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The Littorio Class: Italy's Last and Largest Battleships 1937-1948 by [Ermingo Bagnasco, Augusto de Toro]

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Erminio Bagnasco

The Littorio Class: Italy's Last and Largest Battleships 1937-1948 Kindle Edition

by Ermingo Bagnasco (Author), Augusto de Toro (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

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“An important work for anyone interested in warship design, the naval side of World War II in the Mediterranean, or modern Italian history.”—New York Military Affairs Symposium

For its final battleship design Italy ignored all treaty restrictions on tonnage and produced one of Europe’s largest and most powerful capital ships, comparable with Germany’s Bismarck class, similarly built in defiance of international agreements. The three ships of the Littorio class were typical of Italian design, being fast and elegant, but also boasting a revolutionary protective scheme—which was tested to the limits, as all three were to be heavily damaged in the hard-fought naval war in the Mediterranean; Roma had the unfortunate distinction of being the first capital ship sunk by guided missile.

These important ships have never been covered in depth in English-language publications, but the need is now satisfied in this comprehensive and convincing study by two of Italy’s leading naval historians. The book combines a detailed analysis of the design with an operational history, evaluating how the ships stood up to combat. It is illustrated with an amazing collection of photographs, many fine-line plans, and colored artwork of camouflage schemes, adding up to as complete a monograph on a single class ever published.

Among warship enthusiasts, battleships enjoy a unique status. As the great success of Seaforth’s recent book on French battleships proves, that interest transcends national boundaries, and this superbly executed study is certain to become another classic in the field.

“A very impressive piece of work.”—History of War

“An essential book for all naval history enthusiasts.”—Firetrench

Print length

859 pages
Language

English
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Seaforth Publishing
Publication date

July 18, 2011
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47802 KB
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Editorial Reviews

Review

This is a very impressive piece of work, one of the best monographs on a single type of warship that i have ever read and comes highly recommended. - History of War --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

About the Author

Ermino Bagnasco is the editor of Storia Militare, Italy's leading military journal.

Augusto De Toro is a member of the staff of Storia Militare. --This text refers to an alternate kindle_edition edition.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B00KYVDV4C
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Seaforth Publishing (July 18, 2011)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 18, 2011
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 47802 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 859 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #394,614 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #105 in Ship History (Kindle Store)
- #281 in Ship History (Books)
- #310 in Military Naval History

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4.8 out of 5

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Jim Davis

Well up to the highest standards for ship monographs

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 20, 2011

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My first introduction to the Littorio class battleships was Breyer's treatment in his classic "Battleships and Battlecruisers 1905-1970". His drawings captured the elegance of the ships perfectly and every subsequent work did not fail to point out how handsome the ships were.

But "handsome is as handsome does" as the saying goes. This book does much to make the case that these ships were not only pleasing to the eye but well designed and constructed as well though not without weaknesses that every ship will have.

The book gives a complete history of these ships. The origins of the ships are traced from victory in the First World War, through the various naval treaties of the '20s and '30s, through rivalry with France, and rearmament as Italy comes into conflict with Britain over Ethiopia and Spain.

The technical aspect of the ships are gone into in great detail both in words, drawings, and photographs. Especially interesting are the sidebars describing the "Pugliese" anti-torpedo defense and the composite side armor. The drawings are particularly outstanding, not only the ones in the chapter itself but the ones collected between pages 129 and 152.

After a relatively brief chapter covering construction and trials there is a long chapter on the service history of these ships. The rather tepid tactical employment of the ships is discussed at length. That said, the ships were more than "harbor queens" and did take part in a number of significant operations.

There is a final chapter comparing these ships to their contemporaries making a convincing case that in most respects the ships were well up to international standards.

There are two appendices. One list ship movements but the outstanding one is the one describing various damage suffered in action supported by excellent drawings.

Color is restricted to pages 233 to 248. There are color three views of embarked aircraft, ship camouflage schemes, four excellent modelling pages, and color photographs, both contemporary and of surviving relics.

The only criticism I have is the lack of discussion of the relative value of these ships. Would the ships have been worth their cost if employed differently? Or were operating large ships beyond that capabilities of a nation of Italy's limited industrial capabilities? Would more aircraft, submarines, destroyers, and cruisers have been a better option? Or was Italy in a completely untenable military situation with defeat inevitable?

Highly recommended. I can only hope that other ship classes get this kind of treatment. At one time a ship or class monograph was a 32 page stapled card cover; now it's a 300+ page oversized hardcover.

18 people found this helpful

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Otavio Maia Chelotti

Excelent book

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 30, 2015

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I thoroughly second all the favourable reviews of this book. It offers a pretty complete discussion not only of the technical details of the ships, but also of their tactical (mis)employment including their afterwar fates. It also attempts to compare the class with their contemporaries, arguing in the process, that they were much better than it is usually assumed and performed pretty well. Especially interesting is the discussion of the steering system, which, in a fascinating "what-if" scenario, would probably have saved the Bismarck. As an aside, the tactical part is full of interesting insights into real-life operational problems of the Italian Navy in World War II, from the well-known problems of coordination with air operations in reconnaissance operations and the ineffectiveness of bombing until torpedo techniques were used to the -for me the most interesting idea in the book, but one which I would not be able to comment on due to lack of knowledge- proposition that the lack of aggressiveness of the Italian Navy was due in no small measure to the application of the concept of "fleet-in-being", in which the perceived need to preserve the fleet had a priority over actually entering combat. Add to this the psychological advantage the British held after Taranto, and the result was the rather lacklustre combat record of Italy's major surface units (the smaller ones saw plenty of it, and can be said to have acquitted themselves honorably, in view of their technological disadvantages viz. radar and night-fighting).
Highly recommended to people interested in WW II ships' technical details and naval operations, above all in the Mediterranean, as well as hobby modellists.

3 people found this helpful

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Mark Hinds

Definative book on the Littorio class

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 23, 2011

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This book covers the Italian Littorio class battleships, in detail. It appears to be an English translation of the 2010 book "Le Navi da Battaglia Classe Littorio 1937-1948", second edition, by Bagnasco & De Toro.

It is organized into 6 major chapters entitled "Battleships and Italian Naval Policy between the two World Wars", "Design and General Characteristics", Technical Description", "Construction, Sea Trials and Commissioning", "Operational History", and Comparisons and Conclusions". Appendices include a listing of operational movements and locations, detailed evaluations of each incident of battle damage, and gunnery details. The book is extensively illustrated with occasionally grainy, but frequently unusual photographs, extensive sketches and line drawings, and contains a section of small-scale plans and color/camouflage images.

The book is a gold mine of detail. Some examples of this include cut-away drawings of turret layouts, ammunition stowage and armor placement plans, and detailed discussion of topics such as the Pugliese underwater protection system and the "composite"-construction side armored belt. The book also contains quite a bit of objective-sounding discussion of the pros and cons of these various design elements, and of their performance in comparison with equivalent elements in contemporary battleships of other nations.

Physical quality is quite good. I recommend this book.

MH

31 people found this helpful

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Charles B. Robbins

Excellent book with detailed coverage of the subject.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on August 22, 2021

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Great drawings and illustrations.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 25, 2018

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Bought the book and found it to be excellent. Goes into the history of the class, details of the ships and their fates. One minor peeve, the book alludes to a plan for a total of 9 battleships but no indication what type the 9th was to be, a Littorio repeat or perhaps something new? Interesting that the French Dunkerque-class were planned to be incorporated into the Italian fleet. Great resource on an oft neglected topic.

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Ralph Cook

Beautifully produced, superb account- though a 'book in two parts'.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on August 5, 2012

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This is one of the finest 'single class' warship books there is- as perhaps it should be at 350 large, double format pages. It is also beautifully produced, and considering it was originally published in Italian the English translation is excellent, being both gramatical and almost free from errors.

This is, though, largely a book in two parts. The first 153 pages deals with the origins of the ships, both political and constructional, followed by a detailed description of their design and construction. The section between pages 164 and 284 then covers wartime history- really a history of the Regia Mariina as a whole, not just of the Littorio class battleships.

The description of the ships is very detailed- if a little verbose- and on the whole it is easy to read. For example, the electro- mechanical fire control computers are described, but the authors avoid complex debate about the mathematics of this subject. The are many fine photos- though no stunning double page spreads of the type found in Burts' books on British battleships. A highlight is the collection of excellent line drawings, including several three dimensional perspectives that would have been immensely difficult to produce. Most of the drawings are very fully annotated and some fold- out plans are included. A whole section is devoted to this fine cartography between pages 129 and 152, whilst later in the book there is a short but well executed colour section.

Chapter 5, 'Operational history', gives a blow by blow account of the Italian Navy and its wartime operations. It 'pulls no punches' in describing the often timid and ineffectual nature of these activities- or, rather, for a large part of the time inactivity. The navy repeatedly tried to employ the concept of the 'fleet in being' and avoid contact with superior forces- which often were not superior at all- for example, note the very long range at which the second battle of Sirte was fought against a force that only comprised 6inch gunned cruisers. The authors theme for this book is that the poor reputation of the Littorios had much more to do with the way they were employed than with their actual qualities in comparison with competitors from other navies.

The conclusion reached is that this class was actually very well designed and built but that they were lacking in modern radar, communications technology and electronics generally. There is much truth in this, though I cannot completely agree. For example the two torpedoes that stuck Littorio forward at Taronto really sank her and it is no answer to say that the Pugliese side protection system did not work properly because the ship was struck in the wrong place. Although the ships survived other torpedo strikes the adoption of that unique system was certainly a huge risk, given the very limited experimentation that had been carried out on it. Personally I was frustrated by a comparison made between a torpedo attack on Vittorio Veneto and the sinking of the British 'Prince of Wales' which, like nearly all such accounts, fails to appreciate the true circumstances of Prince of wales's loss: you can hardly compare the single torpedo that struck Vitorio Veneto at Matapan with the mass- attack on the British ship.

Impressive statistics can be misleading: for example, although the 380mm guns were very powerful they wore out their tubes after a mere 120 rounds- less than half a really acceptable figure, as the authors freely admit. Despite such limitations it is almost certainly true that in most respects the Littorios were very fine ships, but it is sobering to realize that non- availability in Italy of modern electronicss, gyroscopes and radar systems had greatly reduced their operational value by 1943- even though these battleships were then still only three years old.

All told this is an excellent book. The operational history section is maybe a little long and for an Anglo Saxon reader more maps showing Eastern Mediterranean locations would be useful, but it is an interesting read. Moreover, at less than £30 from Amazon this huge and 'classy' book is almost ridiculously good value.

15 people found this helpful

birchden

A fine portrait of Italy's ultimate battleship

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 26, 2014

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Named for the lictors of ancient Rome, who carried the fasce as their symbol of authority, the Littorio class represented the ultimate Italian development of the battleship and were outstanding warships by any measure.

It was their misfortune (and the allies' good fortune) that, thanks to ineffectual leadership and the weakness of Italy's war economy, they never really had the opportuity to demonstrate what they were capable of. There was also a considerable measure of downright bad luck; most notably the loss of the Roma to two FX 1400 hits, a tragedy made all the more poignant by the fact that she was within hours of safety at the end of Italy's war.

The authors' portrait of the class more than does these ships justice. Combining an interesting and detailed text with well chosen photos and drawings that modellers will find especially useful, he covers the whole story through construction and service (of course Impero missed out this part) to loss or scrapping. There is also due discussion of the Pugliese system of underwater protection, though as to whether it was worth the trouble is another matter.

Many of the photos will be new to most people; particularly welcome are the interior shots and those taken during trials and construction, where he reminds us of the Italians' odd habit of sailing their warships incomplete. The section dealing with the slow scrapping of Italia and Vittorio Veneto makes for interesting if sad reading, but as events had shown all too clearly, the day of ships like these was over and the allies had actually done the Italian navy a favour in insisting that they be broken up.

The book itself is produced to a high standard with decent paper and binding and the photos are clearly reproduced. As it stood originally, the MRP was very good value: one can only hope that there will soon be a reprint for those who missed it first time round.

All in all, this book is likely to become the standard reference on these ships, as it is frankly hard to see how any future author could really better Bagnasco and De Toro's work.

3 people found this helpful

Adrian Paul Flitcroft

One of the points I liked about this book is that there were foldouts of ...

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 3, 2015

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The first work in English I have seen which dealt with this subject The Littorio Class is about the last class of battleships built by the Italian Navy and the largest warships they have ever built. As such it is a fascinating look into a subject which has been quite neglected by English speaking authors covering this period.

The book starts with a chapter detailing the background to the Italian Navy's post First World War building programme and the events and thinking behind the decisions which led to the eventual order for the first two ships, and then the subsequent order for two more ships. The next two chapters cover the technical aspects of the design then subsequent chapters cover the construction and service histories of the ships themselves. The final chapter is a comparison of the class with contemporary classes and an evaluation of their performance. Various appendices follow, listing the strength of the Italian Navy at various stages during the war; the distance each ship steamed and also the damage they each sustained.

This is an in-depth study on a class which many historians have written off as elegant yet ineffectual. As this book shows this is perhaps overly harsh. Whilst there were weaknesses; (which the authors do not gloss over) yet given the right circumstances they could have had a greater impact on the conduct of the war. One of the points I liked about this book is that there were foldouts of the plans, thus showing greater detail and being easier to read: (As an aside, a quite surprising addition was of slices of the hull taken at points other than on the centreline. Whilst not something I had ever seen before it was quite informative and more books could do well to follow this example). Another point I liked was the various appendices, particularly the one that covered the damage each ship received. These were quite detailed and the hit diagrams were also clear and informative.

Not the kind of book for a casual reader but for those, like myself, who have a deep interest in the subject a very good read and an essential edition to your collection.

2 people found this helpful

waddell

long lost insperation re-kindled by a book!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on June 15, 2012

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as a model ship builder this is just what I have been looking for I started a 1/192 scale vittorio venetto about 10 years ago working the hull lines off a Revell 1/1250 scale kit but you cannot get bridge or gun details like you can from the photographs in this wonderfull book now I've read the book I can't wait to re-start building in much better detail.

2 people found this helpful

Cliente Amazon

Impresionante

Reviewed in Spain 🇪🇸 on January 3, 2019

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Un libro bien documentado. Es necesario leerlo con detenimiento y dos veces para captar toda la información que en el se plasma.
Muchas fotos de los buques y dibujos técnicos desarrollados de los mismos. Se incluye anexos bastante interesantes sobre todo el dedicado a la artillería.

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