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It's been a year since I started this page, so many thanks to all those who have liked, commented, or even just had a look. All interaction greatly appreciated.
I thought I'd mark this milestone by sharing a couple of the photos that started me on this path. Back sometime in the 1980's I bought around a dozen photos from a stall at a flea market in Walcot Street, Bath. Whilst the chap selling had no idea what they were, I had a pretty good notion and set about identifying them as soon as I got home.
They were all of Regia Marina warships and all were present off Malta, where the fleet sailed initially after the Armistice of September 1943, and I suspect that all the photos were taken around this time.
This is of the lead ship of the Littorio class fast battleships. Launched as Littorio August 1937, commisioned May 1940, she was renamed Italia after Mussolini's fall from power in July 1943. Armed with 9 x 381mm (15") guns in triple turrets and capable of 30 knots they were designed to counter-act the French Dunkerque class battleships in the Mediterranean, hence having a fairly limited range of only around 3900 nautical miles.
During her relatively short wartime career she took three torpedos at the Battle of Taranto, a minor 4.7" hit at the 2nd Battle of Sirte, a bomb from a B-24 and a torpedo from a Wellington whilst attempting to intercept Operation Vigorous, three bombs from an American raid on the harbour at La Spezia, and finally a Fritz X glided bomb dropped by a Do-217 whilst sailing to Malta for internment, which is a fair amount of punishment for any ship.
She was interned at Great Bitter Lakes in Egypt for the rest of the war, along with many of the remaining Regia Marina ships. After the war she was awarded to the US as a war prize. However the US Navy didn't want her so she was struck from the register in June 1948 and scrapped back at La Spezia in the early 1950s.
I have posted Photo 2 previously (apologies) but I thought it prudent to include it here and I have enhanced it a little. Both from my own collection.
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#battleship #battleships #warship #worldofwarships #regiamarina #italiannavy #history #navalhistory #militaryhistory #worldwar2
I thought I'd follow up my previous post about Littorio / Italia with one about her sister, Vittorio Veneto.
Named after the WW1 Battle of Vittorio Veneto, she was launched July 1937, commissioned April 1940 (several delays due to changes in design and shortages of armoured plate), decommissioned February 1948.
Like her sister, Vittorio Veneto had a short but very active war career. She took part in the Battle of Cape Spartivento (27/11/1940) where she caused light damage to the cruiser HMS Manchester. She was also present at the Battle of Matapan (27-19/03/1941) where she took a torpedo aft, which blew off the port-side propellor, jammed the port side rudder and caused flooding in the after sections. She managed to limp back to Taranto on the starboard prop, and was not fully operational until August '41. She took part in several unsuccessful attempts to intercept Allied convoys. Returning from one such mission in December 1941 she was spotted by the British submarine HMS Urge which manage to put a torpedo into Veneto's port side. This caused some internal flooding but the Pugliese torpedo defence system contained some of the worst effects of the explosion, and she was able to continue to Taranto for repairs. She received two bombs in the bow during a large USAAF raid on the port at La Spezia in June 1943, which resulted in her being transferred to Genoa for repairs as facilities at La Spezia had been heavily damaged. In September 1943 she sailed with her sisters Roma and the re-named Italia to Malta under the terms of the armistice with the Allies. On the way they were attacked by Luftwaffe Do-217 aircraft armed with the Fritz X guided bomb, damaging Italia and sinking Roma. Vittorio Veneto survived the attacks unscathed. She, along with much of the Italian fleet was interned at the Great Bitter Lake in Egypt for the remainder of WW2. After the cessation of hostilities she was awarded to Britain as a war prize. As with Italia, she was not wanted by the recipient and was consequently decommissioned in 1948, and finally broken up for scrap at La Spezia in the early 1950s.
(Continued below)
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祝令和
令和投稿一発目はファントムじゃなくてゴメンナサイ
ワタクシ、海自マニアでもございますので、大湊基地まで車で9時間かけて行ってきました
とはいえ、普通に青森観光です
大湊は桜吹雪となっており、桜と日の丸と満艦飾のコラボで、いかにも日本らしい構図をいただきました
誕生日である1月14日の114の艦番号すずなみちゃんもゲット出来たので、感無量じゃなくて艦無量
令和もよろしくお願いします
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