Italian battleship Impero

[gjs]

Hello,

I'm wondering whether somebody could answer me following question. We know that the battleship Impero was not completed at the time of Armistice. It was in Trieste and was seized by Germans. What was the status of the ship on the 9th of September 1943? It means what was still not completed and what was completed on the ship? Were the main armament already installed? If not then where were used the main guns supposed to be installed on Impero?

Thanks a lot for any information.

gjs

[JeffreyF]

Don't have my books available but from memory I recall the picture of it showing only the hull. No superstructure work done at all. As I recall material was diverted to repair other battleships and complete Roma, no?

[gjs]

What about main guns?

[gjs]

There are some pictures but the issue of main guns is still not clear for me:

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[=Ferdinand=]

What was the status of the ship on the 9th of September 1943?

Stopped awaiting better times

It means what was still not completed and what was completed on the ship?

Little more than launched

Were the main armament already installed?

No

If not then where were used the main guns supposed to be installed on Impero?

I think they were never built, this would explain why Roma was supplied from either of the two firms producing them.

I think that the building of the Impero was never resumed after his delocalization.

The strange thing regarding this ship is that she was in a more advanced state of construction when she was delocalized.

Impero was launched in November 15, 1939 instead Roma in June 9, 1940. Even if in Trieste wasn't enought facilities to build two battleship you should go haead with Impero so by me it's strange.

Impero could be teoretically ready for the end of the 1941.

[Davide Pastore]

I think that the building of the Impero was never resumed after his delocalization.
The strange thing regarding this ship is that she was in a more advanced state of construction when she was delocalized.

You wrote "delocalized" but I would have used "forgotten".

Shortly after war start Impero was towed from Genova to Adriatic. En route he [#1] "temporarily" stopped at Brindisi (a medium sized naval base, but virtually zero as building facilities) and stayed there for more than a year, forgotten by anyone. In January 1942 he was eventually towed to Trieste where work restarted, but by now the head start had been lost.

[#1] Italian warships are males

[gjs]

Thx for your reply. I have found that "in Brindisi the propulsion machinery and some gun mounts were completed". "Fitted with small-caliber anti-aircraft and anti-surface weaponry, Impero was sailed—using her own propulsion—to Venice on 22 January 1942." On the other place regarding the 381 mm/50 (15") Model 1934 guns - They were built in two batches of twenty guns each with the Model 1934 guns arming Littorio and Vittorio Veneto and the Model 1939 guns arming Roma and Impero. Ansaldo built the guns for the Littorio and Impero and three guns for the Roma. Odero-Terni-Orlando built the guns for the Vittorio Veneto and six of the guns for the Roma.". So it means that the guns were built but the question is whether they were mounted on Impero. If not then were they are?

[Dili]

They were not mounted. Not superstructure was done form what pics i have saw.
If Ansaldo build the weapons then could have styed in factory or if she was in venice maybe went to Venice Arsenal. But in Adriatic the big cranes were at Trieste and Monfalcone.

[ROLAND1369]

In Rudi Rolf's book on the Atlantic Wall he mentions the Germans had a proposed plan to mount one of the Impero's on the Island of Sylt. This would indicate that at least one if not all the turrets were available. The normal way that construction proceeded on capital ships at the time was that the main armament was ordered early so that it would be ready when the ship was ready for completion. with the delay in completion it is quite likely that the turrets would have been completed and the exhistence of the guns seems to have been established.

[mescal]

Many details on the Impero can be found in Bagnasco & De Toro's The Littorio Class, p 153-163.

In particular, regarding her armament at the time of the surrender, it states :

The main armament was still being readied; only Number 2 turret (without its guns) was in place, while the other two turrets, which had already been completed, were to have been installed soon [after all work stopped in April 43] and had been on the quay for some time where they ran the risk of deterioration. None of the medium of light guns had been mounted, except for four twin 37/54 guns and four 20/65 guns, installed for close-in anti-aircraft defence of the ship.

(the 37mm guns were mounted on 10 january 42, just before the transfer from Brindisi. I've not found any date for the 20mm guns).

In the same book, it' stated in the chapter dealing with the armament (p72) that

Impero never received her guns: although ready to be mounted, these most probably remained on the fitting quay when the incomplete ship was abandonned on 9 September 1943 [...] In the absence of evidence to the contrary, it is reasonable to believe that some of the nine 381mm guns to be mounted on Impero were seized by the Germans possibly for use as coast-defense guns somewhere in Europe while the rest, along with the reserve guns would have been scrapped in the 50s in accordance with Article 51 of the Peace Treaty of 1947

[tigre]

Hello to all ; a little complement...............................

Battleship "Impero".

Despite being launched before the "Roma", on October 29, 1939 after 17 months of construction, she was never completed. This unit was built in Genoa and with Italy entering in WWII was transferred to Brindisi (June 08, 1940; at that time France was dying already). Although Trieste was better, there it was being outfitting the battleship "Roma" already, and it was not possible to deal with two battleships. Then over the course of the war, Italy prioritized others needs and other types of ships, so it never entered service. In Brindisi machinery and some of the smaller caliber artillery were placed.

Source: http://www.zeughaus-braun.de/militarwis ... gang-febru
Military News Around the World. RML XX No. 77 Vol.

But when France leaves the game....did not think about bringing she back to Genoa and finish the work? Cheers. Raúl M .