Littorio class battleship

[Wargames]

Anyone know why the Littorio's had 350mm of main armor but only 255mm of bridge armor? Most other battleships would have the same bridge armor as main armor.

 

[jwsleser]

I don't have any idea. Hopefully those that have studied the RM. might have an explanation.

Pista! Jeff

 

[1089maul]

Hi Wargames.
Sorry for the delay in responding. This is not a straight forward question to answer. In my opinion, shipbuilding for most nations during 1920’s and 30’s was done under the umbrella of the Washington treaty which limited sizes. Thus it was a juggling act between various components of warship in order to get the best vessel within the limits of the treaty even though a lot of the vessels actually exceeded the limitations!
I attach a some pages from Bagnasco and de Toro’s excellent reference book ‘The Littorio Class.’ These pages deal with armour of the citadel. You may see that there almost a citadel within the citadel. The book details all the protection of the class including the turrets. There is far too much to reproduce here but I do recommend the book.
Having said all the above, I am not sure if I have answered your question as I cannot offer an opinion of other countries battleships.
Regards,
Bob
PS Gaving problems attaching photos. Will try after posting this reply!

 

[1089maul]

Wargames. Sorry, but I am having uploading photos as I am being told that the files are too big. Strange as I have uploaded before! Will look into it and try again later! Bob

 

[1089maul]

Wargames. For some reason I cannot upload the photographs. If you want to see them send me a message with your email address and I will happily email them to you. Cheers, Bob

 

[Wargames]

Thanks. When you say a citadel within a citadel, are you referring to a decapping system? With a space between the two citadels to decap a shell head? If so, what did the space measure? And the thickness of the two walls?

 

[1089maul]

Hi Clark. Did you get the emails? Were they helpful or not? Regards, Bob

 

[Wargames]

Got two emails but no pics, Thanks for trying. Does your diagram indicate the thickness of the inner and outer walls and the distance between them?

 

[Wargames]

1089maul provided book pages with the answer as to why Littorio only had 255mm of bridge armor. Any more made the ship top heavy.