The battleship Vittorio Veneto was a ship belonging to the Navy Italian Littorio class and represented the best of Italian naval warfare of World War II. Despite being considered the second unit of the Littorio class it was the first to be delivered, so the class is sometimes also called Class Vittorio Veneto.
Construction And Entry Into Service
General Umberto Pugliese designed the Vittorio Veneto, which was the first battleship that went beyond the limits of the 35,000 tons of displacement of the Washington Naval Treaty. The hull of Vittorio Veneto was set October 28, 1934 Shipyards Gathered in the Adriatic in Trieste, where the same would be built a few years after the twin Rome, was launched July 25, 1937, and its construction was completed April 28, 1940, entering into service only after August 2 after entry into the war against France and the United Kingdom, framed in the IX th Armoured Division of the First Team base at Taranto.
Actions During The Second World War
During the war in the Mediterranean Sea, Vittorio Veneto took part in a total of 56 combat missions, eleven of which were targeted hunting of enemy ships.
On 31 August 1940, together with Littorio and much of the I and II Naval Squadron, it went out to sea to attack the British fleet engaged in Operation “Hats.” The output, however, ended with a stalemate, as the Italian units, having found the enemy and as the weather and sea conditions worsened, returned to base.
During the English torpedo attack at Taranto, the Vittorio Veneto was made the object of the launch of a torpedo, but it exploded before hitting the ship. On 29 September, the unit took part in the operation of 5 MB.
The battleship under the command of Captain-Lieutenant Joseph Sparzani had to wait until the battle of Cape Teulada in order to experience their pieces in action - this time, the Vittorio Veneto was the flagship of Admiral Inigo Champion, commander of the First Team Naval.
During the battle, the ship fired around 19 rounds of 381 with the aft tower in seven blanks at a distance of between 29,000 and 32,000 meters, leading a squadron of seven British cruisers to dock to move out of range.
On January 8, 1941, in Naples, the battleship was again attacked by the British; however, not being affected, to remove her from the risk of damage, she was transferred to La Spezia. Three days later went out to sea to attack and groped for the English units that should help the British carrier. Illustrious, severely damaged by aviation, Italo-German was brought within a few hours later; it was evident the impossibility of achieving this goal.
On 8 February of the same year, the Vittorio Veneto came out again into the sea without being able to make contact with the British forces that had bombarded Genoa, which escaped unscathed because of the delays and inaccuracies in aerial reconnaissance.
On 26 March 1941, the ship sailed from Naples as the flagship of Admiral Angelo Iachino, commander of the mighty naval force that would attack the UK traffic in the eastern Mediterranean. This operation would eventually culminate in the Battle of Cape Matapan.
During the battle, March 28, the Vittorio Veneto took part in the fight of Gavdos, during which rested with its artillery, the attack of the Italian cruisers against those of the British 7th Division (Pridham-Amm Wippell) by striking the light cruisers Orion and Gloucester, which reported no severe damage, however.
Later, during a series of air strikes, the battleship was immobilized at 15.30 by a British torpedo bomber, struck near the left propeller, you appoppò, embarking about 4000 tons of water. After six minutes, it was possible to restart the machines while maintaining a speed relatively small, between 16 and 19 knots.
The other units were arranged around the Vittorio Veneto in retreat. During another air attack, the heavy cruiser Pola was immobilized by another torpedo: the decision to send to his aid the entire Division I caused the notorious disaster of Cape Matapan with two cruisers - in addition to Pola - and two destroyers sunk by the guns of British battleships.
The Vittorio Veneto had to undergo four months of repairs, coming into service in late July 1941.
In August, it was part of the training sent to counteract the operation British “Mincemeat”, but also, in this case, as already with the process “Hats,” Italian units returned without having established contact.
On September 27, 1941, it went along with Littorio to attack the British convoy “Halberd” to Malta, even this output as the previous one ended.
On December 14, it went to sea as part of M. 41, which involved sending some vital supply convoys to Libya, the Vittorio Veneto, Littorio, and XIII together with Destroyer Squadron, it was sent as an indirect basis. However, around 10 in the day, the battleship was torpedoed by the British submarine HMS Urge amidships. Crushed on the left side, it was able to return to port without too many problems; the control Pugliese had absorbed much of the strength of the explosion, but the ship had to spend some time under repair.
In 1942, it was the first Italian warship to be equipped with a radar system, an “Owl” EC 4.
On 14 June 1942, it finally left Taranto along the Littorio and a large group of cruisers to intercept and destroy the British convoy “vigorous” to Malta as part of the battle of Mid-June. This team ship did not reach the British formation. Still, precisely because of the presence of two Italian supercorazzates (against which they could deploy those eight cruisers) and the repeated air attacks, it was forced to return to base without reaching the destination.
The battle of mid-June was the last action of the Vittorio Veneto: the battleship after the war did not take more than the sea because of fuel shortages and the risk of attack aircraft and divers.
Since early 1943, the incursions intensified also in northern Italy. On the night between 18 and 19 April, the Littorio was slightly damaged by a bombing raid on La Spezia. During the attack, the destroyer Alpino.
The subsequent bombing of La Spezia on the basis of the 5 June Rome was damaged and Vittorio Veneto, thus reducing the team to battle the only Littorio. Mind the Vittorio Veneto could be repaired in the arsenal, going back into the team in just over a month, for the battleship Roma, struck again in a bombing on the night of June 24, had to be entered into the basin and transferred to Genoa, returning to the only team on August 13.
After The Armistice
After the armistice of 8 September 1943, the Vittorio Veneto reached Malta. During the transfer to Malta, the battleship Roma was sunk by a German plane. The ship, along with her sister, ex-Littorio, was interned in Italy's Bitter Lakes and Suez Canal in Egypt after various diplomatic events in which it was proposed to allow her to fight alongside the Allies in southern France and the Pacific. The proposal was not accepted due to both political and operational considerations.
At the end of World War II, she returned to Italy. She was demolished after various diplomatic events since 1948 due to the imposition of the treaty of peace, sharing the fate of her sister Littorio. The brass letters that made up the name on the stern are now on display at the Naval Museum of Venice.
Italian Battleship Vittorio Veneto - Name
The name of the unit recalls the battle of Vittorio Veneto, fought between October 24 and November 3, 1918, near the town of Vittorio Veneto. The First World War marked the end of hostilities on the Italian front and the surrender of Austria-Hungary.
Later, the name was given to Vittorio Veneto, an Italian Navy helicopter carrier to a cruiser in service from 1969 to 2003 and decommissioned in 2006. which from 1971 to 1987, she also served as flagship of the Navy fleet. During World War II, on the battleship, served as an officer.
Vittorio Marulli, with the rank of captain, was the first commander of the new cruiser, directing, since 1966, the construction and the Admiral from September 1981 to January 1984 Commander in Chief of the Naval Squadron and from 7 February 1984 to October 15, 1985, Chief of Staff of the Navy.