WesWorld

MM Regina Elana is currently being rebuilt. She has already been in dry dock for some time, but it was thought that she was going to be scrapped. The decision, announced today, shows that our government is indeed responding to calls for increased naval presence in the Med. However is this enough? or do we need more to ensure that Italy's security is not threatened?

Mussolini;"Our government is finally waking up to the inevitable. At present the Med. in going to fall into the hands of the Hellenic navy. Imagine Greece with a navy more powerful than our own. We cannot let this state of affairs to continue. I am glad that our useless government has finally done something to halt increasing Greek presence, however it is not enough."

Illustrationhttp://www.geocities.com/red_admiral_italy/reginaelana.html

OkOkOk :-)

I'll cede the weirdness price - to be handed over by the designated captain of the Aguila at the Madrid Airshow. :-)

Bernhard

Hooray I think there are some even stranger deisgns in the future however.

When (date) were the 12inch guns removed?

Is Part 3 Section K Paragraph V about to raise its ugly head? It would be unfortunate indeed for a signatory to the Treaty of Cleito to violate their committment. The international implications of this, in the present tense atmosphere, would be serious.

Dont you mean Part 3 Section K Paragraph V?
Looking at it, it would be in violation of the treaty if those guns were replaced after 1/1/1921.

Walter

Quoted

Dont you mean Part 3 Section K Paragraph V?

I do. Thanks for catching that. I have edited my post accordingly.

Quoted

Looking at it, it would be in violation of the treaty if those guns were replaced after 1/1/1921.

Indeed.

All guns were removed in 1919 when MM Regina Elana was deactivated. Until September 1920 she was just another part of the skyline in Taranto. She was then slated for scrapping but the Government was indecisive and so she remained in Taranto with more and more pieces being plundered from here. In March 1921 she was taken into dry dock to remove valuable pieces of equipment before final scrapping. In April-May of this year, funds were authorised by the government to rebuild her.

The other members of her class remain rotting in ports around Italy.

Since this class's main battery, 2 ships still posessing their 8", was removed before 1921, and their displacement is under 13,000t they actually count as cruiser tonnage and are thus not subject to Part 3 Section K Paragraph V, which mentions only Capital ships and carriers.

You're right there, but if it still had its 12 inch guns, it would have been a capital ship and you would have problems with Part 3 Section K Paragraph V. Looks like you're safe to put those 8 inch guns on then.

Walter

I breifly looked into doing a similar thing to my armored cruisers but the lightest one weighed in at 14,050 tons and was the oldest of the bunch but at least its 8.2" guns would comply with the treaty. The newest ship violated the treaty on all counts being larger than the cruiser B catigory and having 9.2" guns.
In the end this isn't such a bad thing as these obsolete ships can simply be replaced by newer faster ships, while the older ones can be turned into good shaveing blades!