Italian battleship Andrea Doria Andrea Doria was the lead ship of her class of battleship s built by the " Regia Marina " ( Royal Navy ) . The class included only one sister ship , . " Andrea Doria " was named after the 16th century Genoese admiral of the same name . Laid down in March 1912 , the battleship was launched a year later in March 1913 , and completed in March 1916 . She was armed with a main battery of thirteen guns and had a top speed of . " Andrea Doria " saw no major action in World War I , and served extensively in Mediterranean in the 1920s and 1930s . She was involved in the suppression of rebels in Fiume and the Corfu incident in the 1920s . Starting in 1937 , " Andrea Doria " underwent an extensive modernization , which lasted until 1940 . She saw relatively little action during World War II ; she was tasked with escorting convoys to Libya throughout 1941 and into 1942 , during which she engaged in the inconclusive First Battle of Sirte . After the Armistice in September 1943 the ship was sailed to Malta and interned by the Allies . She remained there until 1944 , when she was permitted to return to Italian ports . " Andrea Doria " survived the war and soldiered on in the post - war navy as a training ship until 1956 . Paid off in September , she was formally stricken from the naval register on 1 November and sold for scrapping later that year . Design . " Andrea Doria " was long overall ; she had a beam of and a draft of . At full combat load , she displaced up to . She had a crew of 35 officers and 1 , 198 enlisted men . She was powered by four Parsons steam turbines , with steam provided by eight oil - fired and twelve coal and oil - burning Yarrow boilers . The boilers were trunked into two large funnels . The engines were rated at , which provided a top speed of . She had a cruising radius of at . The ship was armed with a main battery of thirteen 46 - caliber guns in three triple turrets and two twin turrets . The secondary battery comprised sixteen 45 - caliber guns , all mounted in casemate s clustered around the forward and aft main battery turrets . " Andrea Doria " was also armed with thirteen 50 - caliber guns and six 76 - mm anti - aircraft guns . As was customary for capital ship s of the period , she was equipped with three submerged torpedo tube s . She was protected with Krupp cemented steel manufactured by Terni . The belt armor was thick and the main deck was thick . The conning tower and main battery turrets were protected with worth of armor plating . Modifications . " Andrea Doria " was heavily rebuilt in 1937 – 1940 at Trieste . Her forecastle deck was extended further aft , until it reached the mainmast . The stern and bow were rebuilt , increasing the length of the ship to , and the displacement grew to . Her old machinery was replaced with more efficient equipment and her twenty boilers were replaced with eight oil - fired models ; the new power plant was rated at and speed increased to . The ship ' s amidships turret was removed and the remaining guns were bored out to . Her secondary battery was completely overhauled ; the 152 mm guns were replaced with twelve guns in triple turrets amidships . The anti - aircraft battery was significantly improved , to include ten guns , fifteen guns , and sixteen guns . Later , during World War II , four more 37 mm guns were installed and two of the 20 mm guns were removed . After emerging from the modernization , " Andrea Doria " s crew numbered 35 officers and 1 , 450 enlisted men . Service history . " Andrea Doria " , named for the 16th century Genoese admiral of the same name , was laid down at the La Spezia shipyard in Naples on 24 March 1912 . She was launched on 30 March 1913 and completed by 13 March 1916 . Starting in November 1918 , she was based in Taranto . On 10 November , she was sent to Corfu , where she remained until 19 February 1919 . She then returned to Taranto , before proceeding to Constantinople in July , departing on the 4th and arriving on the 9th of the month . She joined an Allied fleet in the city and remained there until 9 November , when she returned again to Taranto . In 1920 , most of the Italian fleet was temporarily demobilized to provide crews to bring ex - German warships that had been awarded to Italy under the Treaty of Versailles ; " Andrea Doria " was the only battleship to remain operational during the period . In November , the Treaty of Rapallo was signed with the Kingdom of Serbs , Croats and Slovenes . " Andrea Doria " was sent to remove the rebellious forces of Gabriele d ' Annunzio from Fiume that month . On 24 December , she joined the attack on Fiume , and two days later fired three salvos from her 76 mm guns at the destroyer , which had rebelled and joined d ' Annunzio . " Andrea Doria " s gunfire badly damaged " Espero " . " Andrea Doria " also shelled d ' Annunzio ' s headquarters and wounded him ; he surrendered on 31 December . During the 1923 Corfu incident with Greece , the Italian Navy , including " Andrea Doria " , was deployed to the island to secure a Greek apology following the murder of Enrico Tellini and four others . Following the peaceful resolution of the incident , " Andrea Doria " visited Spain . On 16 January 1925 , " Andrea Doria " visited Lisbon to participate in the 400th anniversary of the death of Vasco de Gama . She thereafter went to La Spezia for a refit , which began on 7 February and was completed by June . Following civil unrest in Syria , " Andrea Doria " steamed to the eastern Mediterranean with a squadron of destroyers in the event that Italian nationals would need to be evacuated . The ships remained docked in Leros until 12 December , by which time the disturbances in Syria had been calmed down . She spent the next six years on normal peacetime duties , until she was withdrawn from service in August 1932 . She was placed in reserve in Taranto , with a skeleton crew for maintenance . In March 1937 , she started the major reconstruction in Trieste , where she arrived on the 30th . The refit began on 8 April at the Cantieri Riuniti dell ' Adriatico shipyard . World War II . " Andrea Doria " was still out of service in 1939 when the Second World War broke out in Europe . Work was finished by October 1940 , and on the 26th of the month , she rejoined the Italian fleet in the 5th Division in Taranto . She was undamaged by the British attack on Taranto on the night of 11 – 12 November , and was sent to Naples on the 12th . In early December , the Italian Navy reorganized the fleet ; " Andrea Doria " remained in the 5th Division , along with the battleship . She undertook her first operation in early January with the new battleship in response to Operation Excess , a complex series of British convoys to Malta . The Italian battleships were unable to locate any British forces , and so returned to port by 11 January . On 8 February , " Andrea Doria " sortied again , along with " Vittorio Veneto " and " Giulio Cesare " , in response to reports of a British fleet in the area . They were steaming off Sardinia when they received word that the British had bombarded Genoa ; they immediately turned north to intercept them , but heavy fog allowed the British to escape . In December 1941 , " Andrea Doria " formed part of the escort during Operation M41 , a major convoy from Italy to Benghazi in Libya on the 13th . M42 followed on 17 – 19 December , where " Andrea Doria " saw action against British cruisers and destroyers in the First Battle of Sirte . Late on the 17th , the Italian fleet , commanded by Admiral Angelo Iachino , engaged the British light forces . Both sides acted hesitantly , however , and no decisive engagement resulted . Operation M43 followed on 3 January 1942 ; " Andrea Doria " again provided escort for the three convoys to Libya . While on the operation , " Andrea Doria " suffered mechanical problems and had to return to port early . She remained inactive for the remainder of the year , and indeed until the Armistice in September 1943 that removed Italy from the war , owing to severe fuel shortages in the Italian Navy . On 9 September 1943 , " Andrea Doria " left Italy , bound for interment in Malta , where she remained until 8 June 1944 . She was then released to return to Sicily , and eventually returned to Taranto on 14 March 1945 . After the war ended in May 1945 , " Andrea Doria " went to Syracuse , where she remained until 13 December 1949 . She was then made flagship of the Italian fleet , a role she performed until 9 December 1950 . She held the position again from 9 March 1951 to May 1953 , after which time she was used as a gunnery training ship . She was paid off on 16 September 1956 , after serving in the Italian Navy for over 40 years . She was formally stricken from the naval register on 1 November and subsequently broken up for scrap in La Spezia .