Italian battleship Dante Alighieri
 Dante Alighieri on 29 March 1914
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Operators |  Regia Marina |
| Preceded by | Regina Elena class |
| Succeeded by | Conte di Cavour class |
| Built | 1909–1913 |
| In commission | 1913–1928 |
| Completed | 1 |
| Scrapped | 1 |
| History | |
 Italy | |
| Name | Dante Alighieri |
| Namesake | Dante Alighieri |
| Builder | Regio Cantiere di Castellammare di Stabia, Castellammare di Stabia |
| Laid down | 6 June 1909 |
| Launched | 20 August 1910 |
| Completed | 15 January 1913 |
| Stricken | 1 July 1928 |
| Fate | Scrapped, 1928 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Dreadnought battleship |
| Displacement | 19,552 long tons (19,866 t) (normal) |
| Length | 168.1 m (551 ft 6 in) (o/a) |
| Beam | 26.6 m (87 ft 3 in) |
| Draught | 8.8 m (28 ft 10 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | 4 × shafts; 4 × steam turbines |
| Speed | 22 knots (41 km/h; 25 mph) |
| Range | 4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 981 officers and enlisted men |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
Dante Alighieri was the first
Description
Dante Alighieri was designed by
The dreadnought was 158.4 meters (519 ft 8 in)
The ship was propelled by four
Dante Alighieri had a complete waterline armor belt that had a maximum thickness of 254 millimeters (10 in). The ship's armored deck was 38 mm (1.5 in) thick. The main turrets were protected by a maximum of 254 millimeters of armor while the secondary turrets and the casemates had 98 millimeters (3.9 in) of armor. The conning tower had walls 305 millimeters thick.[2]
Armament
Dante Alighieri's main armament consisted of a dozen 46-
Sources disagree regarding these guns' performance, but naval historian Giorgio Giorgerini claims that they fired 452-kilogram (996 lb)
The ship's secondary armament consisted of twenty 50-caliber 120-millimeter (4.7 in) guns. Eight of these guns were fitted in twin-gun turrets abreast the forward and aft main gun turrets while the remaining 12 guns were mounted in casemates on the sides of the hull. These guns could depress to −10 degrees and had a maximum elevation of +15 degrees; they had a rate of fire of six shots per minute. They could fire a 22.1-kilogram (49 lb) high-explosive projectile with a muzzle velocity of 850 meters per second (2,800 ft/s) to a maximum distance of 12,000 yards (11,000 m). For defense against torpedo boats, Dante Alighieri carried thirteen 50-caliber 76 mm (3 in) guns mounted on the turret tops. These guns had the same range of elevation as the secondary guns, although their rate of fire was higher at 10 rounds per minute. They fired a 6-kilogram (13 lb) AP projectile with a muzzle velocity of 815 meters per second (2,670 ft/s) to a maximum distance of 10,000 yards (9,100 m).[7][Note 2] The ship was also fitted with three submerged 45-centimeter (17.7 in) torpedo tubes, one on each broadside and the third in the stern.[1]
Construction and service
Dante Alighieri, named after the medieval
King
Notes
- ^ Friedman provides a variety of sources that show armor-piercing shell weights ranging from 416.92 to 452.32 kilograms (919.16 to 997.2 lb) and muzzle velocities around 861 metres per second (2,820 ft/s).[6]
- ^ Sources disagree as to the type of 76 mm gun used aboard Dante Alighieri. Fraccaroli maintains that they were the older 40-caliber guns and replaced in 1915 with the newer 50-caliber guns,[2] but Preston[1] and Friedman say that they were 50-caliber guns from the beginning.[8]
Footnotes
- ^ a b c d e f Preston, p. 175
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Fraccaroli, p. 259
- ^ a b c d Hore, p. 174
- ^ McLaughlin, pp. 209–215
- ^ Giorgerini, pp. 268, 276
- ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 233–234
- ^ Giorgerini, pp. 268, 277–278
- ^ Friedman 2011, pp. 240–241
- ^ Sandler, p. 102
- ^ Cernuschi & O'Hara, p. 62
- ^ Halpern, p. 175
- ^ Fink, p. 41
- ^ Friedman 2008, p. 262
- ^ Dickie, p. 152
- ^ Goldstein & Maurer, p. 226
References
- Cernuschi, Enrico & O'Hara, Vincent (2007). "Search for a Flattop: The Italian Navy and the Aircraft Carrier 1907–2007". In Jordan, John (ed.). Warship 2007. London: Conway. ISBN 978-1-84486-041-8.
- Dickie, John (2004). Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 152. ISBN 1-4039-7042-4.
- Fink, Carole (February 1986). "Italy and the Genoa Conference of 1922". The International History Review. 8 (1). Taylor & Francis: 41–55. JSTOR 40105562.
- ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
- ISBN 978-1-59114-555-4.
- Friedman, Norman (2011). Naval Weapons of World War One: Guns, Torpedoes, Mines and ASW Weapons of All Nations; An Illustrated Directory. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-100-7.
- Giorgerini, Giorgio (1980). "The Cavour & Duilio Class Battleships". In Roberts, John (ed.). Warship IV. London: Conway Maritime Press. pp. 267–279. ISBN 0-85177-205-6.
- Goldstein, Erik & Maurer, John H. (1994). The Washington Conference, 1921–22: Naval Rivalry, East Asian Stability and the Road to Pearl Harbor. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. ISBN 0-7146-4559-1.
- ISBN 1-55750-352-4.
- Hore, Peter (2005). Battleships. London: Lorenz Books. ISBN 0-7548-1407-6.
- McLaughlin, Stephen (2003). Russian & Soviet Battleships. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-55750-481-4.
- Ordovini, Aldo F.; Petronio, Fulvio; et al. (December 2017). "Capital Ships of the Royal Italian Navy, 1860–1918: Part 4: Dreadnought Battleships". Warship International. LIV (4): 307–343. ISSN 0043-0374.
- ISBN 0-88365-300-1.
- Sandler, Stanley (2004). Battleships: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. Weapons and Warfare. Santa Barbara, California: ABC Clio. ISBN 1-85109-410-5.
- ISBN 1-55750-184-X.
External links
- Page from Warships on the web
- Page in Russian Language Archived 2009-01-31 at the Wayback Machine
- Dante Alighieri Marina Militare website
