At the recent Conference of Wargamers (COW), I took part in a committee game about the loss of the Russian battleship Novorossiysk in Sebastopol on 29th October 1955. The ship had a rather unusual and chequered history, and I thought that its story might be of interest to some of my regular blog readers.
Giulio Cesare was one of three Conte di Cavour-class dreadnoughts (Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare, and Leonardo da Vinci) that were designed in response to the laying down of the French Courbet-class battleships. She was laid down on 24t June 1910 at the Gio. Ansaldo shipyard in Genoa, launched on 15th October 1911, and completed on 14th May 1914.
Giulio Cesare as completed.
At the time, her characteristics were as follows:
- Displacement: 25,489 tons (deep load)
- Dimensions:
- Length: 176m (577ft 5in)
- Beam: 28m (91ft 10in)
- Draught: 9.3m (30ft 6in)
- Propulsion: 24 x Babcock & Wilcox boilers providing steam to 4 x steam turbines, each driving a propellor
- Speed: 21.5 knots
- Range: 4,800 nautical miles at 10 knots
- Complement: 1,000
- Armament: 3 x triple & 2 × twin 305mm (12-inch) guns; 18 x single 120mm (4.7-inch) guns; 14 x single 76.2mm (3-inch) guns; 3 × 450mm (17.7-inch) torpedo tubes
- Armour: Belt: 80mm to 250mm (3.1-inch to 9.8-inch); Deck: 24mm to 40 mm (0.9-inch to 1.6-inch; Gun turrets: 240mm to 280mm (9.4-inch to 11.0-inch); Barbettes: 130mm to 230mm (5.1-inch to 9.1-inch); Conning tower: 280mm (11-inch)
During the interwar period, Giulio Cesare and her contemporary Italian battleships (Conte di Cavour and the similar Andrea Doria-class battleships Andrea Doria and Duilio*) became increasingly obsolete, but due to financial restrictions and international treaties, they could not be scrapped and replaced by newer ships. In the end, it was decided to modernise them … and as a result, they underwent the most drastic reconstructions of any of the early dreadnoughts.
Between 1933 and 1937, Giulio Cesare was lengthened to improve her speed, her, armour and underwater protection were upgraded, her propulsion machinery was replaced (with a resulting increase in her top speed), her main armament was extensively renovated (the number of 12-inch guns was reduced from thirteen to ten and their calibre increased to 12.6-inch), her secondary armament was replaced, and her original superstructure replaced by a much more modern one.
Giulio Cesare after her extensive reconstruction. Her new bridge is similar in design to that found on the Italian Navy's contemporary heavy cruisers.
As a result, by the outbreak of the Second World War, her characteristics were:
- Displacement: 29,100 tons (deep load)
- Dimensions:
- Length: 186.4m (611ft 7in)
- Beam: 28.6m (93ft 10in)
- Draught: 10.42m (34ft 2in)
- Propulsion: 8 x Yarrow boilers providing steam to 2 x steam turbines, each driving a propellor
- Speed: 27 knots
- Range: 6.400 nautical miles at 13 knots
- Complement: 1,260
- Armament: 2 x triple & 2 × twin 320mm (12.6-inch) guns; 6 x twin 120mm (4.7-inch) guns; 4 x twin 100mm (3.9-inch) anti-aircraft guns; 6 x twin 37mm anti-aircraft guns; 6 x twin 13.2mm anti-aircraft machine guns
- Armour: Belt: 80mm to 250mm (3.1-inch to 9.8-inch); Deck: 125mm to 166mm (5.3-inch to 6.5-inch; Gun turrets: 240mm to 280mm (9.4-inch to 11.0-inch); Barbettes: 130mm to 280mm (5.1-inch to 11-inch)
During World War II, Giulio Cesare took part in several naval battles:
- July 1940: Battle of Calabria: She was lightly damaged by British gunfire.
- November 1940: Attack on Taranto: Although present in Taranto harbour when Fairey Swordfish torpedo-bombers attacked the Italian fleet whilst it was at anchor, she escaped damage.
- November 1940: Battle of Cape Spartivento: She took part in an offensive sweep designed to show that despite the losses at Taranto, the Italian Navy was still capable of challenging the Royal Navy’s dominance of the Mediterranean.
- December 1941: First Battle of Sirte: She took part in an attempt to intercept a Royal Navy convoy on its way to supply the besieged island of Malta.
- As a result of fuel shortages, from early in 1942 she became a harbour-based training ship. When the Italian Navy surrendered and sailed for Malta in 1943, Giulio Cesare was one of the ships that was interned.
As part of the settlement of war reparation agreed by the Allies, Russia was allotted one of the older Italian battleships as war reparations. (They had wanted one of the modern Italian Littorio-class battleships, but this request was denied). Giulio Cesare was selected and in 1949 she was transferred to the Soviet Union and renamed Novorossiysk.
The former Giulio Cesare was reanmed Novorossiysk when she became part of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet.
After some technical delays, she eventually arrived in Sebastopol where she became the flagship of the Black Sea Fleet. She later served as a gunnery training vessel with the Black Sea Fleet, but on 29th October 1955, she sank in Sevastopol Bay after a massive explosion occurred aboard her. 617 crew members were killed and the wreck was salvaged in 1956 and subsequently scrapped.
* The Leonardo da Vinci sank after a magazine explosion on 2nd August 1916, was refloated in 1919. The Italian Navy considered modernising the salvaged ship by replacing her amidships triple 12-inch turret with six 102mm (4-inch) anti-aircraft guns. However, due to the financial situation Italy was in, this was never done and the hull was sold for scrap on 22th March 1923.
