Conte di Cavour-class battleship

Conte di Cavour at speed in her original configuration
Class overview
Name:	Conte di Cavour class
Operators:	Regia Marina  Soviet Navy
Preceded by:	Dante Alighieri
Succeeded by:	Andrea Doria class
Built:	1910–15
In commission:	1914–55
Completed:	3
Lost:	1
Scrapped:	2
General characteristics (as built)
Type:	Dreadnought battleship
Displacement:	23,088 long tons (23,458 t) (standard) 25,086 long tons (25,489 t) (deep load)
Length:	176 m (577 ft 5 in) (o/a)
Beam:	28 m (91 ft 10 in)
Draught:	9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
Installed power:	30,700–32,800 shp (22,900–24,500 kW) 20 × Water-tube boilers
Propulsion:	4 × Shafts 4 × Steam turbines
Speed:	21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Range:	4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement:	31 officers and 969 enlisted men
Armament:	3 × triple, 2 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns 18 × single 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 14 × single 76.2 mm (3 in) guns 3 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor:	Waterline belt: 250–130 mm (9.8–5.1 in) Deck: 24–40 mm (0.9–1.6 in) Gun turrets: 280–240 mm (11.0–9.4 in) Barbettes: 230–130 mm (9.1–5.1 in) Conning towers: 280–180 mm (11.0–7.1 in)
General characteristics (after reconstruction)
Displacement:	29,100 long tons (29,600 t) (deep load)
Length:	186.4 m (611 ft 7 in)
Beam:	33.1 m (108 ft 7 in)
Installed power:	75,000 shp (56,000 kW) 8 × Yarrow boilers
Propulsion:	2 × Shafts 2 × Geared steam turbines
Speed:	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range:	6,400 nmi (11,900 km; 7,400 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement:	1,260
Armament:	2 × triple, 2 × twin 320 mm (12.6 in) 6 × twin 120 mm (4.7 in) 4 × twin 100 mm (4 in) / 47 caliber AA guns
Armor:	Deck: 166–135 mm (6.5–5.3 in) Barbettes: 280–130 mm (11.0–5.1 in)

The Conte di Cavour–class battleships were a group of three dreadnoughts built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1910s. The ships were completed during World War I, but none saw action before the end of hostilities. Leonardo da Vinci was sunk by a magazine explosion in 1916 and sold for scrap in 1923. The two surviving ships, Conte di Cavour and Giulio Cesare, supported operations during the Corfu Incident in 1923. They were extensively reconstructed between 1933 and 1937 with more powerful guns, additional armor and considerably more speed than before.

Both ships participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, when Giulio Cesare was lightly damaged. They were both present when British torpedo bombers attacked the fleet at Taranto in November 1940, and Conte di Cavour was torpedoed. She was grounded with most of her hull underwater and her repairs were not completed before the Italian surrender in September 1943. Conte di Cavour was scrapped in 1946. Giulio Cesare escorted several convoys, and participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in late 1940 and the First Battle of Sirte in late 1941. She was designated as a training ship in early 1942, and escaped to Malta after Italy surrendered. The ship was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1949 and renamed Novorossiysk. The Soviets also used her for training until she was sunk when a mine exploded in 1955. She was scrapped in 1957.