For example, the result of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia at the end of the 19th century was that Italy was defeated and paid reparations to Ethiopia, which simply disgraced the "face of imperialism"!However, although Italy is not good at fighting, its military industry has not been bad, whether it is artillery, aircraft, **, there are high-quality products and have their own characteristics. Today I would like to introduce to you a type of battleship in Italy during the First World War, its main gun layout is unique and very distinctive, this type of battleship is the "Count Cavour" class battleship!
The layout of the main guns of the Count Cavour-class battleship is very distinctive, with a total of 13 305 mm guns in 5 main turrets, 3 triple and 2 twin. At that time, the main gun layout of battleships was 5 twins, 4 twins, and 2 twins (former dreadnoughts), and the technology of triple-mounted main guns before and after World War I was not mature, so there were not many countries where battleships used triple-mounted main guns (the Tsarist Russian Navy adopted a 4-seat triple-mounted main gun layout), and it was even less common to mix and match triple-mounted and double-mounted.
First, the development background.
On the eve of World War I, among the European powers, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Italy became allies, and Britain, France and ** became the Entente powers, so the capital ship construction plan of the Italian Navy was mainly aimed at the French Navy, and the German capital ship construction plan was aimed at the British Royal Navy. The "Count Cavour" class battleships are a product of this background, and there are three ships of the same type of ship in this class: "Count Cavour", "Julio Caesar", "Leonardo da Vinci", and three "Count Cavour" class battleships participated in the First World War.
2. Performance data.
The main performance of the battleships of the "Count Cavour" class: captain 1761 meter, width 28 meters, draft 94 meters, the frontal armor of the main turret is 280 mm thick, the conning tower armor is 280 mm thick, the broadside armor belt is 80 249 mm thick, the deck armor is 102 mm thick, the standard displacement is 23000 tons, the full load displacement is 25000 tons, the crew is 1050 people. The power is a steam turbine, 31,000 horsepower, 4 shafts, and a speed of 215 knots, endurance 11000 nautical miles 11 knots.
Equipped with 13 305 mm 46 times the diameter of the main gun, 3 triple mounted, 2 twin mounted, the bow and stern direction of the hull each have two main gun turrets, in a knapsack arrangement, the main turret located in a higher position is double-mounted, and a main gun turret in the amidship is located between two sets of chimneys and three-legged main masts. 18 x 120 mm 50x secondary guns, 22 x 76 mm 50x rapid-fire guns, 3 x 450 mm torpedo tubes.
3. Improvements.
In the 30s of the last century, the battleships of the "Count Cavour" class were modernized, and their performance data were: captain 1864 meters, width 28 meters, draft 104 meters, the frontal armor of the main turret is 280 mm thick, the conning tower armor is 280 mm thick, the broadside armor belt is 80 249 mm thick, the deck armor is 135 166 mm thick, the standard displacement is 23600 tons, the full load displacement is 29100 tons, the crew is 1236 people. It is powered by a steam turbine with 93,000 horsepower, 2 axles, a speed of 28 knots, and a cruising range of 3,100 nautical miles at 20 knots (4,800 nautical miles at 10 knots).
Equipped with 10 doors 320 mm 438 times the diameter of the main gun, 2 triple, 2 twin, there are two main gun turrets in the bow and stern directions, in a knapsack arrangement, and the main turret located in a higher position is double-mounted. 6 twin 120 mm 50 x secondary guns, 4 twin 100 mm 47x anti-aircraft guns, 16 37 mm anti-aircraft guns, 12 20 mm anti-aircraft guns. Torpedo ** was not practical for battleships, canceled.
Fourth, the state of service.
The fate of the three battleships of the Count Cavour class varied, with the lead ship "Count Cavour" commissioned in April 1915 and modernized from October 1933 to July 1937. After the outbreak of World War II, during the Royal Navy's surprise attack on Port Taranto, the "Count Cavour" was hit by a torpedo and sunk in the harbor, and was later salvaged. After the defeat of Italy, it was captured by the Germans and used to block shipping lanes.
The commissioning of the second battleship of the "Count Cavour" class ("Giulio Caesar") was somewhat tortuous. "Giulio Caesar" was commissioned in May 1914 and modernized from October 1933 to July 1937. After the outbreak of World War II, in the Battle of Cape Stillo on July 9, 1940, the "Julio Caesar" was damaged by the British Navy's battleship "Warweary", which was equipped with 8 381 mm guns and had much better firepower than the "Giulio Caesar". In January 1941, in the port of Naples, the "Julio Caesar" was damaged by a British aircraft. In September 1943, Italy was defeated and surrendered, and the "Giulio Caesar" was detained by the Allies.
In 1949 it was handed over to the Soviet Navy as war reparations, and then the ship was renamed "Novorossiysk" and was deployed at the Sevastopol naval base in the Crimea as the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet of the Soviet Navy. On the night of October 29, 1955, the "Novorossiysk" docked in Sevastopol suddenly occurred**, and a large hole was blown out of the bow. Although the ship sank into the sea 2 hours and 44 minutes after the rescue, all 608 soldiers on the ship were killed. The results of the post-investigation concluded that ** accidentally collided with a German RMH or LMB mine left over from World War II. In 1957, the ship was deregistered.
The third Count Cavour-class battleship (Leonardo da Vinci) was the first to enter service, completed in May 1913. After the outbreak of the First World War, it sank in the port of Taranto in August 1916 during the loading of ammunition, and was salvaged in 1919 to be repaired and refitted, and then dismantled in 1923 due to lack of funds.
The "Count Cavour" class battleships were quite good in combat effectiveness in the early and middle World War I, but in the later period, with the new battleships of the great powers equipped with larger caliber main guns, such as the "Queen Elizabeth" class battleships of the British Royal Navy equipped with 381 mm main guns, the strength of the "Count Cavour" class battleships was not enough at this time. During World War II, although it had been modernized, it was too far behind the main battleships of the United States, Britain, Germany, Japan and other countries.