The Conte di Cavour class was a battleship

Battleship

A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of heavy caliber guns. Battleships were larger, better armed and armored than cruisers and destroyers. As the largest armed ships in a fleet, battleships were used to attain command of the sea and represented the apex of a...

 class of the Regia Marina

Regia Marina

The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...

in World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

 and World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

Design

This class was the second group of dreadnought

Dreadnought

The dreadnought was the predominant type of 20th-century battleship. The first of the kind, the Royal Navy's had such an impact when launched in 1906 that similar battleships built after her were referred to as "dreadnoughts", and earlier battleships became known as pre-dreadnoughts...

s in the Regia Marina. The ships were designed by Admiral Edoardo Masdea.

The main armament consisted of 13 305mm guns in five turrets. Three triple turrets were installed in A,Q and Y positions and two twin turrets were installed in B and X positions. The guns were an Armstrong Whitworth

Armstrong Whitworth

Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. Headquartered in Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth engaged in the construction of armaments, ships, locomotives, automobiles, and aircraft.-History:In 1847,...

 design. The machinery was a four shaft direct drive turbine arrangement with either 12 Babcock or 24 Bleychnyden type (Cesare) coal and oil mixed fired boilers

Construction

The class was composed of three ships, all laid down in 1910 and completed in 1914-15:

• Conte di Cavour
  Italian battleship Conte di Cavour
  Conte di Cavour was an Conte di Cavour class battleship, that served in the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II. It was named after the Italian statesman Count Camillo Benso di Cavour.-Construction and first years:...
  
  (reconstructed before World War II)
• Giulio Cesare
  Italian battleship Giulio Cesare
  Giulio Cesare , motto Caesar Adest was a Conte di Cavour-class battleship that served in the Regia Marina in both World Wars before joining the Soviet Navy as the Novorossiysk. Her keel was laid down on 24 June 1910 at Cantieri Ansaldo, Genoa...
  
  (reconstructed before World War II)
• Leonardo da Vinci
  Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci
  Leonardo da Vinci was a Conte di Cavour class battleship of the Regia Marina . She was 170 metres long, small for a battleship. Her twenty boilers and four shafts generated 24MW and gave a top speed of 11 m/s . She was crewed by about 1,000 men.Leonardo da Vinci was built between 18 July 1910...
  
  (sunk during World War I)

External links

• Cavour class - Plancia di Comando
• Italian Battleships - www.regiamarina.net