Vittorio Veneto from Warlord Games

Vittorio Veneto

The Littorio class was the first new Italian battleship class in nearly a decade, when construction began in 1930. Originally designed to remain within the 35,000-ton limit stipulated in the Washington Treaty, the final displacement was just over 40,000 tons. The Littorio class was not only handsome but also incorporated a number of new features, including high-velocity guns. They were probably the first of the "fast battleships" that would come to dominate capital ship design in the late 1930s and beyond.

The Vittorio Veneto saw extensive service in World War II, participating in the battles of Cape Spartivento in November 1940 and Cape Matapan in March 1941. Although she was hit by a torpedo during the latter engagement and later again, courtesy of a British submarine, she escaped the British attack on Taranto in November 1940 unscathed. In 1941 and early 1942, attempts were made to attack British convoys bound for Malta, but fuel shortages forced the cessation of these activities. Following Italy's withdrawal from the war, she was surrendered to the Allies in the 1943 armistice and spent the next three years under British control in Egypt. She was then awarded to Britain as a war prize and scrapped.

The models were delivered unassembled and unpainted.