The Duilio class battleship was a series of two powerful dreadnought battleships deployed by the Italian Navy (Regia Marina) during World War I and II. They were the Caio Duilio and the Andrea Doria, which were essentially similar to the Cavour class. They bristled with thirteen 305-mm (12-inch) guns and sixteen 152-mm guns distributed on its huge deck, with a beam of 28 m (91 ft, 8 inch).
The Caio Duilio had been launched on April 24, 1913, and commissioned in 1915. Meanwhile her sister Andrea Doria was completed in 1916. Both war vessels survived the First World War and they would be rebuilt at Trieste shipyards in the 1930s, with new powerplants, as they were relaunched as virtually new ships. In the rebuild process, the amidships turret was removed, and their 305-mm guns were bored out and relined to a new bigger caliber; the 320-mm (12.6 inch). New machinery consisting of 4-shaft geared turbines was installed.
During World War I, the two Duilio class battleships saw no combat action as they were relegated to patrolling the waters of the Adriatic sea against Austro-Hungarian ships. After WW1, Caio Duilio was assigned to the Black Sea in support of the White Russians in the Russian Civil War. During WW2, they both served in the Mediterranean Sea, operating against the British Royal Marine Malta convoys. They got involved in naval skirmishes with British warships but they came off unscathed. Thus, they survived the war and they were scrapped in 1957 and 1958.
Specifications
Type: dreadnought battleship
Length: 170 m (557.4 feet)
Beam: 28 m (91.8 feet)
Draft: 9.3 m (30 feet, 5 inches)
Displacement: 22,992 tons (standard); 24,250 tons (full load)
Armor: 250-mm-thick on sides; 138-mm on deck.
Propulsion: 4 shafts; 4 Parsons geared turbines; 20 boilers. They generated 31,278 HP. This powerplant had been set up after rebuilding.
Maximum Speed: 22.2 knots.
Range: 4,800 nautical miles.
Compliment: 1,200 sailors and officers
Below, the Dulio class battleship Andrea Doria off the coast of Italy in 1931 before reconstruction.
The Caio Duilio in late 1915
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