Littorio - class battleship The Littorio " class , also known as the Vittorio Veneto " class , was a class of battleship of the Regia Marina , the Italian navy . The class was composed of four ships : , , , and . Only the first three ships of the class were completed , however . Built between 1934 and 1942 , they were the most modern battleships used by Italy during World War II . The " Littorio " - class ships were developed in response to the French s , and were armed with guns and had a top speed of . The design was considered by the Spanish Navy , but the outbreak of World War II interrupted construction plans . The first two ships , " Littorio " and " Vittorio Veneto " , were operational by the early months of Italy ' s participation in World War II . They formed the backbone of the Italian fleet , and conducted several sorties into the Mediterranean to intercept British convoys , though without any notable success . The two ships were repeatedly torpedo ed throughout their careers : " Littorio " was hit by a torpedo during the attack on Taranto in November 1940 and again in June 1942 and " Vittorio Veneto " was torpedoed during the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and while escorting a convoy to North Africa in September 1941 . " Roma " joined the fleet in June 1942 , though all three ships remained inactive in La Spezia until June 1943 , when all three were damaged in a series of Allied air attacks on the harbor . In September 1943 , Italy capitulated and signed an Armistice with the Allies . " Littorio " was then renamed " Italia " . The three active battleships were transferred to Malta before they were to be interned in Alexandria . While en route to Malta , German bombers attacked the fleet with Fritz X radio - guided bombs , damaging " Italia " and sinking " Roma " . Nevertheless , " Italia " and " Vittorio Veneto " reached Malta and were interned . The incomplete " Impero " was seized by the Germans after Italy withdrew from the war and used as a target , until she was sunk by American bombers in 1945 . " Italia " and " Vittorio Veneto " were awarded to the United States and Britain , respectively , as war prize s . " Italia " , " Vittorio Veneto " , and " Impero " were broken up for scrap between 1947 and 1948 . Design . The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 allotted Italy an additional of total capital ship tonnage , which could be used in 1927 – 1929 , while other powers were observing the " holiday " in battleship construction prescribed by the treaty . France , which was given parity with Italy , also possessed 70 , 000 tons of capital ship tonnage . Both countries were put under significant pressure from the other signatories to use their allotted tonnage to build smaller battleships with reduced caliber main batteries . The first Italian design , prepared in 1928 , called for a ship armed with a main battery of six guns in twin turrets . They opted for this design because this allowed three ships under the 70 , 000 - ton limit . This would have allowed the Italian fleet to keep at least two units operational at any given time . Protection and radius of action were sacrificed for speed and heavy armament , though the Italians did not value range , as they operated primarily in the confined waters of the Mediterranean . Later in 1928 , the design staff prepared another ship , with a displacement of , armed with six guns and protected against guns of the same caliber . At least one of these ships would have followed the three 23 , 000 - ton ships once the building holiday expired in 1931 . Funding was not allocated to begin construction , however , as the Italian Navy did not want to instigate an arms race with the French Navy . The London Naval Treaty of 1930 extended the building holiday to 1936 , though Italy and France retained the right to build 70 , 000 tons of new capital ships . Both countries rejected British proposals to limit new battleship designs to and guns . After 1930 , the Italian Navy abandoned the smaller designs altogether . By 1930 , Germany had begun to build the three ships , armed with six guns , and France had in turn laid down two s to counter them . The French vessels were armed with eight guns . In late 1932 , Italian constructors responded with a design similar to the " Deutschland " class , but armed with six guns in triple turrets on a displacement . The Italian Navy decided that the smaller design was impractical , and that a larger design should be pursued . A design was then prepared , which mounted eight 343 mm guns in twin turrets . This was ultimately abandoned in favor of a 35 , 000 ton design to be armed with 406 mm guns . The 406 mm gun was abandoned in turn in favor of the 381 mm gun because there were no designs for the larger gun , which would delay construction . The 381 mm gun had been designed for the canceled . Ultimately , nine 381 mm guns in three triple turrets were adopted as the primary battery for the ships , on a displacement in excess of , despite the fact that this violated the established naval treaties . Nevertheless , by the time these ships entered service , the international arms control system had fallen apart and the major naval powers had invoked the " escalator clause " that allowed for ships up to displacement . General characteristics . The ships of the class varied slightly in dimensions . " Littorio " and " Vittorio Veneto " were long between perpendiculars and long overall , while " Roma " and " Impero " were long overall . All four ships had a draft of and a beam of . " Littorio " displaced as designed and at full load . " Vittorio Veneto " displaced and , respectively . " Roma " s displacement increased slightly as compared to the other ships , to and , respectively . As " Impero " was not completed , her final displacement is unknown . As built , the ships were fitted with bulbous bow s to increase their speed , but they were found to cause serious vibration , which forced a modification to the bow . " Littorio " and " Vittorio Veneto " had a standard crew of 80 officers and 1 , 750 enlisted men ; while serving as a flagship , the crew was increased by a command staff of between 11 and 31 additional officers . The standard crew for " Roma " and " Impero " was increased by 100 enlisted men . Aircraft facilities were located on the quarterdeck , where it was initially planned to base six La Cierva autogyro s . Instead , a single catapult was fitted . The ships were equipped with three Ro . 43 reconnaissance seaplanes or navalized Re . 2000 fighters . The Re . 2000 fighter was a wheeled aircraft and had to land on an airfield . The ships ' propulsion system consisted of four Belluzzo geared steam turbines powered by eight oil - fired Yarrow boilers . The engines were rated at and a top speed of . On sea trials , both " Littorio " and " Vittorio Veneto " exceeded the design specifications for their power plant . " Littorio " reached and , while " Vittorio Veneto " made and , both at light loadings . In service , however , the ships averaged . Figures for " Roma " s speed trials have not been recorded . The ships carried of fuel oil , which enabled a maximum range of at a cruising speed of . At , the ships ' range increased slightly to . The entire machinery system accounted for about 5 . 6 percent of the total displacement . Armament . The ships ' main battery consisted of nine 381 mm L / 50 Ansaldo 1934 guns in three triple turrets , two in a superfiring pair forward and one aft . These long - barrel , high - velocity guns were chosen to compensate for the smaller 381 mm shell as compared to the 406 mm gun originally desired . The 381 mm guns had a maximum elevation of 35 degrees , which allowed them to engage targets out to . The guns fired a armor - piercing ( AP ) shell at a muzzle velocity of . High explosive shells weighed . The high muzzle velocity of the guns reduced their service life and increased the dispersion of the fall of shot . Shell rooms were located below the propellant magazines beneath the gun house in the turret structure . The guns ' rate of fire was one shot every 45 seconds . The ships ' secondary battery consisted of twelve L / 55 Ansaldo Model 1934 guns in four triple turrets . Two were placed abreast the No . 2 main battery turret and two on either side of the rear turret . These guns fired a AP shell at a muzzle velocity of . They could elevate to 45 degrees , permitting a maximum range of . They had a rate of fire of slightly better than four rounds a minute . Four L / 40 guns supplemented the 152 mm guns . The ships ' anti - aircraft armament was composed of a powerful battery of twelve L / 50 guns closely arranged amidships , twenty L / 54 guns , and sixteen L / 65 guns . The 90 mm guns provided long - range anti - aircraft protection , and were mounted in quadriaxially stabilized single turrets . They had a rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute and had a ceiling of approximately . The 37 mm and 20 mm guns were designed for close - range defense and had effective ranges of and , respectively . Armor . The ships ' belt armor was designed to defeat 380 mm shells at ranges over , and was inclined at 11 degrees . The belt was layered as follows : a hardened steel belt was used to de - cap armor - piercing projectiles . A wide gap separated the outer layer from the main belt armor , which was thick and was backed with of timber and skin plating . Another wide gap separated the main belt from a thick splinter screen . Another 25 mm thick screen was placed further inboard . The main section of the belt armor was closed on either end by thick transverse bulkheads . The bow was protected by a thick belt , while the stern was given of armor protection . Horizontal protection over the magazine consisted of a thick armored deck . Over the machinery spaces , the deck was reduced in thickness to , and on the outboard portions of the ships , the deck was reduced further to . The aft steering rooms and auxiliary machinery spaces were protected by a thick deck . The main conning tower was protected by 50 – 130 mm thick side armor . Above the deck , the main battery barbette s that housed the turret assemblies for the 381 mm guns were protected with thick armor , while below deck the thickness was reduced to 280 mm . The faces of the main battery turrets were 350 mm thick , with thick sides and roofs . The secondary gun turrets were housed in barbettes thick above deck and thick below deck . The turret faces were 280 mm thick , with thick sides . Below the third deck , neither the primary nor secondary barbettes were protected by armor . The anti - aircraft guns were protected with gun shields ranging in thickness from to . Pugliese torpedo defense system . All four ships incorporated a unique underwater protection system named after its designer , Umberto Pugliese . A 40 mm thick torpedo bulkhead extended inboard from the base of the main belt before curving down to meet the bottom of the hull . This formed a void which housed an empty drum wide with thick walls ; the rest of the void was filled with liquid . The drum ran the length of the torpedo defense system , and was designed to collapse to contain the explosive pressure of a torpedo hit . The torpedo bulkhead would prevent any splinters or explosive effects from entering the ships ' vitals . The system was designed to protect the ship from torpedo warheads up to . The system did not perform as effectively as expected , however . This was due to two major defects in the design . The riveted joint that connected the interior torpedo bulkhead to the bottom of the hull was not strong enough to sustain the tremendous shear loadings associated with direct contact explosions . The joints failed even in cases of non - contact explosions ; this prevented the hollow drum from collapsing as designed and resulted in massive flooding . The fineness of the hull shape prevented the 380 mm thickness from being maintained for the entire central citadel ; the width of the drum was reduced significantly abreast of the main battery , down to . The ability of the drum to absorb explosive shock correspondingly fell in relation to its size . Construction . The keels for " Vittorio Veneto " and " Littorio " were laid on the same day , 28 October 1934 , at the " Cantieri Riuniti dell ' Adriatico " shipyard in Trieste and the Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa , respectively . " Vittorio Veneto " was launched on 22 July 1937 , with " Littorio " following exactly one month later on 22 August . While incomplete , " Vittorio Veneto " went to sea on 23 October 1939 to conduct machinery trials . She was delivered to the Italian Navy in Trieste , still incomplete , some six months later on 28 April 1940 . She departed Trieste on 1 May for final fitting out at the dockyard in La Spezia . After completion on 15 May 1940 , she went to Taranto to join the fleet . " Littorio " underwent the same pattern of machinery trials prior to completion ; she was delivered to the fleet on 6 May 1940 . Two additional ships were laid down four years later . " Roma " was built by the CRDA shipyard , starting on 18 September 1938 . She was launched on 9 June 1940 and was completed on 14 June 1942 , after which she joined the fleet in La Spezia and replaced " Littorio " as the fleet flagship . " Impero " was laid down at the Ansaldo shipyard on 14 May 1938 . She was launched on 15 November 1939 , but she was never completed . After the entrance of Italy to World War II , the Italian Navy moved the unfinished ship from Genoa to Brindisi , out of fears of French attacks on the vessel . Work was not resumed . Service history . " Littorio " and " Vittorio Veneto " were declared operational on 2 August 1940 , and were assigned to the 9th Division of the 1st Squadron . On 31 August , the two ships , along with three of the older battleships steamed with a force of ten cruiser s and thirty - one destroyer s to engage the Operation Hats convoy , but poor reconnaissance prevented the Italian force from engaging the British ships . The ships made another unsuccessful sortie to attack another Malta convoy on 29 September . During the attack on Taranto on 12 November 1940 , " Littorio " was hit twice by torpedo s , suffering serious damage . Significant flooding caused the ship to settle by the bow . The ship was dry - docked on 11 December , with repairs completed by 11 March 1941 . " Vittorio Veneto " , however , emerged from the attack undamaged . While her sister was being repaired , she took over flagship duties and was transferred to Naples . " Vittorio Veneto " sortied on 26 November and encountered British forces south of Sardinia . During the resulting Battle of Cape Spartivento , Swordfish torpedo bombers from the carrier attacked " Vittorio Veneto " , though she evaded the torpedoes . She briefly engaged British cruisers with her rear main battery turret , without scoring any hits . During the engagement , one of her Ro . 43 reconnaissance planes was shot down by a Skua fighter . On the night of 8 – 9 January 1941 , the Royal Air Force attacked Naples with heavy bombers , but failed to hit the ship . In February , " Vittorio Veneto " , and attempted to attack what was believed to be a Malta convoy . The British squadron was in fact Force H , steaming to bombard Genoa . The two fleets did not make contact , however , and the Italians returned to port . On 26 March 1941 , " Vittorio Veneto " departed port to attack British convoys to Greece . Germany pressured the Italian Navy to begin the operation , under the impression that they had disabled two of the three battleships assigned to the British Mediterranean Fleet . This resulted in the Battle of Cape Matapan the following day , during which " Vittorio Veneto " engaged British cruisers . She was then attacked by torpedo bombers from ; the first wave failed , but the second scored a single hit on both " Vittorio Veneto " and the heavy cruiser . The battleship was flooded with some of water , though she got underway after ten minutes and eventually reached Taranto on 29 March . Repairs lasted until July . " Littorio " and " Vittorio Veneto " had both returned to active duty by August 1941 , and on the 22nd the two ships sortied to attack a convoy . They returned to port without encountering any British forces , however . On 26 September , the two battleships attempted to intercept the Operation Halberd convoy , but they broke off the operation without attacking the convoy . While escorting a convoy to North Africa , " Vittorio Veneto " was torpedoed by the British submarine ; repairs lasted until Spring , 1942 . Shortly thereafter , on 13 December , " Littorio " escorted another convoy to North Africa . This operation resulted in the First Battle of Sirte , which ended inconclusively . She provided distant cover to another convoy on 3 – 6 January 1942 . On 21 March , she sortied to attack a British convoy , which led to the Second Battle of Sirte . During the engagement , she badly damaged the destroyers and . Repairs to " Vittorio Veneto " were completed in time for her to join " Littorio " on attacks on the convoys Vigorous and Harpoon , which had departed Alexandria and Gibraltar to reinforce Malta simultaneously in mid - June . Combat was limited to the opposing light forces , and " Littorio " and " Vittorio Veneto " did not see action . While returning to port , " Littorio " was hit by a bomb from an American B - 24 Liberator heavy bomber ; the bomb struck the forward gun turret , though it did minimal damage . Before returning to port , a British Wellington bomber torpedoed the ship . The torpedo struck her starboard bow , though she returned to port . Repairs were completed and on 12 December , both ships were moved from Taranto to La Spezia in response to the Allied landings in North Africa . " Roma " joined the fleet shortly after the attacks on the two convoys , and joined her sisters for the move to La Spezia . There , she replaced " Littorio " as the fleet flagship . In June 1943 , a series of Allied air raids attacked La Spezia in an attempt to neutralize the three battleships . On 5 June , she was hit by two large bombs that struck her port side . She was transferred to Genoa for repairs , which were not completed before the Armistice that ended Italian participation in the war . " Littorio " was hit by three bombs on 19 June , a week after her sister was damaged . She was renamed " Italia " after Benito Mussolini ' s regime collapsed . " Roma " was damaged during the 5 June attack and again in a third attack on 23 June . In September 1943 , following the withdrawal of Italy from the war , all three ships and a significant portion of the Italian fleet left port to be interned in Malta . While en route , German bombers laden with Fritz - X radio - guided bombs attacked the formation . One hit " Italia " in the bow forward the main battery turrets , causing serious damage . Two hit " Roma " ; one passed through the ship and exploded under her keel , and the second hit near the forward magazines . The bomb detonated the magazines , causing a massive explosion that destroyed the ship with heavy casualties . " Italia " and " Vittorio Veneto " reached Malta , where they remained until 14 September , when they were transferred to Alexandria . They remained at the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal for the rest of the war . On 6 June 1946 , " Vittorio Veneto " steamed to Augusta in Sicily , where , under the Treaty of Peace with Italy , she was allocated to Britain . On 14 October 1946 , she was moved to La Spezia , paid off on 3 January 1948 , and broken up for scrap . " Italia " left Great Bitter Lake on 5 February 1947 , to join her sister in Augusta . Allocated to the United States , she was stricken on 1 June 1948 and scrapped in La Spezia . The incomplete " Impero " had meanwhile been seized by the retreating Germans in 1943 , who used her as a target , until she was sunk by American bombers on 20 February 1945 . In October 1947 , the ship was raised and towed to Venice , where she was broken up . The " Littorio " design in foreign navies . In 1939 , Spain ' s General Francisco Franco briefly considered a naval building program after seizing power in the Spanish Civil War . Franco concluded several agreements with the Italian government that would have seen the building of four " Littorio " - class battleships in Spain . The Italians promised to provide all necessary technical and material support for the construction of the ships . The Italian Navy pushed to modernize and enlarge the existing shipyards in Spain , so that they could handle a vessel as large as the " Littorio " class . The project was abandoned after Italy became involved in World War II , and as a result of limited Spanish industrial capacity . In the early 1930s , the Soviet Navy began a naval construction program , and sought advice from foreign shipbuilders for a new class of battleships . On 14 July 1939 , Ansaldo completed a design proposal for the Soviet Navy , for a ship largely based on the " Littorio " class , designated U . P . 41 . The design was for a ship armed with nine 406 mm guns in triple turrets . The Italians did not disclose the specifications of the Pugliese system and instead used a multiple - torpedo bulkhead system . Regardless , the Soviet Navy did not use the U . P . 41 design as the basis for the s they laid down in the late 1930s . They were , however , equipped with the Pugliese system , the details of which were revealed through Soviet espionage . In preparing the design for the Design 1047 type of battlecruisers in early 1940 , the Dutch Navy inspected " Vittorio Veneto " , then under construction , in hopes of gathering some experience on the underwater protection system . The Italians refused to disclose the details of the Pugliese system , however .