A detailed look at Littorio (reissue)

[dseehafer]

Greetings all,

 

       Before we begin, no I'm not coming out of retirement... but I did say I was going to redo several of my old ADLAs. So expect to see a few more of these "reissues". Once I've brought the older ADLAs up to par I'll start doing WTDs again.

 

  The WNT allotted the French and Italian navys an additional 71,000t of capital ship tonnage to be built while the other major navys observed a "holiday" in battleship construction. The Italians shifted through several different designs and what began as a class of three"pocket battleships" soon morphed into a class of three "super battleships" which would weigh over 40,000t a piece, far exceeding Italys 71,000t building limit and also exceeding the WNTs 35,000t maximum battleship size clause. Of the three ships (Littorio, Vittorio Veneto and Roma) The first two were completed by May, 1940. Roma, however, was not completed until June,1942. The fourth ship, Impero, was launched in November, 1939 but was never completed. Littorio's impressive design inspire such nations as Spain, Russia and even the Dutch navy to design ships heavily based off of the Littorios. All three ships saw combat during the war and only Roma was lost when she was destroyed by Guided "Fritz X" bombs dropped by German heavy bombers on her surrender cruise to Malta, making her the first ship ever to be sunk by a guided bomb.

 

We shall be looking at Roma, specifically since she was slightly larger than her sisters.

 

WEIGHT - 45,485t

 

This gives her 64,488 hitpoints, which gives her the worst hitpoints among tier 8 battleships, heck it has 515 less hitpoints than Nagato at tier 7 (also weighs about 300t less). At any rate Roma's hitpoints are low for tier 8 (although KGV's may be even worse).

 

ARMOR

Belt: 70+280+25mm

Decks: 200mm

Turret Faces: 350mm

 

Roma is very well armored! Her 3 belt layers combine for an effective thickness of over 375mm! Nothing at tier 8 can best Littorio's Belt armor (even KGV falls short by 5mm). Her two 100mm decks are adequate for tier 8. 

 

MAIN BATTERY - 3x3 381mm (15")

 

These guns hit hard and fire a shell at an extreme velocity of up to 850mps. The drawback is that they only fire 1.3rpm (worse than Nelson). Although this may be buffed in game, otherwise Roma simply wouldnt be able to pull her own weight at tier 8.

 

SECONDARY BATTERY - 4x3 152mm

 

6 secondary guns can be fired to a broadside, which is the worst secondary broadside among tier 8 battleships, even KGV boasts 2 extra guns (although they are smaller than Roma's). Note: Roma also had 12x1 90mm guns, but these were solely for AA duties, she also had 4x1 120mm guns, but these only fired star shells.

 

AA BATTERY - (38 mounts) 12x1 90mm, 8x2 37mm, 4x1 37mm, 14x2 20mm, 

 

Roma's AA battery is adequate for tier 8. This is very similar to Tirpitz's AA battery (36 mounts - 8x2 105mm, 8x2 37mm, 12x1 20mm, 8x4 20mm). Although Roma's medium range damage output should be superior as Roma's 37mm guns are automatic where Tirpitz's are hand loaded. Tirpitz's long and short range AA batterys are slightly superior though.

 

SPEED - 31.4kn

 

This is very fast for tier 8, even faster than Tirpitz. Note: although rated at "only" 30kn Vittorio Venito hit 31.4kn and Littorio hit 31.3kn on speed trials, Roma's speed was never recorded although, being larger than her sisters, we can assume she wouldnt go quite as fast.

 

CONCLUSION - The Littorio class is Italy's best option for tier 8. And, because of her claim to fame, Roma would make an excellent premium candidate. Her "perk" over her tree sister would be slightly more hitpoints in trade for a slightly lower speed. Roma's best qualities are her extremely thick belt armor and high speed. her MBGs fire slowly and even with a  buff will still do less dps and dpm than NC and Amagi (although the list of tier 8 BB candidates with 16" guns is running dry, so this may not be an issue) Although they will be easy to aim and will hit like trucks. Her secondary battery is laughable at tier 8 and her AA battery is "ok". Furthermore even Roma, which is the heaviest of the 3 ships, still has the least amount of hitpoints among tier 8 BBs.

 

PROS

fast

high velocity guns

Great armor

 

CONS

Few secondary guns

low hitpoints

 

Hope you enjoyed this one. As always let me know what you think. Have a good one!

 

 

 

 

[goldeagle1123]

Lord knows the things i'd do for a Littorio-class battleship. I hope they give us a Vittorio Veneto or Roma premium sometime in the next few months.

[Kingfishercritic]

Looking forward to the Italian BB line. Gotta love the beautiful lines!

[mr3awsome]

The 1.3rpm is slightly misleading, they were capable of firing at 2rpm, but was kept less for reasons.

Might help balance the armour/gun combo, however. 

[ryuukei8569]

I just looked up the turret train rate for those guns. 180 degrees in 30 seconds. Holy crap that is fast for a BB.

[JojoTheMongol]

1.3rpm is too slow for any ship. Really I don't think any BB should have a reload slower than 1.7rpms.

 

Pretty good looking ship.

[Srfnaked90]

OMG she is SEXY, I want one

[Eisennagel]

 

 

This is one ship I would await.  I expect her RoF to be around 1.8 to 2 rounds a minute in the game, depending on her alpha damage.

[DoomStomper]

The 1.3rpm is slightly misleading, they were capable of firing at 2rpm, but was kept less for reasons.

Might help balance the armour/gun combo, however. 

 

Wasn't their dispersion also lackluster compared to other 15" contemporaries?

[Ace_04]

It's exciting to think what kind of experience WoWS will be in 2-3 years once all the tech trees begin filling out.

[Phoenix_jz]

Beautiful, beautiful ships. Very dangerous too, they scared the crap out of the Royal Navy.

This class is probably going to be one of the few BB lines I go down, just for the Littorio class. If Roma makes it as a premium, then I'm buying her...

I've hears we're supposed to get either a French or Italian premium soon, but WG's also said they've only collected materials on Italian ships so far, and haven't done any real work, I assume its gonna be French, unless they're playing with us.

[dseehafer]

 

 

This is one ship I would await.  I expect her RoF to be around 1.8 to 2 rounds a minute in the game, depending on her alpha damage.

 

Hey! saw you in the latest Mighty Jingles WOWS video!

 

Getting recognized at all?

[Phoenix_jz]

@DoomStomper

I dunno if it'll matter. WG seems to be pick-and-choose on whose dispersion they base on facts... Technically, Kirov shouldn't be able to hit the broadside of a barn from the inside, but in game...

[Bjoring]

It probably won't affect gameplay, but that's an interesting rudder arrangement: 1 large one centerline, 2 smaller ones behind the outer shafts.

[DoomStomper]

Beautiful, beautiful ships. Very dangerous too, they scared the crap out of the Royal Navy.

This class is probably going to be one of the few BB lines I go down, just for the Littorio class. If Roma makes it as a premium, then I'm buying her...

I've hears we're supposed to get either a French or Italian premium soon, but WG's also said they've only collected materials on Italian ships so far, and haven't done any real work, I assume its gonna be French, unless they're playing with us.

 

Pretty much any European premium BB would be an insta-buy for me, especially if it's long before their respective tech tree is released.  If the next one ends up being French, hopefully it'll be either the Strasbourg or Jean Bart.  Quad barrels make me happy! 

 

@DoomStomper

I dunno if it'll matter. WG seems to be pick-and-choose on whose dispersion they base on facts... Technically, Kirov shouldn't be able to hit the broadside of a barn from the inside, but in game...

 

True.  As long as the dispersion doesn't end up any worse than that of the Tirpitz, it shouldn't be too painful to play.  If one or the other has to be sacrificed in the name of balance, I would greatly prefer to give up RoF instead of accuracy. 

[goldeagle1123]

The 1.3rpm is slightly misleading, they were capable of firing at 2rpm, but was kept less for reasons.

Might help balance the armour/gun combo, however.

 

Probably to keep from stressing the barrels. I'm almost 100% she'll get 2 at minimum in game.

[dseehafer]

 

Probably to keep from stressing the barrels. I'm almost 100% she'll get 2 at minimum in game.

 

and at maximum for that matter

[MagisterAurelius]

Glad to see you back from vacation dseehafer.  The Littorios and the Abruzzi cruisers are the two Italian classes I'm looking forward to the most.  Although possibly the Fransisco Carriaccolo class depending on how WG treats it.

[dseehafer]

Glad to see you back from vacation dseehafer.  The Littorios and the Abruzzi cruisers are the two Italian classes I'm looking forward to the most.  Although possibly the Fransisco Carriaccolo class depending on how WG treats it.

 

vacation is the kind way of putting it. 

[Skeem689]

I just looked up the turret train rate for those guns. 180 degrees in 30 seconds. Holy crap that is fast for a BB.

 

Amagi can do that in 30 seconds. 

[bridder01]

 

Hey! saw you in the latest Mighty Jingles WOWS video!

 

Getting recognized at all?

 

Thanks for the article dseehafer  This is one of the few BBs I really want to acquire.  I can pass on Tirpitz if I know Roma is in the works.  I'd also like to see Richelieu, Nelson (Or Rodney), King George V, and USS Arizona (finally, an ACTUAL member of Battleship Row is coming! YAY!! )  Keep up the good works!

 

Cheers,

Brian

[Big_Spud]

One problem about the armor. It's going to suffer the "German effect" very hard. Multiple, mid-thickness plates are just going to be bait for cruiser AP and offer questionable stopping power against the ultra-high power 16" guns it will be seeing at that level.

 

Also, the TDS might be utter trash, but who knows with Wargaming. One of the best systems ever built is currently one of the worst ingame, so we shall see.

[YamatoA150]

Also, the TDS might be utter trash, but who knows with Wargaming. One of the best systems ever built is currently one of the worst ingame, so we shall see.

 

Personally, I'm of the assumption that Italy's flavor might be great TDS, since one of the few notable elements to Italy was their Pugliese TDS that was often hyped up but failed to live up to it due to construction quality limitations.  And unless another T10 is found for them, Ferdinando Cassone's only notable feature is another TDS concept (which really wasn't much better than regular TDS even if material and build quality was flawless).

 

While Germany might better tank shells at close range, Italy might better tank torpedoes and charge through waters normally denied by DDs.  It would go along with them having smaller caliber main guns and getting in just close enough to do notable damage.

[dseehafer]

One problem about the armor. It's going to suffer the "German effect" very hard. Multiple, mid-thickness plates are just going to be bait for cruiser AP and offer questionable stopping power against the ultra-high power 16" guns it will be seeing at that level.

 

Also, the TDS might be utter trash, but who knows with Wargaming. One of the best systems ever built is currently one of the worst ingame, so we shall see.

 

No it wont, the layers in Roma's belt are very very close together. So there's no room to explode inside the ship as is the case with Tirpitz.

[MagisterAurelius]

As for another tier ten, I believe that Demon93iT was going to look for something the next time he could make it to La Spezia and the Ansaldo archives.  I vaguely remember it was some concept with 16 15inch guns in 4 quad turrets.  I could be wrong.

 

Edit:  Turns out I was.  Demon93IT pm'ed me and let me know that the Ferrati G proposal was the 4 quad turrets of 15 inch goodness, however it's protection/armor puts it more in line to be a tier 9 ship.  The one he's looking for is something similar to the Ferrati G with a 16 inch main gun armament for the tier 10.  So Montana with rail guns.