Seldom exterior images of Italy’s WWII Battleship Roma
Battleship Roma (‘Corazzata Roma’) was the fourth Vittorio Veneto-class battleship of Italy’s Regia Marina (Royal Navy). She was laid down almost four years after the first two ships of the class (Impero and Vittorio Veneto) and was commissioned on 14 June 1942. On 9 September 1943 she was sunk by the German Luftwaffe with a Fritz X radio-controlled bomb. Roma capsized, broke into two, and sank carrying 2 Admirals, 86 Officers and 1264 sailors down with her. She was the pride of the Italian Navy; the most modern and powerful battleship.
Not only she was beautiful from the inside but so was her exterior and armament. Battleship Roma weighted 46,215 tons with fully combat loaded, she was 240.7 m long (790 ft) and had 8x Yarrow Boilers (producing 95,000 kW). Roma ’s main armament consisted of nine 381-millimeter (15.0 in) 50-caliber Model 1934 guns in three triple turrets; two turrets were placed forward in a superfiring arrangement and the third was located aft. Her secondary anti-surface armament consisted of twelve 152 mm (6.0 in) /55 Model 1934/35 guns in four triple turrets amidships. These were supplemented by four 120 mm (4.7 in) /40 Model 1891/92 guns in single mounts. She was also equipped with an anti-aircraft battery that comprised twelve 90 mm (3.5 in) /50 Model 1938 guns in single mounts, twenty 37 mm (1.5 in) /54 guns in eight twin and four single mounts, and sixteen 20 mm (0.79 in) /65 guns in eight twin mounts.
Argunners Magazine has found, thanks to Marina Militare, incredible images of Battleship Roma’s interior. If anyone can help with descriptions to add to the images, contact us or comment below.
congratulations for such a rare collection of R.N. Roma pictures!
Thank you for the great pix!
For the sake of readability by English-speaking Regia Marina buffs, though, Italian adj “Raro” is translated in English as “Rare”, and “stazza” as “displacement”.
Keep up the good work!
Dear Fabio, thanks for the tip and your friendly comment!