WesWorld

Caracciolo class vessel completed!

At long last after many years the first battleship of the Caracciolo class has been completed. The nameship was greeted with many cheers from our patriotic Italian citoyens as she steamed gracefully out of Messina where her sistership, Cristoforto Columbo is still building.

The comissioning of Caracciolo nearly coincides with the comissioning of a Russian class of battleship, and comparisons have been made about both ships;

I .The Imperator Petr Veliki Class Battleships are 5,000t larger than ours, why is this?
A .Errrr....(hesistation), let's examine what they gain from those 5,000t, shall we?
I .Yes ok. Are they better?
A . To put it bluntly, i don't know if they are better, the only advantage visible is the 12x15" guns to Caracciolo's 8x15". The Armour schemes seem to be very similar, but Caracciolo has a decisive 3knt speed advantage....
I . How decisive could that be?
A . Well it may be possible for Caracciolo to hold the range where her belt can't be penetrated, then she can drop her heavy shells onto the Russian battleships deck. But still 3knts really isn't a huge advantage...
I . Thank you for that hypothetical evaluation.


New ships laid down!
3 new ships were laid down in October this year, MM Astraea, MM Sicilia and MM Sardegna. MM Astraea is to use the 10"/45 guns from San Marco and San Giorgio and is expected to displace around 8,000t. Details of the other 2 ships are sketchy, but more details should be made availiable later.

If MM Caracciolo wishes use her speed advantage to maintain long range, her captain should be advised that Russian 381mm shells penetrate 89mm deck armor at 19,500m. They penetrate 350mm belt armor at 25,600m.

At what range do Italian 381mm shells penetrate 120mm deck armor and 360mm belt armor?

360mm belt at around 15800yds
120mm deck at around 23,000yds

Where did you get the figure of 350mm belt from? They had 300mm belt historically, mine have 300mm belt with a 20mm decapping plate in front.


Caracciolo can still run away...

http://www.geocities.com/red_admiral_italy/caracciolo.html

Above site gives MM Caracciolo belt of 345mm. Firm armor belt penetration data for Russian 381mm/52 exists for 350mm belt.

If information above is in error, Russian Naval Intelligence would be grateful for correction.

Indeed, running away may be an option that captain of MM Caracciolo would be well-advised to consider if Imperator Petr Veliki appears on horizon.

Just to add to this, the two newest BB's of Atlantis the ANS Melampus and Theseus are roughly 1000 tons lighter than the Imperator Petr Veliki class and posess the same armament as the Caracciolo's. Speed wise the melampus class BBs are 1 knot faster than the Russian BB's but 2 knots slower than the Caracciolo's.
The eight 15/50 guns of Melampus can penatrate Caracciolo's belt armor at about 20/21,000 yards, and can penatrate her 3.5" deck at any range outside her belt imunity. Atlantis feels that a better match for the Italian ships would be the Atlantian BC's of the Vengeance class which are 5000 tons heavier and enjoy a 3 knot advantage in speed. Info posessed by Atlantis on Italy's ships is somewhat sketchy as the belt armor is stated as 11.8" which is roughly equal to the side armor of Vengeance class BC's and her deck armor is rated at 3".

The information stated is unfortunately erroneous. i have posted a correction but the drawing still lacks something.

You guys should know that Caracciolo is design from 1916, yet still far better than other Italian battleships. The 2 new ships laid down this month are much superior to the Caracciolos in terms of armour.

320mm belt vs. 350mm belt@15degrees with 20mm decapping plate

The deck and turret armour is vastly improved also.

These Italian ships could be considered the first of the 3rd generation battleships, along with HMS Hood and Vengeance. (what prefix does Atlantis have?)

Those long calibre guns of yours, 52 and 50cal, won't be as accurate as my 40cal guns, but their power for belt penetration is much better. 40cal is ok for the moment when ships have little more than 3" deck armour. This can be penetrated at around 15,000yds.

More details about these new ships will come soon....

The original ships were designed as early as 1912 and were layed down in 1914/15. They were esentially the Italians reply to the Queen Ellizabeth. The 15/40's would likely be more accurate than the 15/50's as the 15/40's were in twin turrets and likely would suffer less dispersion problems than those of the triple 15/50's of the Littorio's. The 28 knot speed of the Caracciolo's would definately give them an advantage in speed over the QE's and would leave the Revenge and Baden class in their wake. They were better protected than the Renown/Repulse which were 2 knots faster, but would have met thier match in the Hood's. Hood and Caracciolo would both have deck protection woes fighting each other. The big issues in the cancellation of the Caracciolo's was money and technolodgical advances makeing them obsolete, but a later design would definately benifit them.
The prefix that Atlantis uses for its ships is ANS or Atlantian Naval Ship. Vengeance and Melampus are the first third generation warships for the Atlantian Navy.