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, similarly built in defiance of international agreements. The three ships of the Littorio class were typical of Italian design, being fast and elegant, but also boasting a revolutionary protective scheme – which was tested to the limits, as all three were to be heavily damaged in the hard-fought naval war in the Mediterranean; Roma had the unfortunate distinction of being the first capital ship sunk by guided missile. These important ships have never been covered in depth in English-language publications, but the need is now satisfied in this comprehensive and convincing study by two of Italy’s leading naval historians. 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, many fine-line plans, and coloured artwork of camouflage schemes, adding up to as complete a monograph on a single class ever published. Among warship enthusiasts battleships enjoy a unique status. As the great success of Seaforth’s recent book on French battleships proves, that interest transcends national boundaries, and this superbly executed study is certain to become another classic in the field.

Littorio and Richelieu were commissioned during the spring of 1940. Although the imminent Fall of France prevented the envisaged struggle for the control of the Mediterranean between this nation and Italy, the climax of this campaign would have been undoubtedly a gunnery duel between the newly commissioned battleships. We now endeavor to investigate which ship would have been more likely to emerge victorious from this hypothetical engagement. - No-nonsense analysis based on official documents including the British Admiralty's ballistic test of the full-scale mockup of Littorio's side armour and more. - Lavishly illustrated with line drawings including armour penetration curves, immunity graphs, armour diagrams and more. - Lists of tables, figures and pictures to ease navigation. - Imperial + metric units.

The Richelieu was a French battleship, and the lead ship of her class. She was the first French 35,000-ton battleship, designed to counter the Italian Littorio class battleships, the first modern battleships built since the 1922 Treaty of Washington. Ordered in 1935, she was a scaled-up version of the Dunkerque class battleships, featuring a main armament of eight 380 mm guns in two quadruple turrets in forward super firing positions. Her armor and underwater protection were equal to her contemporaries, except the Japanese Yamato class battleships. Her speed was surpassed only by the fastest U.S. Navy battleships. About the Series This brand-new series focuses on the construction of famous ships - battleships, carriers, cruisers, and submarines. With groundbreaking 3D imagery, each corner, angle, and dimension of the ship is viewable. With various close-up views, and each 3D image based on actual technical scale drawings and photographs, this is an exceptional reference tool. Information on the design, development and combat history of each vessel is also included, as well as numerous photographs and 1/350th scale drawings.

“An important work for anyone interested in warship design, the naval side of World War II in the Mediterranean, or modern Italian history.”—New York Military Affairs Symposium 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, similarly built in defiance of international agreements. The three ships of the Littorio class were typical of Italian design, being fast and elegant, but also boasting a revolutionary protective scheme—which was tested to the limits, as all three were to be heavily damaged in the hard-fought naval war in the Mediterranean; Roma had the unfortunate distinction of being the first capital ship sunk by guided missile. These important ships have never been covered in depth in English-language publications, but the need is now satisfied in this comprehensive and convincing study by two of Italy’s leading naval historians. 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, many fine-line plans, and colored artwork of camouflage schemes, adding up to as complete a monograph on a single class ever published. Among warship enthusiasts, battleships enjoy a unique status. As the great success of Seaforth’s recent book on French battleships proves, that interest transcends national boundaries, and this superbly executed study is certain to become another classic in the field. “A very impressive piece of work.”—History of War “An essential book for all naval history enthusiasts.”—Firetrench

A study of the development of strategic concepts in Stalin's Navy, in the context of his foreign/defence policy, using original archival documents translated from the Russian.

In this work, two senior naval historians analyze the discussions held in leading Soviet political, military, and naval circles concerning naval strategy and the decisions taken for warship-building programmes. They describe the reconstitution of the fleet under difficult conditions from the end of the Civil War up to the mid-1920s, leading to a change from classical naval strategy to a Jeune ecole model in the first two Five-Year Plans, including efforts to obtain foreign assistance in the design of warships and submarines. Their aim is to explain the reasons for the sudden change in 1935 to begin building a big ocean-going fleet. After a period of co-operation with Germany from 1939-41, the plans came to a halt when Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in 1941. Finally, this work covers the reopening of the naval planning processes in 1944 and 1945 and the discussions of the naval leadership with Stalin, the party and government officials about the direction of the new building programmes as the Cold War began.

In February 1942, six Swordfish armed with torpedoes encountered heavy anti-aircraft fire in the English Channel and were shot down but not before two torpedoes were launched at a German battleship sailing at high speed. This attack was part of a wider British effort to stop the battleships Scharnhorst and Gneisenau from making their way back to Germany. The Scharnhorst is one of the most famous capital ships to have served with the Kriegsmarine. Yet she and her sister ship Gneisenau have been largely overshadowed by the Bismarck and Tirpitz, despite the fact that they played a more proactive role in the Second World War and were Germany’s most successful battleships. This book provides an authoritative and informative look at the Scharnhorst and Gneisenau, the first capital ships of the Kriegsmarine, from their conception through the first successful years of the Second World War to their respective losses. This is a detailed account of naval warfare against the Royal Navy off the coast of Norway and the war against Allied commerce from the German perspective.

From the moment when the launching of HMS Dreadnought made every capital ship in the world obsolete overnight, we have been fascinated with these powerful surface combatants. Here Robert M. Farley looks at the history and folklore that makes these ships enduring symbols of national power—and sometimes national futility. From Arizona to Yamato, here are more than sixty lavishly illustrated accounts of battleships from the most well-known to the most unusual, including at least one ship from every nation that ever owned a modern battleship. Separate essays and sidebars look at events and lore that greatly affected battleships.

Discusses the gun-bearing fortifications and coastal defenses of France created between the world wars and challenges the premise that the defeat of France in World War II was the result of a misplaced reliance on the Maginot Line for its defense.

Recreates the sea battle that sank the German battleship Bismarck in World War II and recounts how the shipwreck was discovered in 1989.