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The Littorio Class: Italy's Last and Largest Battleships 1937-1948
For its final battleship design Italy ignored all treaty restrictions on tonnage, and produced one of Europe's largest and most powerful capital ships, comparable with Germany's Bismarck class which were also built in defiance of international agreements. The three ships of the Littorio class were fast and elegant, but also boasted a revolutionary protective scheme which was tested to the limits, as all three were heavily damaged in the hard-fought naval war in the Mediterranean. The book combines a detailed analysis of the design with an operational history, evaluating how the ships stood up to combat. It is illustrated with an amazing collection of photographs, detailed plans, and colored artwork of camouflage schemes, adding up to as complete a study of this class of battleship ever published.
- GenresHistory
320 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 2011
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 27, 2021
This book provides a detailed and well-written technical and operational history of the Littorio Class, that’s as good as any “ship history” I’ve read to-date. It’s great credit to Seaforth Publishing for having them translated it (and translated very well – you wouldn’t know reading it) into English.
The book provides a brief history of the Italian naval policy in the interwar period, and plans for various battleships, before providing a chapter on the design history, and then a long chapter on the actual design. There’s another chapter for the construction and trials of the four vessels in question, and then an operational history and a conclusion comparing the design to other contemporary battleships. On top of this, there are sections containing the movements of the ships, a list of captains and admirals, an appendix detailing the damage received by the ships in their wartime careers and tables of ballistic and penetration performance for the main and secondary weapons, and a brief section on the impressive 2.4m model of Roma that is in the Naval History Museum in Venice.
The standard of writing is high, as is the flow and quality of the information presented (as best this non-Italian speaker can tell). It is very well-illustrated with photographs, plans and diagrams, including fold-out and colour sections (and one fold-out, colour section), and uses tables to present information where appropriate. There were a few typos/editing slips (150mm searchlights, for example, when it meant 150cm), but there was nothing that made it difficult to understand – it was still above average quality, it just stood out to me because of the overall quality of the book. There were only a handful of footnotes, but there is an extensive bibliography and index.
About the only possible thing I felt could have helped would there to be a reference at the start of the book that clarified the differences in deck names between British, US and Italian use (the Italian main deck is the British upper deck, and while this is mentioned somewhere during the technical description, it wouldn’t be hard to have forgotten this by the time one was well into the operational history).This is a very minor thing, however!
As a detailed technical and operational history, it’s probably not the best “first battleship book” for someone, as the writing assumes knowledge of a number of common concepts relating to battleship design and use, but that’s fairly standard for these types of books, and it wouldn’t be practical for every detailed book on naval vessels to assume no background knowledge. It’s not overly technical though, and is pitched at around the same level as the “Warship” annual.
All up, it’s an excellent book – highly recommended for anyone interested in the Regia Marina in WW2, the Mediterranean war in WW2 or battleships in general, for anyone who’s already got a decent understanding of the ‘basics’ of battleships, or doesn’t mind looking up some new concepts as they go.
The book provides a brief history of the Italian naval policy in the interwar period, and plans for various battleships, before providing a chapter on the design history, and then a long chapter on the actual design. There’s another chapter for the construction and trials of the four vessels in question, and then an operational history and a conclusion comparing the design to other contemporary battleships. On top of this, there are sections containing the movements of the ships, a list of captains and admirals, an appendix detailing the damage received by the ships in their wartime careers and tables of ballistic and penetration performance for the main and secondary weapons, and a brief section on the impressive 2.4m model of Roma that is in the Naval History Museum in Venice.
The standard of writing is high, as is the flow and quality of the information presented (as best this non-Italian speaker can tell). It is very well-illustrated with photographs, plans and diagrams, including fold-out and colour sections (and one fold-out, colour section), and uses tables to present information where appropriate. There were a few typos/editing slips (150mm searchlights, for example, when it meant 150cm), but there was nothing that made it difficult to understand – it was still above average quality, it just stood out to me because of the overall quality of the book. There were only a handful of footnotes, but there is an extensive bibliography and index.
About the only possible thing I felt could have helped would there to be a reference at the start of the book that clarified the differences in deck names between British, US and Italian use (the Italian main deck is the British upper deck, and while this is mentioned somewhere during the technical description, it wouldn’t be hard to have forgotten this by the time one was well into the operational history).This is a very minor thing, however!
As a detailed technical and operational history, it’s probably not the best “first battleship book” for someone, as the writing assumes knowledge of a number of common concepts relating to battleship design and use, but that’s fairly standard for these types of books, and it wouldn’t be practical for every detailed book on naval vessels to assume no background knowledge. It’s not overly technical though, and is pitched at around the same level as the “Warship” annual.
All up, it’s an excellent book – highly recommended for anyone interested in the Regia Marina in WW2, the Mediterranean war in WW2 or battleships in general, for anyone who’s already got a decent understanding of the ‘basics’ of battleships, or doesn’t mind looking up some new concepts as they go.
April 19, 2020
Quite detailed look on ships history, techical details and operational careers. Several dravings and photograps are included in the book, but it would have been nice to include some more, as detailed sturctural descriptions can be bit tedious to read. Short section about ship modelin is also included.
Good book for readers who want to know also about ships minute operational history, which also includes training operations. Book also opens some motives behind fleets utilization during the war.
Review is based on Sheaforts first edition, which is translated from second italian edition. Text and layout was readable.
Good book for readers who want to know also about ships minute operational history, which also includes training operations. Book also opens some motives behind fleets utilization during the war.
Review is based on Sheaforts first edition, which is translated from second italian edition. Text and layout was readable.
December 28, 2011
This book is on the Littorio class, with tremendous detail of their design, construction and history. One of the best looking of the treaty era battleships, they were badly misused by the Italian Navy in WW II (which was a good thing for the Allies). This book contains outstanding new photographs and line drawings, never before seen in the US.
December 2, 2021
Extremely detailed.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews