From Redditor kgskippy10
Today’s speculation will be about the Vittorio Veneto class of battleships.
http://www.navypedia.org/ships/italy/it_bb_24.gif
General Characteristics
The Vittorio Veneto class was first launched in 1940 with the Vittorio Veneto being the first of the class completed. Later, the Italia (Or Littorio), Roma, and Impero were also part of the class. The class was originally the product of a way to combat the French in the Mediterranean, specifically after the launch of the Dunkerque and the Strasbourg. The result was the Vittorio Veneto class. The class saw extensive use in the Mediterranean, often skirmishing with the British over convoys. The Vittorio Veneto had the most experience fighting, but the Littorio, or eventually the Italia after the fall of Mussolini, also saw some action. The Roma really was never able to get underway due to attacks on it during its completion, and the Impero never finished sailing. Interestingly enough, none of the battleships were sunk by enemy ships, and rather the Roma was only sunk by German glider Bombs and the Impero was sunk by the allies after she was taken over by the Germans in the Italian Armistice.
http://www.perthone.com/images/mat-veneto-.gif
Armament
The Vittorio Veneto class had a main armament of 9 380 mm guns in triple turrets. In addition, the class was outfit with 12 155 mm guns as secondaries as well as 4 120 mm guns. Rounding out the AA would be 12 90 mm guns, 20 37mm guns and 16 20 mm guns. Now, while the treaty limit for gun size on a battleship were 405mm , the Vittorio Veneto class was outfit with the 380mm guns because of the limited capacity of Italian ordinance industry. That being said, the guns supposedly were able to have a max range of 42,062 meters because of the barrels. By comparison, the Tirpitz has the same caliber guns, and has a range of 36,500 meters in theory, though a range of 21,000 meters in game. I think you could see the Vittorio Veneto’s have an in game range of somewhere around 24,000 meters.
Armor
The armor has spots where it was up to 350 mm thick, designed to be able to withstand 380 mm rounds at a range of 16,000 meters. Interestingly enough, the armor also had a compartment that contained a drum that was manufactured to absorb explosions, however, it was not very effective.
Dimensions
The Vittorio Veneto class was 224 meters long, a beam of 32.75 meters and a draught of 9.6 meters. By comparison, the Vittorio Veneto class was slightly smaller than the Bismark and Tirpitz, where it was almost 24 meters shorter. I would assume this shortness would be the reason why the class weighed around 1000 tons less than the Tirpitz and Bismarck.
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/36/55/04/3655043691db6e7d93021aae5f80a97c.jpg
Machinery
The Vittorio Veneto class had eight boilers that were able to turn 4 shaft geared turbines that would output 130,000 hp. This resulted in the class being able to reach a top speed of around 30 knots.
Other Characteristics
So, I don’t have too much for this section other than the fact that the ships are classified differently depending on the source. My original source used the Vittorio Veneto class as the namesake, while others use the Littorio class. My guess is that the Italians may have called it the Littorio class originally, but after the Littorio was changed to the Italia, the class name might have changed because the Vittorio Veneto was the first ship launched in the class.
https://padresteve.files.wordpress.com/2011/01/vittorio_veneto_19431.jpg
In Game Implementation
I have no doubts that it will be a tier 8. Same guns size as the Bismarck and Tirpitz, and the French Richelieu was created to oppose it which I also put at tier 8. Tier 8 seems logical. My guess is that it would play as a longer range battlecruiser. It is likely to be more accurate and have a bit more longer range than battleships of the same tier, but sacrifice some armor or rate of fire. Think of how the range of the Kongo is so superior at tier 5 to its counterparts and you might see how the Vittorio Veneto class may compare. I would also expect some average AA though it was outfit with more AA than traditionally used because the Italians knew the theater of war and how the ways of war were changing.
