Regina Elena (shown above in 1907) and her three sister ships formed the Victor Emanuel III (VE) class of battleships in the Italian navy. They were conceived as revolutionary fast, light battleships -- some would say a presaging of the battlecruiser concept -- by Vittorio Cuniberti, Italy's foremost designer of warships at the turn of the century. Cuniberti is perhaps best known as one of the chief proponents of the all-big-gun battleship, which was to become the original Dreadnought. Cuniberti offered the idea in an open letter to Jane's Fighting Ships' 1903 Annual, titled An Ideal Battleship for the British Navy. Though much smaller and lighter than the ship proposed in the article, the VE class express the same grace, balance, and symmetry as his "ideal battleship" -- traits clearly important to their designer, and expressive of his genius.Innovations were present in nearly every point of the class' construction. Special girder construction added lateral strength, allowing the builders to economize on weight in every imaginable way. Fireproofing was obtained by eliminating wooden construction and replacing wood with . . . asbestos! Named for the Queen of Italy (wife of Victor Emanuel III, who was immortalized in the second of the class, the Vittorio Emanuele), the lead ship carried a light main armament of two 12"/40 Elswick guns in single turrets fore and aft, and a heavy secondary armament of twelve 8" guns in twin turrets on two levels along the sides of the midships portion. The guns all had unusually wide arcs of fire because of their careful placement. The mounts featured all-round loading and were electrically operated. In all four ships of this design were built, two each at La Spezia and Castellammare. They had 10" Terni armor on the belt and turrets -- a first in Italian warships, which tended to be underprotected. At 21 knots service speed (they all did 21.9 or better on trials), they were quite fast when laid down, but nothing special by the time they came into service between 1907 and 1911, in the wake of the Dreadnought. Their original selling point -- a fast unit with a few heavy guns, capable of catching armored cruisers -- was still valid, but the dreadnought battlecruisers -- with speeds up to 28 knots and an all-big-gun armament -- rather stole their thunder. Nevertheless, the Regina Elenas were considered an innovative design worthy of at least a footnote. In service they performed well, seeing limited use in the Balkan Wars and WWI.
This bow-quarter view of Vittorio Emanuele (completed 1908) shows the main characteristics of the class: high forecastle and sides; three tall funnels; two pole masts without fighting tops or separate topmasts, as in the French fleet cruisers; a long forecastle with a an outthrust deck in the center holding the forward 12" turret, with scoop-like cutaways on its flanks on both sides. These acted as whalebacks for shedding seas as the ship sliced forward, and also permitted the forward 8" turrets on both sides to fire nearly straight ahead with the center 8" turret superfiring. (Theoretically it worked at least as well firing straight astern, which would be more in keeping with Italian big-ship tactics.) Ventilators were of the pop-top type used on the Lusitania rather than the more common "sousaphone" design with its hornlike bell. This choice alone made for a far cleaner-looking superstructure, in keeping with the bold overall design.
Specifications for the class:
Dimensions: 474'5" x 73'6" x 26' Displacement: 12,550 tons. Armament: (2) 12"/40 cal. Elswick Pattern "I" (2x1), (12) 8"/45 (6x2), (24) 3" 12-pdr, and (2) 3-pdr guns; 2 Maxim MG; (4) submerged 18" torpedo tubes (Elswick 1904 pattern). Armor: Terni type. Belt: 9.8"/3¼"/2", upper belt 8", conning tower 10", turrets 8", barbettes 8", bulkheads 8", secondary turrets and barbettes 6", 3¼" casemates, deck 4"/1.5". Coal capacity: 1,000 tons normal; 2,000 tons maximum. Propulsion: 28 coal-fired Belleville boilers (RE & VE), Babcock & Wilcox (Napoli & Roma). (2) vertical inverted 4-cyl triple expansion engines developing 20,000 hp, shafted to twin screw. Speed: 21 knots (VE) to 22.7 (Regina Elena). Engines by Yarrow-Schlick-Tweedy. 2 custom designed condensers for each engine. Crew: 1,000. Initial cost per ship £1M at 1905 valuation.
Ships in class: Regina Elena · Vittorio Emanuele · Napoli · Roma.
Metric Specifications:
144.6m x 22.4m x 7.9m. Displacement: 12,550 tons. Armament: (2) 305mm/40 cal. Elswick Pattern "I" (2x1), (12) 203mm/45 (6x2), (24) 75mm, and (2) 3-pdr saluting guns; (2) Maxims; (4) submerged 45 cm torpedo tubes. Armor: Terni type. Belt: 249/83/51 mm, upper belt 203 mm, conning tower 254 mm, turrets 203 mm, barbettes 203 mm, bulkheads 203 mm, secondary turrets 152 mm, casemates 83 mm, deck 83/38 mm. Coal capacity: 1,000 tons normal; 2,000 tons maximum. Propulsion: 28 coal-fired Belleville boilers (RE & VE), Babcock & Wilcox (Napoli & Roma). (2) vertical inverted 4-cyl triple expansion engines developing 14,914 kW, shafted to twin screw. Engines by Yarrow-Schlick-Tweedy. 2 custom designed condensers for each engine. Speed: 39 km/hr (VE) to 42 km/hr (Regina Elena). Crew: 1,000. Initial cost per ship £1M at 1905 valuation.
Fate of the class: None of these sleek greyhounds of the sea took part in any great fleet action, and none of them died an unnatural death. None of them even came to a noteworthy end. First launched, the name ship was broken up in 1923; her mate, the VE, went to the blowtorch the same year. The slightly later pair -- Napoli and Roma -- held out five more years, going to the wrecker in 1927-28. Happily, no great casualty lists accrued with their modest wartime record; perhaps this could be taken as an argument for restraint in the use of mighty weapons, and reliance on their deterrance value. Though indeed, this opens the question, why create them in the first place?
Pertinent Weblinks
- Vittorio Cuniberti (1854-1913) - Designer of the Regina Elena Class
- An Ideal Battleship for the British Navy: Proposed by Cuniberti in 1903 Jane's Fighting Ships
- Model of the Napoli - Hi-res Photo
- The Ships' 12"/40 Pattern "I" Main Guns - from NavWeaps
- The Intriguing History of Victor Emmanual III - King of Italy, 1900-1946
- His Royal Consort, Queen Elena of Montenegro
- Aldo Cherini's Definitive Picture Collection on the Italian Navy - 140 Years of Naval Construction
- Pre-Dreadnought Battleship Models from Kom-Brig
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