Italian battleship Impero
 Impero at her launching on 15 November 1939
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| History | |
|---|---|
 Italy | |
| Name | Impero |
| Namesake | Italian Empire[1] |
| Builder | Ansaldo, Genoa |
| Laid down | 14 May 1938 |
| Launched | 15 November 1939 |
| Fate | Scrapped 1948–1950, in Venice |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Littorio-class battleship |
| Displacement | ) |
| Length | 240.7 m (789 ft 8 in) |
| Beam | 32.9 m (107 ft 11 in) |
| Draft | 9.6 m (31 ft 6 in) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion |
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| Speed | 30 kn (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
| Complement | (planned) 1,920 |
| Armament |
|
| Armor |
|
| Aircraft carried | 3 aircraft ( Reggiane Re.2000 ) |
| Aviation facilities | 1 stern catapult |
Impero was the fourth
Second Italo-Abyssinian War. She was constructed under the order of the 1938 Naval Expansion Program, along with her sister ship Roma
.
Impero was laid down in May 1938 and launched in November 1939. The entrance of Italy into World War II forced the Regia Marina to refocus its construction priorities on escort warships, so Impero was left incomplete. After Italy surrendered to the Allies on 8 September 1943, the rest of the Italian Navy steamed to Sardinia to rendezvous with their American contemporaries. Still incomplete in Trieste, Impero was captured by the Germans, who used the hulk for target practice. Sunk by Allied bombers in February 1945, she was refloated in 1947 and scrapped in Venice from 1948 to 1950.
Background
The Italian leader
Description
Impero was 240.68 meters (789 ft 8 in)
standard displacement of 40,992 long tons (41,650 t), a violation of the 35,000-long-ton (36,000 t) restriction of the Washington Naval Treaty; at full combat loading, she displaced 45,485 long tons (46,215 t). The ship was to be powered by four Belluzo geared steam turbines rated at 128,000 shaft horsepower (95,000 kW). Steam was provided by eight oil-fired Yarrow boilers. The engines provided a top speed of 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) and a range of 3,920 mi (6,310 km; 3,410 nmi) at 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph). Impero would have had a crew of 1,830 to 1,950 if she had been completed.[4][5]
Impero's main armament would have consisted of nine
20 mm (0.79 in) 65-caliber guns in eight twin mounts.[6]
The ship was protected by a main
Reggiane Re.2000 fighters.[7]
History
Authorized to be built by
launched on 15 November 1939.[5][8] At her launching, she was christened Impero, after Italy's empire in Africa.[1] With Genoa being in bombing range of France, and war now a definite possibility, Impero was moved to Brindisi on 8 June 1940 due to fears of French attack. Trieste was considered a better location, but Roma was fitting out there and the shipyard could not handle two battleships at one time. While at Brindisi, some of her machinery was installed, along with parts of her smaller caliber weaponry.[8] Despite the intent to move Impero to a safer location, Brindisi was still hit by Allied bombers, though Impero was not damaged. Nevertheless, the Regia Marina decided to shift production priorities to desperately needed escorts for merchant convoys. As a result, construction of Impero was delayed to expedite those ships. The only work done was the fitting of the engines and some gun mountings.[9]
Fitted with small-caliber anti-aircraft and anti-surface weaponry, Impero was sailed—using her own propulsion—to
naval register on 27 March 1947.[13] The hulk was raised sometime that year and towed to Venice and beached, where she was scrapped from 1948 to 1950.[10][11]
At the time of the capitulation, Impero's hull was 88% complete and the engines were 76% complete, but overall the ship was only 28% complete; it would have required about eighteen more months of work for the ship to be finished. Key features like the armament, electrical wiring and a reworking of the bridge had still not been completed.[12]
Footnotes
- ^ a b Whitley, p. 171
- ^ Knox, p. 20
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, p. 404
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, p. 435
- ^ a b c Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 289
- ^ Gardiner & Chesneau, pp. 289–290
- ^ Bagnasco and de Toro, p. 48
- ^ a b Garzke & Dulin, p. 412
- ^ a b c Garzke & Dulin, pp. 412–413
- ^ a b Whitley, p. 178
- ^ a b c Hore, pp. 246–247
- ^ a b Baniasco & Grossman, p. 47
- ^ Garzke & Dulin, p. 413
References
- Bagnasco, Erminio & de Toro, Augusto (2011). The Littorio Class: Italy's Last and Largest Battleships 1937–1948. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-105-2.
- Bagnasco, Erminio & Grossman, Mark M. (1986). Regia Marina: Italian Battleships of World War 2: A Pictorial History. Missoula: Pictorial Histories Publishing. ISBN 0-933126-75-1.
- Garzke, William H. & Dulin, Robert O. (1985). Battleships: Axis and Neutral Battleships in World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-101-0.
- Hore, Peter (2004). The Battleships. London: Lorenz. ISBN 0-7548-1407-6.
- Knox, MacGregor (1982). Mussolini Unleashed, 1939–1941: Politics and Strategy in Fascist Italy's Last War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23917-6.
- Roberts, John (1980). "Italy". In Gardiner, Robert; Chesneau, Roger (eds.). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. pp. 280–317. ISBN 978-0-85177-146-5.
- Whitley, M.J. (1998). Battleships of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-55750-184-4.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Impero (ship, 1939).
- Impero Marina Militare website
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in February 1945 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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