Italian Battleships

After Germany and Britain, I´ve commenced work on the Italians and finally took some photos of the first two Battleship squadrons:

In the back, left to right, the Dreadnoughts Dante Alighieri, Andrea Doria, Caio Duilio and Leonardo da Vinci.

Actually, I have another "Conte di Cavour"-class Battleship painted, but I always mix up "Andrea Doria"-class and "Conte di Cavour"-class - my original plan was to display the two ships of the older class and only one of the new Dreadnoughts, as "Andrea Doria" was only finished in 1916.

If you scan through wikipedia for completion dates, you notice that Italy had only two Dreadnoughts (Dante Alighieri and Leonardo da Vinci) ready for War in 1914. Many sites claim that Italy had three Battleships when the war started - but this is somewhat misleading.  Italy entered the war in May 1915, when "Conte  di Cavour" was just finished a week ago. In 1914, four of Italies six modern Dreadnoughts where still in the dock being  built.  Thus, I apologize for the wrong number given earlier that Italy started the war with three Dreadnoughts - it´s only 2 in 1914.

In the foreground, you can see four "Regina Elena"-class Predreadnoughts, completed in 1907 and 1908. These obsolete Battleships have merely two large 12"-main Batteries and an arsenal of 8"-guns. Their displacement is about equal to the British Large Armored Cruisers stationed in the Mediterranean (about 13000 tons), but their armor is slightly better. I´m still not sure if I´d place my bet on them against the faster and well armed british cruiser force... We´ll see how they handle combat!

Anyway - Italian Armored Cruisers (Pisa- and San Giorgio-classes) are finished as well, but locked in conflict with the British Squadron right now, so no photos as of yet. I´ll post them later this week, together with another battlereport.