Africanus class Battleship

The africanus class battleship was an Italian battleship designed and constructed at The late stages of WW1 (1917) was a battle ship meant to combat the 
☀https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tegetthoff-class_battleship but work on her sister ships was halted during the 1920~1930s due To naval treaties and the fact that the new https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Littorio-class_battleship were diverting construction equipment to the new battleships in which were, under construction, but at 1931, reconstruction work began in which they stripped all of the outdated equipment that was fitted to her sister ships during 1917 and most if not, nearly the entire ship and her sister ships “Impero di Italia” “grande potere“ and “michelangeo“ were Reconstructed and were given newer equipment, especially the early form of Italian radar equipment.but the fourth ship of the class, Michelangelo had her 4th turret removed and had her Secondary and AA equipment increased due to a lack of 15~16 inch rifle units lying around.
the africanus served in the early stages of WW2 in surprisingly, assisting the Germans at raiding British convoys as a sign of good partnership but in reality, just to make the Germans not invade Italy by making italy act like they’re helping the Germans Instead of the Germans helping the Italians. She was origInally intended to also group up with an Italian carrier division led by the Aquila but was cancelled due to the Aquila being struck by a British mine resulting in her listing so heavily that she needed months of just counter listing her list and removing the excess water in her. The africanus was sunk near the Mediterranean ocean by British BB units led by, warspite, barham, and Nelson. Her sister ships barley participated in battles due to fear of British heavy units sinking them but the Michelangelo participated In the afrika campaign by shelling British coasts in British occupied African colonies. but was sent to a mobile drydock after being attacked by a British aviation squadron. (WIP)
== design and description ==
the blueprints of the africanus class of battleships were first drawn up at late-1917 due to an request by the navy representatives of the Regia Marina made to combat against the Tegetthoff class of battleships of the austria hungarian navy. and to also be a long lasting battleship. designed to last until 1950 as if the line of battleships weren't discontinued due to the appearance of naval-borne aviation. initially these battleships were to be the same length as the andrea doria class of battleships but was incrased to ~270 meters as due to political reasons (specifically to showcase italian might). the final design which had a sharp and singel slide bow compared to most battleships with had inverted curve bows. this allowed the ship to cross more freely on rougher oceans and have a faster speed than some early genertion cruisers with her pre-refit engines the final design was approved by the ministero navale della repubblica italiana or naval ministry of the republic of italy (MNDRI for short) and construction work began at early 1917.
==armament==
the first ship of the class “africanus” initialy used german 8 × 42 cm (16.5 in) SK L/45 guns in 4 turrets from the planned l20e-a class of battleship given to the italians as war compenstation during 1919. these guns were further suplemented by 16 × single 152 mm (6 in) guns armed in casemate mounts below the superstructure, these weapons were replaced during the 1931 reconstruction project with Italian  364mm (around 14in) L/50 guns with 10 being mounted In 2 triple barreled turrets and 2 twin turret mounts. 
 
===secondaries and AA===
the first ship of the africanus class was intitially fitted with 12 casemate 5inch cannons 6 on each side, the reliability of these cannons were questionable as they din't provide the muzzle velocity for longer ranges, furthermore, They had a short shell life with each gun capable of firing 70 rounds before wearing out which were it's main drawbacks.
however, during the construction of it's sister ships and the reconstruction of the first ship "africanus" all recieved newer 12 6inch cannons in 4 turrets mounts with 3 guns inch, with other than the michealengelo having more, around 18 guns each. 
however, with only the michealengelo having guns on all arcs, the rest of the ships of the africanus class, have their secondary armament in a foward arc, thus they cannot support the ship in a rear facing retreat against ships at their firing range. 
the class lacked any form of AA armament before the reconstruction but during the reconstruction of the first ship and construction of her sister ships, 8 5inch AA guns and dozens of 20mm~40mm guns were added as the italians did not posses a multi-purpose artillery compared to ti's rivals.
===protection===
===surface protection===
the africanus class battleships were planned to have a 305mm (12.5in) belt and a very low amount of armor specifically 57mm in the deck as a form of protection from debris of nearby shell splashes when a shell detonated near the ship, this armor layout was reorganized to be more durable during the 1937 reconstruction of the first ship and the continiued construction of her sister ships. the belt armor was strengthend from 305 then adding 30mm of steel armor with a 10mm spacing coupled with a 120mm secondary armor as a failsafe measure, along that the deck armor is increased from 57 to 120mm. to protect against plungine fire of shells within 12inches or higher overall, this type protection is higly effective when it comes to defending the ship for extended periods of barrage. The amount of protection was supposed to be stronger but since the ship was meant to cross the entire atlantic aswell, for more storage capability pf fuel, the armor was sacrified.
===underwater protection=== 
the africanus class used the pulgielse system which is effective in concept but in practice was less than impractical as the the Anti-torpedo-protection system needed massive space to work right but howerver. In a ship as large as the africanus class, the spacing was not the problem when installing the ATP system. And proved to be more effective than the Same system used on the 
☀ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conte_di_Cavour-class_battleship .
Category:Ships of the line
Category:Massive
Category:Vehicles