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The ''Littorio'' class, also known as the ''Vittorio Veneto'' class,〔''Vittorio Veneto'' and ''Littorio'' were laid down on the same date, so ambiguity exists in the naming of the class.〕 was a class of battleship of the Regia Marina, the Italian navy. The class was composed of four ships: , , , and . Only the first three ships of the class were completed, however. Built between 1934 and 1942, they were the most modern battleships used by Italy during World War II. The ''Littorio''-class ships were developed in response to the French s, and were armed with guns and had a top speed of . The design was considered by the Spanish Navy, but the outbreak of World War II interrupted construction plans. The first two ships, ''Littorio'' and ''Vittorio Veneto'', were operational by the early months of Italy's participation in World War II. They formed the backbone of the Italian fleet, and conducted several sorties into the Mediterranean to intercept British convoys, though without any notable success. The two ships were repeatedly torpedoed throughout their careers: ''Littorio'' was hit by a torpedo during the attack on Taranto in November 1940 and again in June 1942 and ''Vittorio Veneto'' was torpedoed during the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 and while escorting a convoy to North Africa in September 1941. ''Roma'' joined the fleet in June 1942, though all three ships remained inactive in La Spezia until June 1943, when all three were damaged in a series of Allied air attacks on the harbor. In September 1943, Italy capitulated and signed an Armistice with the Allies. ''Littorio'' was then renamed ''Italia''. The three active battleships were transferred to Malta before they were to be interned in Alexandria. While en route to Malta, German bombers attacked the fleet with Fritz X radio-guided bombs, damaging ''Italia'' and sinking ''Roma''. Nevertheless, ''Italia'' and ''Vittorio Veneto'' reached Malta and were interned. The incomplete ''Impero'' was seized by the Germans after Italy withdrew from the war and used as a target, until she was sunk by American bombers in 1945. ''Italia'' and ''Vittorio Veneto'' were awarded to the United States and Britain, respectively, as war prizes. ''Italia'', ''Vittorio Veneto'', and ''Impero'' were broken up for scrap between 1952 and 1954. ==Design== The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 allotted Italy an additional of total capital ship tonnage, which could be used in 1927–1929, while other powers were observing the "holiday" in battleship construction prescribed by the treaty.〔Whitley, pp. 169–170〕 France, which was given parity with Italy, also possessed 70,000 tons of capital ship tonnage. Both countries were put under significant pressure from the other signatories to use their allotted tonnage to build smaller battleships with reduced caliber main batteries. The first Italian design, prepared in 1928, called for a ship armed with a main battery of six guns in twin turrets.〔Garzke & Dulin ''Axis and Neutral Battleships'', pp. 372–373〕 They opted for this design because this allowed three ships under the 70,000-ton limit.〔Whitley, p. 170〕 This would have allowed the Italian fleet to keep at least two units operational at any given time.〔Bagnasco & de Toro, p. 11〕 Protection and radius of action were sacrificed for speed and heavy armament, though the Italians did not value range, as they operated primarily in the confined waters of the Mediterranean.〔Garzke & Dulin ''Axis and Neutral Battleships'', p. 373〕 Later in 1928, the design staff prepared another ship, with a displacement of , armed with six guns and protected against guns of the same caliber. At least one of these ships would have followed the three 23,000-ton ships once the building holiday expired in 1931.〔 Funding was not allocated to begin construction, however, as the Italian Navy did not want to instigate an arms race with the French Navy. The London Naval Treaty of 1930 extended the building holiday to 1936, though Italy and France retained the right to build 70,000 tons of new capital ships. Both countries rejected British proposals to limit new battleship designs to and guns. After 1930, the Italian Navy abandoned the smaller designs altogether. By 1930, Germany had begun to build the three ships, armed with six guns, and France had in turn laid down two s to counter them. The French vessels were armed with eight guns. In late 1932, Italian constructors responded with a design similar to the ''Deutschland'' class, but armed with six guns in triple turrets on a displacement.〔Garzke & Dulin ''Axis and Neutral Battleships'', p. 374〕 The Italian Navy decided that the smaller design was impractical, and that a larger design should be pursued. A design was then prepared, which mounted eight 343 mm guns in twin turrets.〔Garzke & Dulin ''Axis and Neutral Battleships'', pp. 377–378〕 This was ultimately abandoned in favor of a 35,000 ton design to be armed with 406 mm guns.〔Garzke & Dulin ''Axis and Neutral Battleships'', p. 379〕 The 406 mm gun in turn was abandoned in favor of the 381 mm gun because there were no designs for the larger gun, which would delay construction; a 381 mm gun had already been designed for the canceled .〔Stille, p. 22〕 Ultimately, nine 381 mm guns in three triple turrets were adopted as the primary battery for the ships, on a displacement in excess of ,〔Whitley, p. 169〕 despite the fact that this violated the established naval treaties.〔Stille, p. 23〕 Nevertheless, by the time these ships entered service, the international arms control system had fallen apart and the major naval powers had invoked the "escalator clause" that allowed for ships up to displacement.〔Bagnasco & de Toro, pp. 22–23〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Littorio-class battleship」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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