1940) known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. Ships of the were opposed by vessels of the Mediterranean Fleet. ...
in July 1940, when ''Giulio Cesare'' was lightly damaged. They were both present when British torpedo bombers attacked the fleet at
Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...
in November 1940, and ''Conte di Cavour'' was torpedoed. She was grounded with most of her hull underwater and her repairs were not completed before the
Italian surrender The Armistice of Cassibile ( Italian: ''Armistizio di Cassibile'') was an armistice that was signed on 3 September 1943 by Italy and the Allies, marking the end of hostilities between Italy and the Allies during World War II. It was made public ...
in September 1943. ''Conte di Cavour'' was scrapped in 1946. ''Giulio Cesare'' escorted several convoys, and participated in the
Battle of Cape Spartivento The Battle of Cape Spartivento, known as the Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War, fought between naval forces of the Royal Navy and the Italian '' Regia Marina'' o ...
in late 1940 and the
First Battle of Sirte The First Battle of Sirte was fought between forces of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the (Italian Royal Navy) during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, south-east of M ...
in late 1941. She was designated as a
training ship A training ship is a ship used to train students as sailors. The term is mostly used to describe ships employed by navies to train future officers. Essentially there are two types: those used for training at sea and old hulks used to house class ...
in early 1942, and escaped to
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after Italy surrendered. The ship was transferred to the
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in 1949 and renamed ''Novorossiysk''. The Soviets also used her for training until she was sunk when a
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exploded in 1955. She was scrapped in 1957.


Design and description

The ''Conte di Cavour''–class ships were designed by
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Engineer Edoardo Masdea, Chief Constructor of the ''Regia Marina'', and were ordered in response to French plans to build the s. They were intended to be superior to the ''Courbet''s and to remedy 's perceived flaws of weak protection and armament. As upgrading a warship's protection and armament on a similar displacement typically requires a loss in speed, the ships were not designed to reach the of their predecessor. They were still given a advantage over the standard of most foreign dreadnoughts. Foreign dreadnoughts were being designed with guns, but the ''Regia Marina'' was forced to use guns in the ''Conte di Cavour''s because Italy lacked the ability to build larger guns.Stille, p. 12 An additional gun, making a total of 13, was added to offset this deficiency. Taking advantage of the lengthy building times of these ships, other countries were able to build dreadnoughts that were superior in protection and armament, with the exception of the French. Construction was delayed by late deliveries of the 305-millimeter guns and armor plates as well as shortages of labor. The
Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish (, "Tripolitanian War", , "War of Libya"), also known as the Turco-Italian War, was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captur ...
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 cemented armor, called Terni cemented, but there were problems with this process and suitable plates took longer to produce than planned.


Basic characteristics

The ships of the ''Conte di Cavour'' class were long at the waterline, and
overall Overalls or bib-and-brace overalls, also called dungarees in British English, are a type of garment usually used as protective clothing when working. The garments are commonly referred to as a "pair of overalls" by analogy with "pair of trousers ...
. They had a
beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Radio beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially lo ...
of , and a
draft Draft, the draft, or draught may refer to: Watercraft dimensions * Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel * Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail * Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a v ...
of .Fraccaroli, p. 259 They displaced at normal load, and at
deep load The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into weig ...
. The ''Conte di Cavour'' class was provided with a complete
double bottom A double hull is a ship hull design and construction method where the bottom and sides of the ship have two complete layers of watertight hull surface: one outer layer forming the normal hull of the ship, and a second inner hull which is some di ...
and their hulls were subdivided by 23 longitudinal and transverse bulkheads. The ships had two
rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...
s, both on the centerline. They had a crew of 31 officers and 969 enlisted men.Giorgerini, pp. 270, 272


Propulsion

The original machinery for all three ships consisted of three Parsons
steam turbine A steam turbine or steam turbine engine is a machine or heat engine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work utilising a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Sir Charles Par ...
sets, arranged in three engine rooms. The center engine room housed one set of turbines that drove the two inner
propeller shaft A drive shaft, driveshaft, driving shaft, tailshaft (Australian English), propeller shaft (prop shaft), or Cardan shaft (after Girolamo Cardano) is a component for transmitting mechanical power, torque, and rotation, usually used to connect o ...
s. It was flanked by compartments on either side, each housing one turbine set which powered the outer shafts. Steam for the turbines was provided by 20 Blechynden
water-tube boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-generat ...
s 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 boiler A high pressure watertube boiler (also spelled water-tube and water tube) is a type of boiler in which water circulates in tubes heated externally by fire. Fuel is burned inside the furnace, creating hot gas which boils water in the steam-generat ...
s. Designed to reach a maximum speed of , none of the ships reached this goal on their
sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...
s, despite generally exceeding the rated power of their turbines. They only achieved speeds ranging from using . The ships could store a maximum of of coal and of
fuel oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine f ...
that gave them a range of at , and at . Each ship was equipped with three
turbo generator A turbo generator is an electric generator connected to the shaft of a turbine (water, steam, or gas) for the generation of electric power. Large steam-powered turbo generators provide the majority of the world's electricity and are also u ...
s that provided a total of 150 kilowatts at 110 
volt The volt (symbol: V) is the unit of electric potential, Voltage#Galvani potential vs. electrochemical potential, electric potential difference (voltage), and electromotive force in the International System of Units, International System of Uni ...
s.


Armament

As built, the ships' main armament comprised thirteen 46-
caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge ( ...
305-millimeter guns, designed by
Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Tyne and Wear, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomot ...
and
Vickers Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...
, in five gun turrets. The turrets were all on the centerline, with a twin-gun turret
superfiring Superfiring armament is a naval design technique in which two or more turrets are located one behind the other, with the rear turret located above ("super") the one in front so that it can fire over the first. This configuration meant that both ...
over a triple-gun turret in fore and aft pairs, and a third triple turret amidships, designated 'A', 'B', 'Q', 'X', and 'Y' from bow to stern. This was only one fewer gun than the Brazilian ''
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'', then the most heavily armed battleship in the world; ''Rio de Janeiro''s guns were mounted in seven twin-gun turrets.Hore, p. 175 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 armor-piercing (AP) projectiles at the rate of one round per minute and that they had a
muzzle velocity Muzzle velocity is the speed of a projectile (bullet, pellet, slug, ball/ shots or shell) with respect to the muzzle at the moment it leaves the end of a gun's barrel (i.e. the muzzle). Firearm muzzle velocities range from approximately t ...
of which gave a maximum range of .Giorgerini, pp. 268, 276 The turrets had hydraulic training and elevation, with an auxiliary electric system. The
secondary armament Secondary armaments are smaller, faster-firing weapons that are typically effective at a shorter range than the main battery, main (heavy) weapons on military systems, including battleship- and cruiser-type warships, tanks/armored personnel c ...
on the first two ships consisted of eighteen 50-caliber
guns A gun is a device that propels a projectile using pressure or explosive force. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns or cannons), or gas (e.g. light-gas gun). Solid projectiles may be ...
,Campbell, p. 336 also designed by Armstrong Whitworth and Vickers, mounted in
casemate A casemate is a fortified gun emplacement or armoured structure from which guns are fired, in a fortification, warship, or armoured fighting vehicle.Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary When referring to antiquity, the term "casemate wall" ...
s 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 high-explosive projectile with a muzzle velocity of to a maximum distance of . The ships carried a total of 3,600 rounds for them. For defense against
torpedo boat A torpedo boat is a relatively small and fast naval ship designed to carry torpedoes into battle. The first designs were steam-powered craft dedicated to ramming enemy ships with explosive spar torpedoes. Later evolutions launched variants of ...
s, the ships carried fourteen 50-caliber 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 The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck (ship), deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is t ...
and upper decks. These guns had the same range of elevation as the secondary guns, and their rate of fire was higher at 10 rounds per minute. They fired a AP projectile with a muzzle velocity of to a maximum distance of . The ships were also fitted with three submerged
torpedo tube A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s, one on each broadside and the third in the stern.


Armor

The ''Conte di Cavour''-class ships had a complete
waterline The waterline is the line where the hull of a ship meets the surface of the water. A waterline can also refer to any line on a ship's hull that is parallel to the water's surface when the ship is afloat in a level trimmed position. Hence, wate ...
armor belt that was high; of this was below the waterline and above. It had a maximum thickness of amidships, reducing to towards the stern and towards the bow. The lower edge of this belt was a uniform in thickness. Above the main belt was a
strake On a vessel's Hull (watercraft), hull, a strake is a longitudinal course of Plank (wood), planking or Plate (metal), plating which runs from the boat's stem (ship), stempost (at the Bow (ship), bows) to the stern, sternpost or transom (nautica ...
of armor thick that extended up to the lower edge of the main deck. Above this strake was a thinner one, 130 millimeters thick, that extended from the bow to 'X' turret. The upper strake of armor protected the casemates and was thick. The ships had two armored decks: the main deck was thick in two layers on the flat that increased to on the slopes that connected it to the main belt. The second deck was thick, also in two layers. Fore and aft transverse bulkheads connected the armored belt to the decks. The frontal armor of the
gun turrets A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechanism ...
was in thickness with thick sides, and an roof and rear. Their
barbette Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships. In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protection ...
s also had 230-millimeter armor above the forecastle deck that reduced to between the forecastle and upper decks and 130 millimeters below the upper deck. The forward
conning tower A conning tower is a raised platform on a ship or submarine, often armoured, from which an officer in charge can conn (nautical), conn (conduct or control) the vessel, controlling movements of the ship by giving orders to those responsible for t ...
had walls 280 millimeters thick; those of the aft conning tower were 180 millimeters thick. The total weight of the protective armor was , just over 25 per cent of the ships' designed displacement. The total weight of the entire protective system was , 30.2 per cent of their intended displacement.Giorgerini, p. 272


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 anti-aircraft (AA) guns were installed abreast the aft funnel. In addition two
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2-pounder 2-pounder gun, 2-pounder and QF 2 pounder or QF 2-pdr are abbreviations used for various guns which fired a projectile weighing approximately 2 pounds (0.91 kg). These include: * QF 2 pounder Mk II & Mk VIII "pom-pom" Vickers 40mm naval anti-aircraf ...
AA guns were mounted on the forecastle deck abreast 'B' turret. In 1925–1926 the foremast was replaced by a tetrapodal mast, which was moved forward of the funnels,Giorgerini, p. 277 the
rangefinder A rangefinder (also rangefinding telemeter, depending on the context) is a device used to Length measurement, measure distances to remote objects. Originally optical devices used in surveying, they soon found applications in other fields, suc ...
s were upgraded, and the ships were equipped to handle a
Macchi M.18 The Macchi M.18 was a flying boat designed by Alessandro Tonini and produced by Aermacchi, Macchi in Italy in the early 1920s.Taylor 1989, 617''World Aircraft Information Files'' File 901 Sheet 01 Originally planned as a passenger aircraft, it ...
seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...
mounted on the center turret. Around that same time, one or both of the ships was equipped with a fixed
aircraft catapult An aircraft catapult is a device used to help fixed-wing aircraft gain enough airspeed and lift for takeoff from a limited distance, typically from the deck of a ship. They are usually used on aircraft carrier flight decks as a form of assist ...
on the port side of the forecastle. The sisters began an extensive reconstruction program directed by
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(''Generale del Genio navale'') Francesco Rotundi in October 1933. This lasted until June 1937 for ''Conte di Cavour'' and October 1937 for ''Giulio Cesare'', and resulted in several changes. A new bow section was grafted over the existing bow which increased their length by to and their beam increased to . Their draft at deep load increased to for ''Conte di Cavour'' and for ''Giulio Cesare''. All of the changes made during their reconstruction increased their displacement to at standard load and at deep load. The ships' crews increased to 1,260 officers and enlisted men. Only 40% of the original ship's structure remained after the reconstruction was completed.Bargoni & Gay, p. 19 Two of the propeller shafts were removed and the existing turbines were replaced by two Belluzzo geared steam turbines rated at . The boilers were replaced by eight
superheated A superheater is a device used to convert saturated steam or wet steam into superheated steam or dry steam. Superheated steam is used in steam turbines for electricity generation, in some steam engines, and in processes such as steam reforming. ...
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s with a working pressure of . On her sea trials in December 1936, before her reconstruction was fully completed, ''Giulio Cesare'' reached a speed of from . In service their maximum speed was about . The ships now carried of fuel oil which provided them with a range of at a speed of . 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-millimeter guns in six twin-gun turrets and eight AA guns in twin turrets. In addition the ships were fitted with a dozen 54-caliber
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light AA guns in six twin-gun mounts and twelve Breda M31 anti-aircraft machine guns, also in twin mounts.Bagnasco & Grossman, p. 65 The guns were bored out to 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. The 320 mm AP shells weighed and had a maximum range of with a muzzle velocity of . In 1940 the 13.2 mm machine guns were replaced by 65-caliber 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. The tetrapodal mast was replaced with a new forward conning tower, protected with thick armor.Bargoni & Gay, p. 21 Atop the conning tower there was a director fitted with two rangefinders, with a base length of . The deck armor was increased during reconstruction to a total of over the engine and boiler rooms and 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 with plates. All this armor weighed a total of . 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 A warhead is the section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket (weapon), rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: *E ...
. It lacked enough depth to be fully effective against contemporary torpedoes. 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.McLaughlin, pp. 421–422


Ships


Service

''Conte di Cavour'' and ''Giulio Cesare'' served as
flagship A flagship is a vessel used by the commanding officer of a group of navy, naval ships, characteristically a flag officer entitled by custom to fly a distinguishing flag. Used more loosely, it is the lead ship in a fleet of vessels, typically ...
s in the southern
Adriatic Sea The Adriatic Sea () is a body of water separating the Italian Peninsula from the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula. The Adriatic is the northernmost arm of the Mediterranean Sea, extending from the Strait of Otranto (where it connects to the Ionian Se ...
during World War I, but saw no action and spent little time at sea. ''Leonardo da Vinci'' was also little used and was sunk by an internal
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explosion at
Taranto Taranto (; ; previously called Tarent in English) is a coastal city in Apulia, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Taranto, serving as an important commercial port as well as the main Italian naval base. Founded by Spartans ...
harbor on the night of 2/3 August 1916 while loading ammunition. Casualties included 21 officers and 227 enlisted men killed. The Italians blamed
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s, but unstable propellant may well have been responsible. The ship was refloated, upside down, on 17 September 1919 and righted on 24 January 1921. The ''Regia Marina'' planned to modernize her by replacing her center turret with six AA guns, but lacked the funds to do so and sold her for scrap on 22 March 1923. In 1919, ''Conte di Cavour'' sailed to North America and visited ports in the United States as well as Halifax, Canada. ''Giulio Cesare'' made port visits in the
Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...
in 1919 and 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 battleships supported Italian operations on
Corfu Corfu ( , ) or Kerkyra (, ) is a Greece, Greek island in the Ionian Sea, of the Ionian Islands; including its Greek islands, small satellite islands, it forms the margin of Greece's northwestern frontier. The island is part of the Corfu (regio ...
in 1923 after an Italian general and his staff were murdered on the Greco-Albanian border;
Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who, upon assuming office as Prime Minister of Italy, Prime Minister, became the dictator of Fascist Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 un ...
was not satisfied with the Greek Government's response so he ordered Italian troops to occupy the island. ''Conte di Cavour'' bombarded the town with her 76 mm guns, killing 20 and wounding 32 civilians. ''Conte di Cavour'' escorted
King Victor Emmanuel III Victor Emmanuel III (; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. A member of the House of Savoy, he also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941 and King of the Albania ...
and his wife aboard ''Dante Alighieri'', on a state visit to Spain in 1924 and was placed in reserve upon her return until 1926, when she conveyed Mussolini on a voyage to Libya. The ship was again placed in reserve from 1927 until 1933. Her sister became a gunnery training ship in 1928, after having been in reserve since 1926. ''Conte di Cavour'' was reconstructed at the CRDA
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Yard while ''Giulio Cesare'' was rebuilt at Cantieri del Tirreno, Genoa between 1933 and 1937. Both ships participated in a naval review by
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in the
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in May 1938 and covered the
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in May 1939.Whitley, pp. 158–161 Early in World War II, the sisters took part in the
Battle of Calabria The Battle of Calabria (9 July 1940) known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. Ships of the were opposed by vessels of the Mediterranean Fleet. ...
(also known as the Battle of Punta Stilo) on 9 July 1940, as part of the 1st Battle Squadron, commanded by Admiral
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, during which they engaged major elements of the British
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. The British were escorting a convoy from Malta to
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, while the Italians had finished escorting another from
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to
Benghazi Benghazi () () is the List of cities in Libya, second-most-populous city in Libya as well as the largest city in Cyrenaica, with an estimated population of 859,000 in 2023. Located on the Gulf of Sidra in the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean, Ben ...
, Libya. Admiral Andrew Cunningham, commander of the Mediterranean Fleet, attempted to interpose his ships between the Italians and their base at Taranto. Crew on the fleets spotted each other in the middle of the afternoon and the Italian battleships opened fire at 15:53 at a range of nearly . The two leading British battleships, and , replied a minute later. Three minutes after she opened 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 . The shell pierced the rear funnel and detonated inside it, blowing out a hole nearly across. Fragments started several fires and their smoke was drawn into the boiler rooms, forcing four boilers off-line as their operators could not breathe. This reduced the ship's speed to . Uncertain how severe the damage was, Campioni ordered his battleships to turn away in the face of superior British numbers and they successfully disengaged. Repairs to ''Giulio Cesare'' were completed by the end of August and both ships unsuccessfully attempted to intercept British convoys to
Malta Malta, officially the Republic of Malta, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...
in August and September. 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 The Fairey Swordfish is a retired biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was a ...
torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the World War I, First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carryin ...
s from the British
aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...
, along with several other warships. One torpedo exploded underneath 'B' turret at 23:15, and her captain requested tugboats to help
ground Ground may refer to: Geology * Land, the solid terrestrial surface of the Earth * Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth Electricity * Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical circ ...
the ship on a nearby sandbank. His admiral vetoed the request until it was too late and ''Conte di Cavour'' had to use a deeper, , 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 June 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. The ''Regia Marina'' made plans to replace her secondary and anti-aircraft weapons with a dozen
dual-purpose gun A dual-purpose gun is a naval artillery mounting designed to engage both surface and air targets. Description Second World War-era capital ships had four classes of artillery: the heavy main battery, intended to engage opposing battleships and ...
s in twin mounts, twelve 64-caliber , and twenty-three 65-caliber 20 mm AA guns. Her hulk was damaged in an air raid and capsized on 23 February 1945. Refloated shortly after the end of the war, ''Conte di Cavour'' was scrapped in 1946.Brescia, p. 59 ''Giulio Cesare'' participated in the
Battle of Cape Spartivento The Battle of Cape Spartivento, known as the Battle of Cape Teulada in Italy, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War, fought between naval forces of the Royal Navy and the Italian '' Regia Marina'' o ...
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 The First Battle of Sirte was fought between forces of the British Mediterranean Fleet and the (Italian Royal Navy) during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, south-east of M ...
on 17 December 1941, providing distant cover for a convoy bound for Libya, again never firing her main armament. In early 1942, ''Giulio Cesare'' was reduced to a training ship at Taranto and later Pola. She steamed to Malta in early September 1943 after the Italian surrender. The unsuccessfully attacked the ship in the
Gulf of Taranto The Gulf of Taranto (; Tarantino: ; ) is a gulf of the Ionian Sea, in Southern Italy. The Gulf of Taranto is almost square, long and wide, making it the largest gulf in Italy, and it is delimited by the capes Santa Maria di Leuca (to the eas ...
in early March 1944. After the war, ''Giulio Cesare'' was allocated to the Soviet Union as
war reparations War reparations are compensation payments made after a war by one side to the other. They are intended to cover damage or injury inflicted during a war. War reparations can take the form of hard currency, precious metals, natural resources, in ...
in 1949, and renamed ''
Novorossiysk Novorossiysk (, ; ) is a city in Krasnodar Krai, Russia. It is one of the largest ports on the Black Sea. It is one of the few cities designated by the Soviet Union as a Hero City. The population was History In antiquity, the shores of the ...
'', after the Soviet city on the
Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...
. 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
radar Radar is a system that uses radio waves to determine the distance ('' ranging''), direction ( azimuth and elevation angles), and radial velocity of objects relative to the site. It is a radiodetermination method used to detect and track ...
s, 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 Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...
on the night of 28/29 October 1955, she detonated a large German
mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging *Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun M ...
left over from World War II. The explosion blew a hole completely through the ship, making a hole in the forecastle forward of 'A' turret. The flooding could not be controlled and she later capsized with the loss of 608 men. ''Novorossiysk'' was stricken from the Navy List on 24 February 1956, salvaged on 4 May 1957, and subsequently scrapped.McLaughlin, pp. 419, 422–423


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External links


Cavour class
nbsp;– Plancia di Comando
Conte di Cavour
Marina Militare website {{DEFAULTSORT:Conte Di Cavour-class Battleship Battleship classes *