Italian battleship Conte di Cavour

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Career (Italy)
Laid down:	1910
Launched:	1911
Commissioned:	1915
Decommissioned:	18 May 1928
Struck:	1947
Fate:	captured 1943
General characteristics
Displacement:	Built: 23,088 tons standard, 25,086 tons full load Reconstructed: 28,800 tons standard, 29,100 tons full load
Length:	Built: 168.9 - 176.1 m Reconstructed: 168.9 - 186.4 m
Beam:	28 m
Draught:	Built: 9.4 m Reconstructed: 10.4 m
Propulsion:	Built: 20 boilers, 4 shafts, 31,000 hp Reconstructed: 8 boilers, 2 shafts, 93,000 hp
Speed:	Built: 21.5 knots (41 km/h) Reconstructed: 28 knots (53 km/h)
Range:	Built: 4,800 miles at 10 knots Reconstructed: 3,100 miles at 20 knots
Complement:	Built: 1,000 Reconstructed: 1,236
Armament:	Built: 13 × 305/46 mm 18 × 120/50 mm 16 × 76/50 mm 6 × 76/40 mm 3 × 450 mm torpedo launchers Reconstructed: 10 × 320/44 mm 12 × 120/50 mm 8 × 100/47 mm 8 × 37/54 mm 12 × 20/65 mm
Armour:	Built: max 280 mm (vertical) 111 mm (horizontal) Reconstructed: max 280 mm (vertical) 135 mm (horizontal)

Conte di Cavour was an Italian Conte di Cavour class battleship, that served in the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II. It was named after the Italian statesman Count Camillo Benso di Cavour.

[edit] Construction and first years

Built to a design by Chief Engineer (Tenente Generale del Genio Navale) Edoardo Masdea, Conte di Cavour was based in Taranto, in the impending war against Austria-Hungary (World War I). At the beginning of the war, 24 May 1915, Conte di Cavour became the flagship of the rear-admiral Luigi Amedeo di Savoia. During the war, the battleship had no active missions, since it was impossible to engage the enemy: it performed 966 hours of training exercises compared to 40 hours spent in 3 war actions.

After the war, Conte di Cavour had a propaganda cruise in North America, entering the ports of Gibraltar, Ponta Delgada, Fayal, Halifax, Boston, Newport, Topkinsville, New York, Philadelphia, Annapolis, and Hampton Roads.

In the summer of 1922, King Vittorio Emanuele III travelled on Conte di Cavour to pay visit to the freed Italian cities in the Adriatic sea. It was also used by Benito Mussolini to travel to Tripoli, in April 1925.

On 12 May 1928, in Taranto, it was disarmed; five years later, in October 1933, Conte di Cavour was transferred to Trieste, to be re-constructed.

[edit] Re-construction and World War II actions

The Conte di Cavour in 1937.

The reconstruction process left only 40% of the original structure. The central 305 mm turret was removed, and the remaining guns of the same caliber were upgraded to 320 mm. The new engines were able to provide 93,000 hp, allowing Conte di Cavour to reach 28 knots. Overall, it was a good unit, even if with weak anti-aircraft and submarine protections.

Conte di Cavour was returned to Regia Marina on 1 June 1937; it was in Taranto at the beginning of the World War II, on 10 June 1940.

On 9 July 1940 it participated in the battle of Calabria, which was the first between Italian and British navies. During the Night of Taranto, 11 November–12 November 1940, Conte di Cavour was sunk in shallow waters by a torpedo dropped by a British aircraft during the attack on the naval base of Taranto. The ship was raised at the end of 1941, and then sent to Trieste to be repaired and upgraded in the anti-aircraft armament, but it never returned to active duty.

On 10 September 1943, Conte di Cavour was captured by Germans, but later abandoned during Trieste bombing (15 February 1945). The battleship was scrapped on 27 February 1947.

[edit] See also

• List of shipwrecks in 1940