Marine Modelling – Revisited Re-Issue 2: 'Foreign Warships'

and 3”) and three torpedo tubes. She was the first Italian battleship with 4 propellers and on a good day could manage
about 20kts. The forward pair of funnels (see photo) were heightened during modernisation in 1923 and from 1925 a
seaplane was carried, probably until she was taken out of service in 1928. The Cavour class (of 3) was laid down in 1910
and introduced superimposed turrets fore aft (1 triple, 1 twin above) with a triple amidships. Displacement was typically
24,800 tons and top speed about 21
knots. Leonardo da Vinci was sunk
by the Austrians during WWI and
although raised in 1919 she was later
scrapped. The other two (see table
for names) were slightly modified
post war but were virtually rebuilt
between 1933 and 1937 emerging as
small (29,000 ton), slowish (26 knot)
battleships with a main armament of
ten 12.6” guns and a similar profile to
the later Littorio class. Conte di
Cavour was sunk at Taranto in 1940
Navis Dante Alighieri
and saw no further active service, being scrapped in 1950-52. Her sistership Guilio Cesare was transferred to the Russians
in 1948 and renamed Novorossiysk. Most accounts attribute her subsequent loss in the Black Sea in 1955 to a mine. The
final class of WW1 era dreadnoughts - Duilio (of 2) - was launched in 1913 and were similar in layout to the Cavours,
albeit with an improved arrangement for the secondary gun armament. Again both were rebuilt circa 1937/40 with final
details being similar to the earlier class. Caio Duilio was damaged at Taranto but repaired by 1941; both passed into Allied
hands in 1943, rejoining the Italian Navy in 1944 and remaining in service until 1953.
The last Italian dreadnoughts - the Littorio
class - were laid down in two pairs in 1934
and 1938. On a full load of about 49,000 tons
the design featured three triple turrets with
15” guns and a speed of 30 knots, which
operationally reduced to about 28 knots. The
first pair - Littorio and Vittorio Veneto - were
completed in 1940 and saw considerable
action during the war. Littorio was renamed
Navis Andrea Doria
Italia in 1943 and when on passage to Malta
that September with her sister ship Roma
(completed 1942) both were attacked and hit by German aircraft launched glider bombs, the Roma sinking. The final
vessel, Impero was scrapped incomplete in 1948-50, whilst the two survivors passed into Allied hands in 1948 and were
broken up in the 1950s. The second pair were
given a higher bow freeboard than the earlier
vessels and were about nine feet longer.
The table shows all known models 1/1200-1250
of the Italian ships covered above, with
abbreviations for the various manufacturers - N
(Neptun), D (Delphin), Gr (Grifo - Italian made
models), NM (Navis), Su (Superior - American
models), AR (Argonaut). All except Grifo,
Superior and Revell are 1/1250. The latter are
plastic kits which have been marketed under a
Neptun Conte di Cavour
variety of names over the years. However, as a
cheap way of participating in the waterline hobby they cannot be recommended enough.
Delphin Vittorio Veneto
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