Italian Battleship Littorio
Littorio, Italian, Battleship, 1940-43
Commissioned in May 1940, the Italian battleship Littorio was the lead ship of her class and was renamed Italia in July 1943 following the fall of Italian dictator Benito Mussolini's government. Due to fuel shortages, she was moved to La Spezia, Italy. After the armistic on September 3, Italia was eventually moved to the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal. She was awarded to the United States as a war prize in 1947, where she was broken-up a year later.
Image: 80-CF-Italian-Battleship-2: Italian battleship Littorio, July 1940. Littorio, with cruisers, is shown in action at the Battle of Punto Stilo, July 9, 1940. Official U.S. Navy Photograph, now in the collections of the National Archives.
