Littorio

Survived

Type	Battleship
Class	Littorio
War	Second World War
Main guns	9 × 15″ guns

Service

to 1943	Littorio	Italy
from 1943	Italia Renamed after the fall of Mussolini	Italy

Fast modern battleship with nine 15-inch guns. Hit by three torpedoes at Taranto. Iachino's flagship at Second Sirte. Renamed Italia after Mussolini's fall; hit by a German glide bomb on the way to surrender. Interned in the Suez Canal, then scrapped.

For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Italien, Schlachtschiff "Littorio" Die erste Probefahrt des 1937 vom Stapel gelaufenen italienischen 35.000 t Schlachtschiffes "Littorio" i Photo: UnknownUnknown, CC BY-SA 3.0 de · Wikimedia Commons

Armament and specifications

Armament

9 × 381 mm (15 in) guns
12 × 152 mm (6 in) guns
4 × 120 mm (4.7 in)/40 guns
12 × 90 mm (3.5 in) anti-aircraft guns
20 × 37 mm (1.5 in) guns
20 × 20 mm (0.79 in) guns

Armour

Main belt: 350 mm (14 in)
Deck: 162 mm (6.4 in)
Turrets: 350 mm
Conning tower: 260 mm (10 in)

Builder	Ansaldo, Genoa Sestri Ponente
Laid down	28 October 1934
Launched	22 August 1937
Commissioned	6 May 1940
Displacement	Standard: 40,723 long tons (41,376 t) Full load: 45,237 long tons (45,963 t)
Length	237.76 m (780 ft 1 in)
Speed	30 kn (35 mph; 56 km/h)
Complement	1,830 to 1,950

As built, from the ship's Wikipedia article. Figures there may cover later refits too.

Career

Launched

22 August 1937

Battle of Taranto

Damaged

11–12 November 1940

Three torpedoes; out of action until March 1941

Second Battle of Sirte

Survived

22 March 1942

Iachino's flagship

Operation Vigorous

Damaged

13–16 June 1942

Iachino's flagship; hit by a bomb and a torpedo

Renamed Italia

30 July 1943 · Renamed after the fall of Mussolini

Sinking of Roma

Damaged

as Italia

9 September 1943

As Italia; hit by a glide bomb

Fate

Survived

Scrapped at La Spezia 1952–1954