Conte di Cavour-class battleship

Conte di Cavour at speed in her original configuration
Class overview
Name	Conte di Cavour class
Operators	Regia Marina  Soviet Navy
Preceded by	Dante Alighieri
Succeeded by	Andrea Doria class
Built	1910–1915
In commission	1914–1955
Completed	3
Lost	1
Scrapped	2
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Dreadnought battleship
Displacement	23,088 long tons (23,458 t) (standard) 25,086 long tons (25,489 t) (deep load)
Length	176 m (577 ft 5 in) (o/a)
Beam	28 m (91 ft 10 in)
Draught	9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
Installed power	30,700–32,800 shp (22,900–24,500 kW) 20 × Water-tube boilers
Propulsion	4 × Shafts 4 × Steam turbines
Speed	21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Range	4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	31 officers and 969 enlisted men
Armament	3 × triple, 2 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns 18 × single 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 14 × single 76.2 mm (3 in) guns 3 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Waterline belt: 250–130 mm (9.8–5.1 in) Deck: 24–40 mm (0.9–1.6 in) Gun turrets: 280–240 mm (11.0–9.4 in) Barbettes: 230–130 mm (9.1–5.1 in) Conning towers: 280–180 mm (11.0–7.1 in)
General characteristics (after reconstruction)
Type	Fast battleship
Displacement	29,100 long tons (29,600 t) (deep load)
Length	186.4 m (611 ft 7 in)
Beam	33.1 m (108 ft 7 in)
Installed power	75,000 shp (56,000 kW) 8 × Yarrow boilers
Propulsion	2 × Shafts 2 × Geared steam turbines
Speed	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range	6,400 nmi (11,900 km; 7,400 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	1,260
Armament	2 × triple, 2 × twin 320 mm (12.6 in) 6 × twin 120 mm (4.7 in) 4 × twin 100 mm (4 in) / 47 caliber AA guns
Armor	Deck: 166–135 mm (6.5–5.3 in) Barbettes: 280–130 mm (11.0–5.1 in)

The Conte di Cavour–class battleships were a group of three dreadnoughts built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1910s. The ships were completed during World War I. In December 1915, and January 1916, when the Serbian army was driven by the German foces under General von Mackensen toward the Albanian coast, 138,000 Serbian infantry and 11,000 refugees were ferried across the Adriatic and landed in Italy in 87 trips by the Conte di Cavour and other shps of the Italian Navy under the command of Admiral Conz. These ships also carried 13,000 cavalrymen and 10,000 horses of the Serbian army to Corfu in 13 crossings from the Albanian port of Vallons.^[1] Leonardo da Vinci was sunk by a magazine explosion in 1916 and sold for scrap in 1923. The two surviving ships, Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare, supported operations during the Corfu Incident in 1923. They were extensively reconstructed between 1933 and 1937 with more powerful guns, additional armor and considerably more speed than before.

Both ships participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, when Giulio Cesare 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 grounded with most of her hull underwater and her repairs were not completed before the Italian surrender in September 1943. Conte di Cavour was scrapped in 1946. Giulio Cesare escorted several convoys, and participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in late 1940 and the First Battle of Sirte in late 1941. She was designated as a training ship in early 1942, and escaped to Malta after Italy surrendered. The ship was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1949 and renamed Novorossiysk. The Soviets also used her for training until she was sunk when a mine exploded in 1955. She was scrapped in 1957.