The Italian battleship RM Andrea Doria at sea after her 1937-1940 rebuild.
The Andrea Doria-class battleships were a pair of dreadnought battleships built for the Regia Marina during the early 1910s. The two ships—Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio—were completed during World War I but neither ship saw any combat during the war. The Andrea Doria class was an incremental improvement over the preceding Conte di Cavour-class. Like the earlier ships, Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio were armed with a main battery of thirteen 305-millimeter (12.0 in) guns.
The two ships spent World War I based in southern Italy to keep the Austro-Hungarian Navy bottled up in the Adriatic. After the war, they cruised the Mediterranean and participated in several international incidents including the Corfu incident in 1923. Both ships were withdrawn from service in 1933 and began a lengthy reconstruction in 1937. The modifications included removing their center main battery turret and boring out the rest of the guns to 320 mm (12.6 in), strengthening their armor protection, installing new boilers and steam turbines, and lengthening their hulls. The reconstruction work lasted until 1940, by which time Italy was already engaged in World War II.
Specifications[]
Original Configuration[]
- Type: Battleship
- Service Period: 1916-1946
- Characteristics:
- Length: 577 feet 5 inches (176 meters)
- Beam: 91 feet 10 inches (28 meters)
- Draft: 30 feet 10 inches (9.4 meters)
- Displacement: 22,960 tons (Normal Load); 24,730 tons (Full Load)
- Crew: 1,000 (31 officers and 969 enlisted)
- Propulsion: 20 × Yarrow boilers, 4 × shafts, 4 × Parsons steam turbine sets, 30,000 shp (22,000 kW)
- Range: 4,800 nautical miles (8,889.6 kilometers) at 10 knots (18.52 km/h)
- Speed: 21 knots (38.9 km/h)
- Armament:
- 10 x 305mm/46-caliber Model 1909 naval guns
- 16 x 152mm/45-caliber Model 1911 naval guns
- 19 x 76mm/50-caliber Model 1909 naval guns
- 3 x 450mm torpedo tubes
- Armour:
- Belt: 250 mm (9.8 in)
- Gun turrets: 280 mm (11.0 in)
- Casemates: 130 mm (5.1 in)
- Deck: 98 mm (3.9 in)
- Conning tower: 280 mm (11.0 in)
1937 Rebuild Configuration[]
- Type: Battleship
- Service Period: 1916-1946
- Characteristics:
- Length: 613 feet 2 inches (186.89 meters)
- Beam: 92 feet 10 inches (28.3 meters)
- Draft: 33 feet 10 inches (10.31 meters)
- Displacement: 29,140 tons (Full Load)
- Crew: 1,520
- Propulsion: 8 × Yarrow boilers, 2 × Shafts, 2 × Geared steam turbines, 75,000 shp (56,000 kW)
- Range: 4,000 nautical miles (7,408 kilometers) at 18 knots (33.34 km/h0
- Speed: 26 knots (48.15 km/h)
- Armament:
- 10 x 320mm/44-caliber Model 1934 naval guns
- 12 x 135mm/45-caliber Model 1938 naval guns
- 10 x 90mm/50-caliber Model 1939 anti-aircraft guns
- 15 x 37mm/54-caliber Model 1939 anti-aircraft guns
- 16 x 20mm/65-caliber Model 1939 anti-aircraft guns
- Armour:
- Belt: 250mm (9.8")
- Gun turrets: 280mm (11.0")
- Casemates: 130mm (5.1")
- Deck: 135mm (5.3")
- Conning tower: 280mm (11.0 in)
- Secondary Turrets: 120mm (4.7")
Unit Run[]
- RM Andrea Doria - sunk by French battleships Provence and Paris
- RM Caio Duilio - scrapped in 1948