Vittorio Veneto (ship, 1940)
| Vittorio Veneto |
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|
|---|---|
| period of service | |
| Builder: | Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico |
| Keel laying: | October 28, 1934 |
| Launch: | July 25, 1937 |
| Commissioning: | April 28, 1940 |
| Decommissioning: | February 1, 1948 |
| Fate: | Scrapped |
| General properties | |
| Displacement : |
Standard : 43,624 ts maximum: 45,752 ts |
| Length: | 237 m |
| Width: | 33 m |
| Draft: | 10.5 m |
| Machinery: | 8 oil-fired steam boilers 4 sets of Belluzzo steam turbines with 134,616 WPS via single gearbox on 4 screws |
| Speed: | 31.4 knots |
| Crew: | 1830 officers and men |
| Armament: | 9 × 381 mm guns (3 × 3) 12 × 152 mm guns (4 × 3) 12 × 90 mm flak (12 × 1) 40 × 37 mm flak (20 × 2) 60 × 20 mm anti-aircraft gun (30 × 2) |
The Vittorio Veneto was an Italian battleship of the Littorio class of Regia Marina in the Second World War . It was after the Battle of Vittorio Veneto in World War I named.
construction
The Vittorio Veneto was laid down in 1934 at the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico shipyard in Trieste . The launch was on July 25, 1937, the commissioning took place on April 28, 1940, shortly after Italy had entered the Second World War on the Axis side . She was the first battleship built under the Washington Naval Treaty that exceeded the maximum size of 35,000 ts specified in the contract . In 1942 the Vittorio Veneto was the first Italian battleship to be equipped with radar , a "Gufo" EC 4.
Skirmishes
On November 27, 1940, the Vittorio Veneto took part in the sea battle at Cape Teulada , where they forced the seven-ship British cruiser squadron to retreat through long-range fire.
During the Battle of Cape Matapan , the Vittorio Veneto received a torpedo hit by British Fairey Swordfish bombers. Due to a structural weakness in the torpedo protection , severe damage occurred, which forced the battleship to return to Italy. The British Mediterranean fleet tried in vain to overtake the Vittorio Veneto , but sank three heavy cruisers and two destroyers of the Regia Marina .
In 1942, the Vittorio Veneto took part in the fighting during the British convoy operation Harpoon .
After the armistice between Italy and the Allies on September 8, 1943, the battleship was interned together with her sister ship Italia (ex Littorio) for the rest of the war in the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal . Proposals to use the ships on the side of the Allies after the Italian declaration of war on the Axis Powers were rejected for political and organizational reasons.
After the end of the war, the Vittorio Veneto was awarded to Great Britain as reparation , but the British waived the ship. In 1948 the Vittorio Veneto was scrapped in Italy.