Italian battleship Roma (1940)

History
Kingdom of Italy
Name:	Roma
Namesake:	Rome
Ordered:	1937
Builder:	Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico
Laid down:	18 September 1938
Launched:	9 June 1940
Commissioned:	14 June 1942
In service:	21 August 1942
Fate:	Sunk 9 September 1943
General characteristics
Class and type:	Littorio-class battleship
Displacement:	Full load: 45,485 long tons (46,215 t)
Length:	240.7 m (790 ft)
Beam:	32.9 m (108 ft)
Draft:	9.6 m (31 ft)
Installed power:	8 × Yarrow boilers 128,000 shp (95,000 kW)
Propulsion:	4 × steam turbines, 4 × shafts
Speed:	30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph)
Complement:	1,920
Armament:	3 × 3 381 mm (15.0 in)/50 cal guns 4 × 3 152 mm (6.0 in)/55 cal guns 4 × 1 120 mm (4.7 in)/40 guns for illumination 12 × 1 90 mm (3.5 in)/50 anti-aircraft guns 20 × 37 mm (1.5 in)/54 guns (8 × 2; 4 × 1) 10 × 2 20 mm (0.79 in)/65 guns
Armor:	Main belt: 350 mm (14 in) Deck: 162 mm (6.4 in) Turrets: 350 mm Conning tower: 260 mm (10 in)
Aircraft carried:	3 aircraft (IMAM Ro.43 or Reggiane Re.2000)
Aviation facilities:	1 stern catapult

Roma, named after two previous ships and the city of Rome, was the fourth Vittorio Veneto-class battleship of Italy's Regia Marina (Royal Navy). The construction of both Roma and her sister ship Impero was due to rising tensions around the world and the navy's fear that only two Vittorio Venetos, even in company with older pre-First World War battleships, would not be enough to counter the British and French Mediterranean Fleets. As Roma was laid down almost four years after the first two ships of the class, some small improvements were made to the design, including additional freeboard added to the bow.

Roma was commissioned into the Regia Marina on 14 June 1942, but a severe fuel shortage in Italy at that time prevented her from being deployed; instead, along with her sister ships Vittorio Veneto and Littorio, she was used to bolster the anti-aircraft defenses of various Italian cities. In this role, she was severely damaged twice in June 1943 from bomber raids on La Spezia. After repairs in Genoa through all of July and part of August, Roma was deployed as the flagship of Admiral Carlo Bergamini in a large battle group that eventually comprised the three Vittorio Venetos, eight cruisers and eight destroyers. Their stated intent was attacking the Allied ships approaching Salerno to invade Italy (Operation "Avalanche") but, in reality, the Italian fleet was sailing to Malta to surrender following Italy's 8 September 1943 armistice with the Allies.

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