Italian Battleship AA fire control questions

Italian Battleship AA fire control questions



Hello all:

I am seeking information on the control of Italian heavy (130mm) medium (100mm) AA gun control on the Duilio and Littorio class ships.

Question 1: Was there a separate (from main/secondary armament control) a centralized AA plot/control facility. Or were the AA guns controlled directly from their respective directors?

Question 2: Does anyone have detailed information on the director designations of all BB calibers of fire control equipment for the Italian ships? And possibly have, or know of the location of in a reference book of detailed photos and/or line drawings of the Italian directors?


Question 3: I am also seeking line drawings of the aircraft catapults fitted to the Littorio class ships.

Of you have or know of the above information please contact me a sdae103@yahoo.com. Any help would be greatly appreciated and fully credited and acknowledged 'in print in' my upcoming book release on Italian Battleships.

Thank you all in advance

Regards

Wayne

 

I know that the Duilio Class Battleship Andrea Doria did have a systeme installed for seperation of primary and secondary armaments but she really got them too late in the war because once the armistice between Italie and the Allies was signed she was interned. She was scrapped in 1957 I believe or was that her sister Caio Duilio... I cannot remember.

I hope that helped.

 

?????
Doria and Littorio classes had 90mm AA tertiary batteries made up of 10 (Doria) and 12 (Veneto) single stabilized mounts not 130mm !!!! Secondary batteries were triple 135 (Doria) and 152 (Veneto) low angle mouns unsuitable for AA fire though a much modified version of the 135 was used for AA when the Garibaldi was rebuilt as a missile cruiser in the sixties.

To anwser your question Doria had two fire directors (one per side) for the secondary guns with 5m telemeters, these were for surface fire direction. Two of the four 135mm turrets had local telemeters and fire control. A different couple fire directors was reserved for AA fire with 3m telemeters.

The Vittorio was similar, 2 directors with "San Giorgio" 5m telemeters for the 152s but all four triple turrets had local fire control and a 6,3m telemeter as well. AA fire had one director per side with 3m telemeters. For the fistst time on Italian shps also the light AA had some sort of directors with 6 control stations (3 x side) for the bow, ctenter ship and aft 37 and 20mm mounts.



If you are looking for details on Italian battleships you should try to get hold of a copy of either Bagnasco's recent book "Le navi da battaglia, classe Littorio" edited by Albertelli (the ultimate source IMHO for these ships) or the older "corazzate classe Vittorio Veneto" and "corazzate classe Caio Duilio" in the orizzonte mare series edited by Bizzarri. I believe the full Bizzarri set, including the Cesare class, was also published as a single volume. Both are in Italian but with lots of tables, pictures and drawigns. The Vittorio book is in two parts part one is of most interest to you as it's the technical description while part two is tho operatiional history.

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Both the above come from one Bizzarri books, I scanned them low res, the originals are better, there is no line drawings of the catapult of Veneto but many pictures of it with both the Ro 43 and Re 2000 planes. (plenty of good drawings of the ships too).

If you are looking for a more "general" book on Italian battleships, I can also suggests "La Corazzata" by Achille Rastelli edited by Mursia, you need to be able to read Italian as it's a lot more text based than the others, it traces the whole history from the armoured sailing ships to Impero but from a more "social" perspective, you will find photos of the barber's shop in Doria and Vittorio rather than details of the fire directors though all photos are good quality, it's also not terribly expensive.

 

Sorry!! I guess you really know your stuff!! Well I am going to have to get my hands on that book of yours!

Well anyhow I need to sort of change the topic slightly....

What where sizes of USS Missouri's Guns (Main & AA)

 

Missouri's main battery was nine 16in/50 guns. Her secondaries were twenty 5in/38's. She also carried the usual 40mm and 20mm AA cannon.

 

Missouri along with the rest of the Iowa class were also scheduled to receive 12 twin 3"/50 mounts per the SCB74E program in the mid 1950's....the project was canceled when the ships were scheduled to be decommissioned........This would have involved the removal of all 40mm....... the 20mm's had been removed by 1952.......

 

But in the end they got 20mm guns back instead under the shape of vulcan/phalanx CIWS in the final refit .

 

CWIS Gods gift to the navy! I know the modern navy but I am afraid my WW2 Navy is a bit shadey!

 

So since you know quite a bit maybe you can tell me "What battleships where in pearle harbour on the fateful day?" some tell me six and some tell me just four. Others tell me Oaklahoma others say the Minnisota. I just really want to settle this with some at my high school WW2 Rememberance groupe!

Thanks

 

My father served on the Andrea Doria during WW2. He played the Cornet. Does anyone have access to photos of the crew and a list of crew members for the Doria?

 

Here goes: USS Arizona, USS California (in Dry Dock), USS Tennesse, USS Nevada, USS Oklahoma, USS West Virginia, USS Maryland, USS Pennsylvania and USS Utah ( no longer active used as a training ship). Arizona, Oklahoma, and Utah were write off's but the others were repaired and saw battle again.

There was no battleship named Minnesota at this time. The last one was a predreadnought scrapped in 1922. There is a current USS Minnesota, a Virginia class Attack Submarine.