Vittorio Veneto — Littorio-Class Italian Battleship Model, 30 in
Vittorio Veneto — Littorio-Class Italian Battleship Model, 30 in
How big is it?
Length about 76 cm / 30.0 in. Drawn to scale; the model outline is a simplified shape.
Model details
- Size
- 30 in / 76 cm
- Construction
- Handcrafted
- Condition
- Fully assembled, ready to display
- Display
- Wooden base with brass nameplate
- Collection
- Battle Ship Models
- Item no.
- CM459
The best battleship Italy ever built, at 30 inches.
Specification
- 30 inches
- Handcrafted hull and superstructure
- Triple main turrets, secondary armament and deck fittings
- Masts, rangefinders, catapult and boats
- Mounted on a display base with nameplate
- Fully assembled
The ship
Commissioned in 1940, Vittorio Veneto carried nine 381mm guns and could make 30 knots — fast, heavily armed and, by most assessments, a genuinely first-rate design.
Her hull used the Pugliese system, an Italian invention: a large cylinder running inside the hull below the waterline, designed to absorb a torpedo blast by crushing. It was clever and it did not work as intended, partly because the ships were rarely at the displacement the system assumed.
She fought at Cape Spartivento and at Matapan in March 1941, where a British torpedo hit her and she withdrew while three Italian cruisers were destroyed that night. She survived the war and was ceded to Britain as reparations, then scrapped in 1948.