Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo da Vinci was one of three dreadnought s built for the " Regia Marina " ( Italian Royal Navy ) in the early 1910s . Completed just before the beginning of World War I , the ship saw no action and was sunk by a magazine explosion in 1916 with the loss of 248 officers and enlisted men . The Italians blamed Austro - Hungarian saboteur s for her loss , but it may have been accidental . " Leonardo da Vinci " was refloated in 1919 and plans were made to repair her . Budgetary constraints did not permit this and her hulk was sold for scrap in 1923 . Description . " Leonardo da Vinci " was long at the waterline , and overall . The ship had a beam of , and a draft of . She displaced at normal load , and at deep load . The " Conte di Cavour " - class dreadnoughts had a complete double bottom and their hull was subdivided by 23 longitudinal and transverse bulkheads . They had a crew of 31 officers and 969 enlisted men . The ship ' s machinery consisted of four Parsons steam turbines , each driving one propeller shaft . Steam for the turbines was provided by 20 Blechynden water - tube boilers , eight of which burned oil and twelve of which burned both fuel oil and coal . Designed to reach a maximum speed of from , " Leonardo da Vinci " failed to reach this goal on her sea trials , despite generally exceeding the rated power of her turbines . The ship only made a maximum speed of using . The ship could store a maximum of of coal and of oil that gave her a range of at , and at . Armament . " Leonardo da Vinci " s main armament consisted of thirteen 46 - caliber 305 - millimeter guns , in five gun turrets . The turrets were arranged all on the centerline , with a twin - gun turret superfiring over a triple - gun turret in fore and aft pairs , and a third triple turret amidships . These were designated ' A ' , ' B ' , ' Q ' , ' X ' , and ' Y ' from bow to stern . The turrets had an elevation capability of −5 / + 20 degrees and the ship 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 of which gave a maximum range of . The secondary armament consisted of eighteen 50 - caliber guns mounted in casemate s on the sides of the hull . These guns could depress to −10 degress 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 ship carried a total of 3 , 600 rounds for them . For defense against torpedo boat s , " Leonardo da Vinci " 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 and upper decks . These guns had the same range of elevation as the secondary guns , although 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 s , one on each broadside and the third in the stern . Armor . The " Conte di Cavour " - class ships had a complete waterline 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 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 was in thickness with sides , and a roof and rear . Their barbette 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 had walls 280 millimeters thick those of the aft conning tower were 180 millimeters thick . Construction and service . " Leonardo da Vinci " , named after the artist and inventor , was built by the Odero Shipbuilding Co . , at their Sestri Ponente , Genoa shipyard . She was laid down on 18 July 1910 , launched on 14 October 1911 , and completed on 17 May 1914 . The ship saw no combat during the war and spent most of it at anchor . She capsized in Taranto harbor , in of water , after an internal magazine explosion on the night of 2 / 3 August 1916 while loading ammunition . Casualties included 21 officers and 227 enlisted men . The subsequent investigation blamed Austro - Hungarian saboteur s , but unstable propellant may well have been responsible . The " Regia Marina " wanted to raise the ship and rejected initial plans to demolish the wreck with explosives . They ultimately settled on a plan to make the ship ' s hull airtight and raise it using compressed air and pontoons . This required that the ship ' s coal , ammunition , and gun turrets be removed or cut loose , respectively , by divers to reduce her weight . A further complication was that the largest drydock in Taranto had a maximum depth of only and the upside - down " Leonardo da Vinci " drew . This meant that her funnels had to be cut off as well . All of this preparation required over two years and the ship was refloated on 17 September 1919 . A deep channel had been dredged from her location to the drydock and she was moved there . A special wooden framework had to be built to support her , still inverted , after the water in the drydock had been drained . Her decks were not designed to handle the stresses involved in her unique situation and had to be reinforced to withstand the weight of the hull and preliminary repairs were made in preparation for righting her . A deep spot in the harbor was dredged for this task and some of ballast were added in spots calculated to assist in the righting effort . The primary work was done by of water pumped into the ship ' s starboard side and she was successfully righted on 24 January 1921 . The " Regina Marina " planned to modernize " Leonardo da Vinci " by replacing her center turret with six AA guns , but ultimately lacked the funds to do so and sold her for scrap on 22 March 1923 .