Conte di Cavour-class
Andrea Doria
The French Bretagne-class
The Littorio-class drawn by Enrico (thanks for allowing us to publish)
French battle cruiser Dunkerque
The French Bretagne-class
Laid down at the La Spezia Navy Yard on 24 March 1912, launched on 30 March 1913, completed on 13 March 1916, modernized 1937-1940, gunnery training ship with intervals 13 December 1949-May 1953, decommissioned on 16 September 1956, stricken on 1 November 1956 and finally sold to be broken up which was executed at La Spezia.
Of the Andrea Doria or Caio Duilio-class, preceded by the Conte di Cavour-class, to be succeeded by the planned but never completed Francesco Caracciolo-class but in reality by the Littorio-class was designed by vice admiral annex naval architect Giuseppe Valsecchi. The design was made as a response on the French Bretagne-class battleships.
General original technical specifications. With a displacement of 23.324 tons/22.956 long tons (normal load)-25.126 tons.24.729 long tons (deep load) and as dimension 168,9 (waterline)-176 (overall) x 28 x 9,4 metres of 554.2-577.5 x 91.10 x 30.10 feet. The hull was divided into 23 longitudinal and transverse bulkheads and further more provided with a complete double bottom. The machinery consisted of 3x2 Parsons steam turbines divided over 3 engine rooms and 20 Yarrow boilers supplying via 4 shafts allowing a speed of 21/2.31 (trials)-22 (design) knots and a horsepower of 32.000 ship. The range with a speed of 10 knots and a coal bunker capacity of 1.512 ton/1.488 long tons and a fuel oil capacity of 900 tons/886 long tons was to be 4.800 nautical miles. The crew numbered 1.000 men. The armament consisted of a 25cm/9.8” thick belt, 9,8cm/3.9” thick deck and the gun turrets, casemates and conning tower protected by respectively 28cm/11.0, 13cm/5.1” and 28cm/11.0”. The armament consisted of 3x3+2x2-30,5cm/12” guns, 16x1-15,2cm/6” guns, 19x1-7,6cm/3” guns and 3-45cm/17.7” torpedo tubes
French battle cruiser Dunkerque
After the modernisation needed to have ships in service able to compete with the new French Dunkerque-class as long as the Italian Littorio-class was still not realized. The general technical details were since then quite changed by for instance replacing the existing bow by a longer bow section. Displacement 29.345-29.863 tons (deep load) and a dimensions 186,9 x 28,03 x 10,3 metres 613.2 x 92.0 x 33.10 feet. The machinery was also changed and consisted now of 2 geared steam turbines and 8 Yarrow boilers supplying via 2 shafts 75.000 ship allowing a speed of 26 knots and with a speed of 18 knots a range of 4.000 nautical miles. The crew was increased to 1.520 men. The armament consisted of 2x2+2x2 32cm Model 1934 guns, 4x3-13,5cm anti aircraft guns, 10x109cm/50 anti aircraft guns, 6x2+3x1-3,7cm Breda anti aircraft guns and 8x2-2cm Breda anti aircraft guns. The armour was also improved like an increased thickness of the deck armour to 13,5cm/5.3”. There are naval historians who believed that in case of war between Italy and the United Kingdom these ships had no chance against the British Queen Elizabeth-class.