Italy's Battleship the Andrea Doria

[Tanz]

RM Andrea Doria

(Now she has been called the Andrea Doria Class over the Caio Duilio Class, but from what I’ve read she’s a Duilio Class)

 

A Battleship of the Duilio Class, she dates back to 1909 when, by royal decree, Italy ordered the construction of two additional battleships, the Caio Duilio and Andrea Doria.

Victorious after the epic but bloody battles of World War I, Italy’s economy entered a period a deep recession and eventually depression similar to many western countries. The enormous financial expenditures of the conflict, and the heavy reliance on foreign imports, had left Italy nearly bankrupt. During this period, Italy retained the, Doria and Duilio and the two battleships of the other class Cavour, Cesare in the naval reserve. The Leonardo da Vinci had been lost due to Austrian sabotage.

 

Construction and Early life

 

The second Italian battleship named Andrea Doria (after the 16th century Genoese Admiral Andrea Doria 1466–1560); the battleship was laid down at the La Spezia naval shipyard in Naples on 24 March 1912.

 

She was the consummation of dreadnought technology in the WWI-era Italian navy. These two ships of the class (Andrea Doria & Caio Duilio) were improved Cavours with the same main armament mounted in a near-identical configuration. Differences were that the secondary armament was up-gunned to 6". Also, the Dorias' forecastle deck stepped down abaft the forward funnel; the aft 6" were a deck lower than the forward guns. The earlier class had a step down also, but it came abaft the redoubt, whose aft margins ran diagonally between the beams and "X" barbette (the aft superfiring twin); the Cavours' secondary 4" guns thus were all housed on the same deck. Whereas the Cavours had a diamond-shaped redoubt amidships with deep cutouts in the hull to accommodate forward fire from the 4" guns, the Duilios  mounted their aft casemate guns further aft, abreast the X and Y 12" turrets. Otherwise the layout was very similar, with a periscope-like conning tower, two huge funnels widely separated and grouped with the masts, and the amidships or "P" turret inserted between the funnels. The main armament was the Vickers Mark "G" Model 1909 12"/46, manufactured at Vickers' Puzzuoli facility. Turrets were hydraulically powered.

 

Following exactly one year of construction, Andrea Doria was launched from the La Spezia shipyard on 30 March 1913. The battleship was finally commissioned into the Regina Marina about three years later on 13 March 1916, following Italy's entry into World War I.

 

Although the Andrea Doria was commissioned into the Regina Marina in 1916, she saw no action in World War I, but was involved in the Italo-Yugoslav dispute over the city of Fiume in 1920.

 

Modernization

 

With foreign powers building new battleships – Germany with the Deutschland (technically a pocket battleship) and France with the Dunkerque (technically a battle cruiser) - it was strategically and military impelling for the Italian Navy to respond with similar vessel to provide for a balance of power. Construction of new units was at this point financially prohibitive, thus a study was initiated to modernize the existing battleships. In 1937, Admiral (E) Francesco Rotundi, and the ‘Comitato Progetti Navi’, the bureau in charge of naval constructions, began a project to transform the Duiilio and Doria based on the experience acquired during the modernization of the Cesare and Cavour. Furthermore, at the same time Italy had begun constructing two new battleships (Vittorio Veneto or Littorio Class) and some the experience from this new design would be incorporated in the modernized units. Contracts were assigned to the Cantieri del Tirreno in Genoa (Duilio) and C.R.D.A. in Trieste (Doria). Over a period of three years, more than 60% of each vessel was completely replaced. The end result was more powerful armaments, higher speed, increased protection, and a radically new and more elegant silhouette. Work on these units required less time that the previous ones thanks to the experience already acquired.

 

She underwent this extensive modification between April 1937 and October 1940; besides retaining the original hull, the ships should be considered mostly completely new.

 

The Hull

 

With the original hull completely emptied - only the external hull was left untouched - the inside was fully redesign to give room to decompression cylinders of the Pugliese type. These devices were particularly designed to absorb the impact of underwater explosions by providing a protected expansion chamber. Technically, the two options available were to either build anti torpedo protections external to the hull, similarly to the Barham, or internally as it was decided. The design chosen provided for a better shaped hull, thus retaining speed which, at the time, was considered a critical advantage over foreign units.

 

The original Pugliese cylinders tested on the ships Brennero and Tarvisio had to be reduced in size, and thus effectiveness, due to the limited space available. At the same time, a double hull bottom and lateral compartments were greatly improved. To improve the overall shape of the hull, old style bow was removed and a new, modern shaped one fitted instead. This new design extended the length of the ship by about 10 meters. Astern, two of the four axels were removed, but the overall shape was left untouched, including the rudders.

 

The belt armor was left at 250 mm, but the base of the turrets (barbettes) received an additional 50 mm of armor. The difference from the previous class was that this belt was attached to the old one rather than being placed at a certain distance. The new control and command tower was protected by 260 mm of steel, while the deck, originally protected only by two layers of 12 mm, received an additional 80 mm of protection.

 

Decks

 

The decks were named:

Ponte di Coperta (Upper deck)

Primo Corridoio   (First Desk)

Second Corridoio    (Second Deck)

Copertino Superiore  (Upper Deck)

Copertino Inferiore (Lower Deck)

Piano di Stiva (Hold)

 

Engine

 

The power plant was completely replaced removing the old 4-propellers, 3-turbines, 12-boilers systems producing 32,000 HP, with a modern 2-propeller, 2-turbines, 8-boilers system producing 75,000 HP. The boilers were of the Yarrow type and equally distributed between seaside and portside. The 22 kg/cm2 steam powered the Belluzzo system which incorporated a high pressure and two low pressure turbines.

 

The power plants were offset, one forward and one aft, and could receive steam from any of the boiler systems. The funnel were placed closer to each other, thus making this class easily distinguishable from the Cavour and, at a distance, more similar to the new Littorio Class. At the sea trials, the power plants were discovered to have much more power than the originally contracted values, still this class resulted at least 1 knot slower than the Cavour.

 

Electricity

 

With the introduction of several new electrical instruments, the electrical system was redesign and the old steam dynamos replaced by more powerful power generating units operating both off the main boilers’ steam and also on diesel fuel. The diesel units guaranteed powered even in case on a complete failure of the boiler system. Both vessels were equipped with two redundant gyrocompass of the latest generation with 12 repeaters each. There were both protected and unprotected radio shacks and four 120 mm Galileo projectors. During the conflict, these battleships were never equipped with radar equipment, even though there was a study conducted in 1943 to equip the Duilio and the Doria with a German or Italian apparatus.

 

Armament

 

Similarly to the Cavour Class, the most creative part of the modernization process took place around the main artillery. The original Armstrong Vickers 305 mm guns were considered grossly inferior to what other navies were utilizing, but the cost for total replacement was prohibitive. The original guns, which were made of an outer shell, coiled steel cables and an inner shell, or riffled tube, were disassembled. The coil was reduced in thickness by Ansaldo in La Spezia and the inner tube replaced with one of greater caliber bringing the guns up to 320 mm (12.6 “). This new gun was designated as the Ansaldo 320 mm/44 1934. This technically challenging alteration resulted very successful as the lateral resistance of the gun barrel, while weakened, was not compromised. Furthermore, the elimination of the fifth turret, located amidships, gave extra material for the alteration. At the end, the battleships were left with 10 guns each, three on the lower gun turrets and two on the upper ones, five aft and five forward.

 

The 320 mm guns had a maximum elevation of 30˚, three more than the previous class, and a maximum depression of -5˚ and a range of 28,600 meters. The projective weighted 525 Kg. and had a speed of 830 m/sec (meters per second) at the muzzle. The rate of fire was 2 rounds per minute. The length of the barrel was 48.8 calibers or 15.616 meters. Each gun weighted 64 metric tons.

 

The medium caliber 152 mm guns were completely eliminated as well as the 76/59. The original underwater 450 mm torpedo tube launchers were also removed. The medium caliber guns on this class resulted radically different from the Cavour mostly due to the experience in the meantime acquired on the Littorio project. The primary medium caliber armament consisted in 4 turrets each armed with three 134/45 O.T.O. 1937 guns for a total of 12. These turrets were located aft near turret number 2, two on each side, and provided for an excellent rate of fire. There were also 10 modern 90 mm Ansaldo 1939 guns similar to the ones used on the Littorio. These single guns were installed on stabilized platforms and provided for excellent antiaircraft protection. With an elevation of up to 75˚ and a rate of fire of 12 rounds per minute, these were excellent weapons. Further antiaircraft protection was provided by 3 single 37/54 Breada 1932 and 12 double 37/54. During the conflict some of this lighter armament was altered resulting in a total of 16 dual 37/54 mm and 16 dual 20/65 mm.

 

Ammunitions

 

All ammunitions were kept in four distinct magazines located under the armor deck and near the turrets. The magazines could be easily flooded and were accessible to the outside via a modern system of rolling doors. The standard ordnance included 800 shells for the 320 mm guns, 2,900 shells for the 120/50 mm, and 2,460 for the 100/47 mm.

The transfer of the large projectiles from the magazine to the guns was complex and very secure. Projectiles were picked up via electric winches and deposited on a loading dock. Subsequently, four begs containing the charges were added and the full charge elevated to the guns. The charges were introduced into the guns, after the projectile, two each time. The whole system was automated, excluding the initial handling of the powder bags.

 

The 135 mm and 90 mm shells were loaded by elevators to the main deck and from there manually transported to the magazines usually located at the base of each turret. In total there were 440 armor piercing shells, 210 explosive shells for the 230/43.8 mm guns, - 572 armor piercing shells, 873 explosive naval shells and 328 explosive aerial shells for the 135/45 mm guns – 4,000 explosive shells and 190 start shells for the 90/50mm guns. The smaller caliber guns had about 1,800 rounds for the 37/54 mm and 2,400 for the 20/65 mm each.

 

 

Fire Control

 

The firing control mechanisms and apparatus was completely replaced and substituted with modern equipment which proved itself up to the task for the duration of the conflict. The equipment itself and the space allocated to the operator & was vastly improved over the Cavour Class. The main telemetry system was housed in a movable compartment located 23 meters above the waterline and positioned above the main control tower. There were two telemetry systems each 7.20 meters wide. The telemetry station was connected to the firing station which could control all guns automatically and fire them at once. In case of failure of the automated system, there was a failover station situated on top of turret number 2 (forward) and a 9 meters wide telemeter. Another similar station was also placed atop turret number 3 aft. The 135 mm turrets had their own centralized stations, but could also operate independently. Smaller guns and antiaircraft guns had their own independent aiming and fire control mechanisms.

 

Aircraft

 

After the experience acquired on the Cavour, this class was never equipped with aircrafts.

 

Paint (Think this is one thing everyone likes about Italian ships)

 

Like all other vessels in the navy since 1929, the Cavour Class battleships were painted light gray. During the conflict, after study conducted on methods to make the enemy’s telemetry more difficult to focused, and based experience d acquired on the Littorio and the cruiser Duca d’Aosta, the Duilio received a two-color mimetic paint schema. The Doria instead received a three-color mimetic schema very similar to the one applied to the Cavour class and originally designed by the famous naval painter Claudius.

 

Specifications

 

The Duilio class had a nominal displacement of 28,700 tons (29,000 metric) with a length of 186.9 meters, a width of 28 and a draft of 10.4 meters. Armor represented 33.9% of normal displacement. The nominal power of 75,000 HP was calculated to be during trials as high as 87,000 HP. The maximum speed during these trials was 27 knots. Maximum speed at sea was about 27 knots, but the machinery could be stressed up to 26 knots. The ships had a range of 4,250 (4,680 Dulio) miles at 13 knots, 3,390 (2,780 Duilio) at 20 knots and 1,700 at 24 knots. The bunkers could hold up to 2,552 (2,548 Duilio) tons of fuel. The crew consisted of 36 officers and 1,400 between petty officers and sailors.

 

After repairs and modernizations had been made, the Andrea Doria was re-commissioned into the Regia Marina on October 20, 1940.

 

“Action” in the Mediterranean

 

Sadly the battle history of this ship is somewhat lack luster.

 

Doria was in the port at Taranto with the fleet when the British Swordfish launched their torpedo attack. Yet, she wasn’t considered battle worthy and remained untouched.

 

The Andrea Doria served primarily as a convoy escort between Italy and Libya and took part in the First Battle of Sirte in December 1941.

 

Battle of Sirte

 

On December 16th, a large Italian convoy left Naples and by the time it had reached Sicily it was escorted by the battleship Duilio, the cruiser Aosta, Montecuccoli and Attendolo and a few destroyers. Not too far away, a second group, composed of the battleships Littorio, Doria and Cesare, the cruiser Trento and Gorizia and several destroyers, provided additional support. Such a display of force was unnecessarily caused by the mistaken spotting of two British battleships in Malta. On the 17th, a Luftwaffe reconnaissance plane spotted a British formation proceeding from Alexandria toward the central Mediterranean. A battleship, identified as part of the group, was actually a tanker, but the faulty identification was repeated several times.

 

Both navies were actually simply escorting their convoys, but each thought of the other as in pursuit of a naval engagement. The British were actually trying a double convoy attempt, one eastbound and one westbound. While the British commander Admiral Cunningham ordered the convoy commander Admiral Vian to avoid direct contact, Admiral Iachino was in active pursuit of a direct confrontation.

 

The distance between the two groups, and some British avoidance maneuvers, did not allow the Littorio group to sight the British until almost dusk. The sighting was aided by the antiaircraft guns of the British forces which were actively trying to repulse an Axis aerial attack. The Littorio opened fire at about 32,000 meters from the British force; too far a distance for the British unit to reply. Admiral Vian immediately attempted a retreating maneuver with the aid of a smoke screen. British units received some direct hits, but they were able to disappear into the darkness of the night.

 

All Italian convoys made it safely to port, and the British, having entered an Italian mine field, lost their Malta-based cruiser Neptune and the destroyer Kandahar, while the cruisers Aurora and Penelope were severely damaged. Overall, for the first time in several months, an Italian operation was completed with success. Although materially the British did not suffer too many losses, the Regia Marina received a much needed boost, especially because, once again, the route to North Africa was open.

 

Beginning of the End

 

As history would show, her battle days were now numbered and Italy was teetering evermore on the verge of capitulation.

 

In 1942, the ship escorted convoys on three occasions, and sortied in an abortive attempt to intercept a British Malta convoy. By midyear, oil shortages kept the big ships confined to port.

 

The Andrea Doria was placed in reserve by the end of 1942, & after the Armistice in September 1943 the ship was sailed to Malta and interned by the Allies. Italy was permitted to keep the Andrea Doria after V-E Day, and she was returned to Italy to serve as a training ship until 1953.

 

 

The Andrea Doria was finally scrapped in 1956.

 

 

Andrea Doria

(Below are her specs as built. I am not putting down the specs after modification since they are listed up above)

 

Laid down:  24 March 1912

Launched: 30 March 1913

Completed:  13 March 1916

 

Displacement:

As originally built:

22,956 tons normal

24,729 tons full load

 

Length: 168.96 m (554.3 ft)

Beam: 28.03 m (92.0 ft)

Draft:  8.58 m (28.1 ft)

 

Propulsion:

As built:

Steam turbine system

20 boilers

4 shafts

30,000 shp

 

Speed:

As built: 21 knots (39 km/h)

 

Complement:  As built: 1,233

 

Armament:

As built:

13 × 305 mm (12 in) guns (Three triple and two double turrets)

16 × 152 mm (6 in) guns

13 × 76 mm (3 in) guns

6 × 76 mm anti-aircraft guns

3 × 450 mm (18 in) torpedo tubes

 

Armor:

Belt: 254 mm

Turrets: 280 mm

Decks: 98 mm

 

She is a beauty :honoring:

[Crazyman23]

Good one. :Smile_teethhappy: NF flashback to when this ship came out.

[Strait_Raider]

Fascinating, particularly the modernization.

 

That was quite the overhaul!

[JeeWeeJ]

Ah, italian battleships. They might have had some serious flaws, but they do look sooooo good! Awesome post Tanz!

[eredhall]

I have to tell that you made really good job, i like that article and it reminds me NF Adrea Doria, that ship was deadly, fast and furious :D

[JeeWeeJ]

LET THERE BE TECHINCOLOR! :Smile_izmena:

http://livedoor.blog.../d/6d996adb.jpg

[mr3awsome]

Leonardo da Vinci was probably lost due to unstable ammunition rather than sabotage.

[Tanz]

JeeWeeJ, on 07 October 2012 - 08:29 AM, said:

Ah, italian battleships. They might have had some serious flaws, but they do look sooooo good! Awesome post Tanz!

Yeah...they had their problems, but are pretty. I also blame the ineffectiveness of the Italian Navy on its leadership.
I was at a hobby store yesterday, and bought a book on the Itlaian Navy. When I went to check out, the cashier...who was an old fellow, he looked at the book and said, " Italian Navy? I didnt even know Italy had a Navy in WWII." :Smile_amazed: he was serious too :Smile_veryhappy:

eredhall, on 07 October 2012 - 10:59 AM, said:

I have to tell that you made really good job, i like that article and it reminds me NF Adrea Doria, that ship was deadly, fast and furious :D

:Smile_veryhappy: I actually got on my NF :Smile_sceptic:  account and did a few round in her last night :Smile_hiding:  after I made this post :Smile_teethhappy:

[JeeWeeJ]

Tanz, on 07 October 2012 - 01:24 PM, said:

Yeah...they had their problems, but are pretty. I also blame the ineffectiveness of the Italian Navy on its leadership.
I was at a hobby store yesterday, and bought a book on the Itlaian Navy. When I went to check out, the cashier...who was an old fellow, he looked at the book and said, " Italian Navy? I didnt even know Italy had a Navy in WWII." :Smile_amazed: he was serious to :Smile_veryhappy:

Lol, that's actually quite sad! Might have to do with that the actions of the Italian navy aren't that well known...except for being on the recieving end of the Taranto attack. It's a shame really as they had some really good ships...and indeed a crappy admiralty (which deemed radar to be something they did not need).

[Tanz]

JeeWeeJ, on 07 October 2012 - 11:03 AM, said:

LET THERE BE TECHINCOLOR! :Smile_izmena:
http://livedoor.blog.../d/6d996adb.jpg

Oh yeah JeeWee, awesome color pic :Smile_great:  Yeah, it seems that the British attack on Taranto is the main thing Italy's Navy is known for :Smile_sad:

[Ariecho]

Another gem from Tanz (+1)

[Jumarka]

Tanz, :Smile_honoring:

Awesome, very good post.

[anonym_auUiRfWCi1jI]

+1

 

Excellent biography on the Andrea Doria.

[Crag_r]

Great post, +1

 

However i post the Italian capital ships natural successor!

[Tanz]

Crag_r, on 08 October 2012 - 05:37 AM, said:

Great post, +1

However i post the Italian capital ships natural successor!

Darn u Naval aviation, for making battleships go :Smile_ohmy:  :Smile_hiding:

[IlonginusI]

:Smile_great: had this ship in NF

[madmanthan21]

+1 and yes, she is a beauty

[Gigaton]

The costs for these two presented in Littorio class (Bagnasco, De Toro) are interesting. Duilio's rebuild came with official price tag of 302,572,00 lire and Doria was 302,969,000, with real costs for both combined rising to nearly 800 million lire. In comparison, Cesare was 160,499,000 lire and Cavour 161,499,000. Littorio and Vittorio Veneto officially cost 559 and 576 million lire respectively, with real cost being around 800 million per unit.

 

As the modernization of the Duilios was also at least partly responsible for the delays in constructing the Littorios (the first two were originally intended to be completed in 1939), they turned out to be rather expensive for their combat potential.

[Sampsonite]

As usual, Tanz misses nothing. Great job!

[XxHellSpawnxX]

Good read about an excellent ship  :Smile_great:

[Commanderjoebob]

Italy was quite famous for there extremely powerful and technologically advanced battleships. They were unable to produce enough to make a formidable navy though.

 

And btw how long did tht take you to write i mean jeez, I should turn tht in for a school essay, it's very well written :Smile_honoring:

[Tanz]

Commanderjoebob, on 25 January 2013 - 09:51 PM, said:

Italy was quite famous for there extremely powerful and technologically advanced battleships. They were unable to produce enough to make a formidable navy though.

And btw how long did tht take you to write i mean jeez, I should turn tht in for a school essay, it's very well written :Smile_honoring:

Italy's BBs were some of the most  beautiful ships of the time in my opinion  :Smile_ohmy:

Well I have very many threads on warships on here... :Smile_teethhappy:
Like many others that post on here..its basically info you can find online....compile it together and u got it..I really think the funnest part is trying to find picture that go with the time line of the ships life  :Smile_amazed:  
All these are mainly just for us to have information on many of the worlds warships...so all in good fun :Smile_great:
At time..i find that some people didnt know about certain one or certain event....so its win win...we all learn something  :Smile_popcorn:

[sharlin648]

A brilliant, brilliant article, the Italian BB Rebuilds resulted in some verrrry pritty fast battleships/BCs, the Italians certinally built pritty ships (for the most part) between WW1 and WW2 thats for sure.

[Tpond]

The Italians always had great looking ships