The Littorio class, also known as the Vittorio Veneto class, was a class of battleship of the Regia Marina, the Italian navy. The class was composed of four ships—, , , and —but only the first three ships of the class were completed. Built between 1934 and 1942, they were the most modern battleships used by Italy during World War II. They were developed in response to the French s, and were armed with guns and had a top speed of . The class's 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; 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, although 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. 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. They opted for this design because this allowed three ships under the 70,000-ton limit. This would have allowed the Italian fleet to keep at least two units operational at any given time. 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.
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.