Italian battleship Conte di Cavour

Conte di Cavour at speed in her original configuration
History
Kingdom of Italy
NameConte di Cavour
NamesakeCount Camillo Benso di Cavour
OperatorRegia Marina
BuilderArsenale di La Spezia, La Spezia
Laid down10 August 1910
Launched10 August 1911
Completed1 April 1915
RefitOctober 1933–June 1937
Captured10 September 1943
FateScrapped, 1946
General characteristics (as built)
Class and typeConte di Cavour-class dreadnought battleship
Displacement
Length176 m (577 ft 5 in) (o/a)
Beam28 m (91 ft 10 in)
Draft9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
Installed power
Propulsion4 × shafts; 3 × steam turbines
Speed22.2 knots (41.1 km/h; 25.5 mph)
Range4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement31 officers and 969 enlisted men
Armament
Armor
General characteristics (after reconstruction)
Displacement29,100 long tons (29,600 t) (deep load)
Length186.4 m (611 ft 7 in)
Beam28.6 m (93 ft 10 in)
Draft10.02 m (32 ft 10 in)
Installed power
Propulsion2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range6,400 nmi (11,900 km; 7,400 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement1,260
Armament
Armor
  • Deck: 135–166 mm (5.3–6.5 in)
  • Barbettes: 130–280 mm (5.1–11.0 in)

Conte di Cavour was the name ship of the three Conte di Cavour-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1910s. Completed in 1915 she served during World War I, although she was little used and saw no combat. The ship supported operations during the Corfu Incident in 1923 and spent much of the rest of the decade in reserve. She was rebuilt between 1933 and 1937 with more powerful guns, additional armor and considerably more speed than before.

During World War II, both Conte di Cavour and her sister ship, Giulio Cesare, participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, where the latter was lightly damaged. Conte di Cavour was badly damaged when British torpedo bombers attacked the fleet at Taranto in November 1940. She was deliberately run aground, with most of her hull underwater, and repairs were not completed before the Italian armistice in September 1943. The ship was then captured by the Germans, but they made no effort to finish her repairs. She was damaged in an Allied air raid in early 1945 and capsized a week later. Conte di Cavour was eventually scrapped in 1946.