Italian Battleships: 'Conte di Cavour' and 'Duiio' Classes 1911-1956

Originally comprising five ships in two related classes, Conte di Cavour and Duilio classes entered service at the beginning of the Great War. As designed, they were powerful examples of the second generation of dreadnoughts, with a combination of twin and triple turrets producing a unique main armament of thirteen 12-inch guns. This book covers all the technical details of the ships, both as built and as rebuilt, but also provides an extended history of their active service, including battle plans and track charts. AUTHORS: Erminio Bagnasco is the editor of Storia Militare, Italy's leading military journal. He is the author of many books on Italian warships and is widely regarded as the foremost authority. As for The Littorio Class, he was assisted by Augusto de Toro, an authority on the political and economic aspects of naval policy, and himself the author of many articles and monographs. 300 photographs, line drawings