The Ships of Battlegroup: Italy Vittorio Veneto (BB)

Displacement	40,725 tons	Belt Armor	13.8 inches
Overall Length	779 feet	Deck Armor	6.4 inches
Beam	107.8 feet	Main Turret Armor	13.8 inches
Speed	31 knots	Main Guns	9 × 15″

Laid down on October 28, 1934, launched on July 22, 1937 and commissioned on April 28, 1940, the ship carried its main armament in three triple turrets; two centerline superfiring turrets forward and one aft. The planned four ship class included sister ships Littorio, Roma and the never-completed Impero and was designed to answer the French Dunkerque class battlecruisers. The ship was named after a town in northern Italy that was the location of the decisive 1918 World War One Italian victory that forced Austria-Hungary out of that war. Ironically, the victorious attackers in that battle included British (who spearheaded the victory) and French divisions and even an American infantry regiment (although it remained in reserve). In 1922, exploiting the battle’s anniversary, Benito Mussolini (1883–1945) marched into Rome with his fascist followers and took power.

One ship of the class, Impero was never completed. The 15 inch guns were substituted for the Treaty-allowed 16 inch guns in an attempt to stay near the Treaty limit of 35,000 tons though the guns were designed for the extraordinary range of 46,000 yards. Despite attempts to adhere to the treaty limits, the ships of this class were considerably overweight when completed, although the treaties had lapsed by then. Vittorio Veneto participated in most of the surface navy sorties by the Italian fleet during the war, when she wasn’t under repair. During the Battle of Cape Matapan, March 1941, she suffered a torpedo hit from British Albacore carrier torpedo planes from Formidable and shipped 4,000 tons of sea water. Two Italian cruisers were sunk in the same action by battleships Barham, Valiant and Warspite. Returning to service after repairing that damage, she was torpedoed in almost the same place on December 14, 1940 by the British submarine Urge. She managed to escape to Malta following Italy’s surrender in September 1943. 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. Even on their newest battleships, 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.

Never returned to service, Vittorio Veneto was assigned to the United Kingdom as war reparations in 1947 and broken up soon after. The name was passed on to an Italian helicopter cruiser in 1969.

For near contemporary foreign battleships, see: King George V, North Carolina, Richelieu and Washington.

Where did we get all these fascinating historical tidbits and factoids? See the Bibliography for a list of sources.