Lewin of Greenwich Naval History & Forum

[*]Lead Ship,Battleship RM Conte di Cavour pictured during the 'H' Naval Review, held on May 5th 1938, during Hitler's visit to Italy. Hitler, Mussolini, the king of Italy Victor Emmanuel III and the crown prince Umberto were all onboard Cavour.She was built at La Spezia Arsenale, La Spezia in 1915.
She served during both World War I and World War II, although she was little used and saw no combat during the former. The ship supported operations during the Corfu Incident in 1923 and spent much of the rest of the decade in reserve. She was nearly completely rebuilt between 1933 and 1937 with more powerful guns, additional armor and considerably more speed than before.
Both Conte di Cavour and her sister ship, RM Giulio Cesare, participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, where the latter was lightly damaged. They were both present when British torpedo bombers attacked the fleet at Taranto in November 1940, and Conte di Cavour was torpedoed. She was deliberately grounded, with most of her hull underwater, and her repairs were not completed before the Italian surrender in September 1943.She was then captured by the Germans, but they made no use of her. She was damaged in an Allied air raid in early 1945 and capsized seven days later. Conte di Cavour was eventually scrapped in 1946.

Externally they "looked" like modern battleships, but they basically retained the original weak protection despite efforts to upgrade during their modernization. The bored out 12.6" guns were distinctly inferior to the RN's 15" 42s.

It would seem the Italians wasted resources and labor that would have been better spent on finishing the IMPERO. DFO

A very nice over head view of the radically rebuilt CONTE DI CAVOUR! Unfortunately for the Italian Fleet they LOOKED far better than their actual combat capabilities proved to be......... DFO

Here is the GUILIO CESARE on the ways in Genoa, 1911, and being launched. DFO

Here are two views of the CONTE DI CAVOUR: one shows her new bow/shell being built over the original bow. The other shows her during the salvage operation!

The third pic shows part of her, incomplete, at the same pier ROMA was fitting out at. Of course, she was never finished so she did not rejoin the Fleet. DFO

Some nice early shots of CONTE DI CAVOUR............... DFO

Units from both BB classes at Taranto, 1932. DFO

An extremely rare shot of the three Dreadnought sisters,Lead Ship,Battleships RM Conti di Cavour...RM Giulio Cesare and RM Leonardo da Vinci c1915.

Curiously all 3 were sunk in "safe" harbors! Quite a feat.................. DFO

In 1938 when this pair's complete REBUILD was finished, they "looked" quite impressive. However, as the war showed, they were paper tigers. Weak protection, "small" main guns (by WW2 standards, poor, weak AA (shared by all early WW2 units!)) and sea speed that was noticeably slower than "advertised"....... DFO