The Ships of Battlegroup: Italy Andrea Doria (BB)

Displacement	26,400 tons	Belt Armor	9.8 inches
Overall Length	612 feet	Deck Armor	5.4 inches
Beam	92 feet	Main Turret Armor	11 inches
Speed	27 knots	Main Guns	10 × 12.4″

Laid down on March 24, 1912, launched on March 30, 1913 and commissioned on June 13, 1916, the ship originally carried a main armament of thirteen 12 inch main guns with three turrets having three guns each and two turrets having two guns each; two centerline superfiring forward, two centerline superfiring aft and one centerline amidships that could fire to both sides. The higher superfiring turrets fore and aft were the ones with only two guns. Andrea Doria was half of the two-ship Caio Duilio battleship class, which was very similar to the previous Conte di Cavour class. The class was powered by turbines with both oil-fired and coal-fired boilers and supplementary oil burners. Compared to contemporary foreign battleships, the Caio Duilio class was slightly faster, slightly under armed (the 12 inch gun was rapidly being replaced by something larger in most navies) and not as well protected.

The name honored a long-lived Genoese admiral (1466–1560) who fought for just about everybody at one time or another and lost about as many battles as he won. During World War One, the Andrea Doria saw no action, as the Italian fleet watched the Austrian Fleet in the Adriatic and nothing much happened.

From April 8, 1937 to October 26, 1940, the ship went through a total overhaul and modernization into a "fast battleship" configuration. The propulsion system was replaced by new oil-fired turbines that increased the ship’s speed from 21.5 to 27 knots. In other important changes, the amidships turret was removed and the guns in the other turrets bored out and re-chambered to 12.6 inch main guns, the island structure was centralized and modernized, a sharp-looking "clipper" bow was added as an increase in hull length, deck armor was improved and many new anti-aircraft guns were mounted. The ship looked utterly different after these changes. Intended to match the new French Dunkerques , the much-modified Italian ship was still inferior to them but a useful vessel.

During the Second World War, the Andrea Doria sortied to provide long-distance escorts for convoys to North Africa and to attempt to intercept Allied convoys to Malta, including a battle with British cruisers and destroyers on December 17, 1941. The Italian Navy in World War II had some good ships but timid leadership and many technical shortcomings. The Italian Navy was dependent on their German allies for fuel oil and could only sortie when the Germans gave them enough oil to do so. They had few radar sets, old fashioned fire control and a communications system so bad that the Allies, via their Ultra radio intercepts and decryptions, sometimes had a better idea of an Italian naval squadron’s location than its assigned air cover from the Italian Air Force. Andrea Doria was taken out of service due to fuel shortages in March 1942 and transferred to Malta on September 9, 1943, after Italy’s surrender to the Allied powers. Returned to Italy in June 1944, the Andrea Doria served as a training ship until deleted in 1956. She was scrapped during 1957 and 1958.

For other World War One ships extensively modernized between the wars, see: Haruna, Hiei, Kirishima, Kongo and Repulse .

For a further discussion of what happened to the battleships of World War One, see the Introduction to these articles.