RN Francesco Caracciolo
Contents
Description
Francesco Caracciolo was the only super-dreadnought of the Regia Marina ever to be launched. Its design dated back to 1912; initially planned as a 27,000–29,000-ton vessel with ten 356 mm guns, it evolved into a 35,000-ton battleship with twelve 381 mm guns to rival global naval powers. However, economic issues and limited shipyard capacity led to the design being downsized to 31,000 tons with only eight 381 mm guns. Laid down in October 1914, just four months after the beginning of the Great War, the battleship had to compete for steel and manpower with the ongoing global conflict, which slowed construction. Delays sparked repeated debates in the Italian Senate, and production was eventually halted in 1916, on the eve of news that the rival Austro-Hungarian Ersatz Monarch-class battleships were cancelled. In 1919, revisions added anti-aircraft guns, slightly increasing displacement, but the financial and logistical challenges of the post-war economic crisis prevented completion. Efforts to repurpose the hull as a floatplane or aircraft carrier failed, as the Regia Marina's budget was very tight during the interwar period. The hull was launched in 1920 and sold for conversion into a super-freighter, but this plan also collapsed, and the Francesco Caracciolo was scrapped in 1926. The turrets of the battleship saw a second life during the Second World War as the main guns of the monitor Faà di Bruno and as coastal defences.
The RN Francesco Caracciolo, project was introduced in Update "Firebirds". While her 381 mm main guns might appear attractive, their performance in actual combat might be considered underwhelming, being severely limited by the lack of AP shells. Her protection scheme, while one of the best Italy has to offer at shorter ranges, has a few weak spots to plunging shells, which might penetrate above the 300 mm plates and dive straight into the magazines. Overall, she is a very capable warship for her BR, with her combat performance being limited primarily by the fact that she is frequently matched against top-tier vessels, to which she has little to no response.
General info
Survivability and armour
Talk about the vehicle's armour. Note the most well-defended and most vulnerable zones, e.g. the ammo magazine. Evaluate the composition of components and assemblies responsible for movement and manoeuvrability. Evaluate the survivability of the primary and secondary armaments separately. Don't forget to mention the size of the crew, which plays an important role in fleet mechanics. Save tips on preserving survivability for the "Usage in battles" section. If necessary, use a graphical template to show the most well-protected or most vulnerable points in the armour.
Mobility
Write about the ship's mobility. Evaluate its power and manoeuvrability, rudder rerouting speed, stopping speed at full tilt, with its maximum forward and reverse speed.
| Mobility Characteristics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Game Mode | Upgrade Status | Maximum Speed (km/h) | |
| Forward | Reverse | ||
| AB | |||
| Upgraded | 60 | 20 | |
| RB/SB | |||
| Upgraded | 52 | 17 | |
Modifications and economy
| Seakeeping | Unsinkability | Firepower | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Armament
Primary armament
Provide information about the characteristics of the primary armament. Evaluate their efficacy in battle based on their reload speed, ballistics and the capacity of their shells. Add a link to the main article about the weapon: {{main|Weapon name (calibre)}}. Broadly describe the ammunition available for the primary armament, and provide recommendations on how to use it and which ammunition to choose.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| 381 mm SAPCBC | SAPCBC | 437 | 410 | 373 | 345 | 324 | 296 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| 381 mm SAPCBC | SAPCBC | 700 | 875 | 0.01 | 17 | 38.49 | 48° | 63° | 71° | |||
Secondary armament
Some ships are fitted with weapons of various calibres. Secondary armaments are defined as weapons chosen with the control Select secondary weapon. Evaluate the secondary armaments and give advice on how to use them. Describe the ammunition available for the secondary armament. Provide recommendations on how to use them and which ammunition to choose. Remember that any anti-air armament, even heavy calibre weapons, belong in the next section. If there is no secondary armament, remove this section.
| Penetration statistics | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Penetration @ 0° Angle of Attack (mm) | |||||
| 1,000 m | 2,500 m | 5,000 m | 7,500 m | 10,000 m | 15,000 m | ||
| HE Dirompente | HE | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 | 44 |
| APHE Perforante | APHE | 199 | 164 | 120 | 90 | 70 | 55 |
| Shell details | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ammunition | Type of warhead |
Velocity (m/s) |
Projectile mass (kg) |
Fuse delay (s) |
Fuse sensitivity (mm) |
Explosive mass (TNT equivalent) (kg) |
Ricochet | |||||
| 0% | 50% | 100% | ||||||||||
| HE Dirompente | HE | 830 | 46.3 | 0 | 0.1 | 5.4 | 79° | 80° | 81° | |||
| APHE Perforante | APHE | 830 | 47.1 | 0.03 | 7 | 2.62 | 47° | 60° | 65° | |||
Anti-aircraft armament
An important part of the ship's armament responsible for air defence. Anti-aircraft armament is defined by the weapon chosen with the control Select anti-aircraft weapons. Talk about the ship's anti-air cannons and machine guns, the number of guns and their positions, their effective range, and about their overall effectiveness – including against surface targets. If there are no anti-aircraft armaments, remove this section.
Usage in battles
Describe the technique of using this ship, the characteristics of her use in a team and tips on strategy. Abstain from writing an entire guide – don't try to provide a single point of view, but give the reader food for thought. Talk about the most dangerous opponents for this vehicle and provide recommendations on fighting them. If necessary, note the specifics of playing with this vehicle in various modes (AB, RB, SB).
Pros and cons
Summarise and briefly evaluate the vehicle in terms of its characteristics and combat effectiveness. Mark its pros and cons in the bulleted list. Try not to use more than 6 points for each of the characteristics. Avoid using categorical definitions such as "bad", "good" and the like - use substitutions with softer forms such as "inadequate" and "effective".
Pros:
Cons:
History
The Regia Marina considered building super-dreadnoughts since 1910, but it wasn't until February 1912 that actual design work began, initially aiming for a 10 x 356 mm gun (2x2+2x3 centerline), 27,000-29,000 t super-dreadnought. By 1913, the design had evolved into a 12 x 381 mm gun (4x3 centerline), 35,000 t vessel, aiming to be equal to or better than the launched or constructed battleships of Japan, Germany, or Britain, which was adequate for the global aspirations of the Italian navy at the time.
While the ship caused significant concerns abroad, in particular among British naval command (which would be forced to bind the latest Queen Elizabeth-class battleships to the Mediterranean in case of any military escalation), internally the design was criticized for its excessive cost (estimated at 120 million lire), dimensions that struggled to fit in existing shipyards and a lackluster protection (in particular against torpedo attack). By December 1913 the design was down-scaled into the final form: 8 x 381 mm (4x2 centerline) 31 000 t vessel.
Construction proceeded at an unexpectedly slow pace, with the reasoning behind such an investment being debated in the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy in 1914. Eventually, work was suspended in March 1916 (when it became clear that the Austro-Hungarian Ersatz Monarch-class battleships would not be completed - an event that also led to the cancellation of the Normandie and Lyon classes in France). In 1919, the design was revised, increasing mass to 31,400 t, with the most notable change being the addition of 8 single-mount 102/35 mm anti-aircraft guns.
Ansaldo was looking to re-use the hull of the Francesco Caracciolo - one of the proposals was conversion into an aircraft carrier, which was met with a positive response from staff of the Regia Marina, but due to the financial crisis at the end of the Great War the plan had to be scrapped. Ansaldo proposed a cheaper conversion into a floatplane carrier, but that too was declined. Finally, the company launched the hull in May 1920 with the intent to convert into a super-freighter, finalising the process with a sale to Navigazione Generale Italiana in December 1920. Navigazione Generale Italiana failed to fund the required 75 million liras for conversion and started having doubts about economic feasibility of such a vessel, thus eventually the hull of the Francesco Caracciolo shared its fate with the other three vessels of the class, being sold for scrap.
Media
Excellent additions to the article would be video guides, screenshots from the game, and photos.
See also
Links to articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example:
- reference to the series of the ship;
- links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.
External links
- [Wikipedia] Francesco Caracciolo-class battleship
- [Naval Encyclopedia] Caracciolo class battleships (1917)
- [NavWeaps] Italy 381 mm/40 (15") Model 1914
- [Warship International] Capital Ships of the Royal Italian Navy, 1860-1918: Part 4: Dreadnought Battleships
- All the World's Fighting Ships 1906 - 1921, p. 260
- Naval Weapons of World War One by Norman Friedman
- Italian Battleships Conte Di Cavour and Duilio Classes 1911-1956 by Erminio Bagnasco - Chapter "The Dreadnought In Italy: From Cuniberti's Concept To The 'Caracciolo' Class"
- Storia Militare no. 10, July 1994, pages 10 - 18, article Le navi da battaglia classe "Caracciolo" by Mascolo Antonio
| Royal Dockyard of Castellammare di Stabia (Regio Cantiere di Castellammare di Stabia) | |
|---|---|
| Corvettes | |
| Albatros-class | Albatros · Alcione |
| Battleships | |
| Unique Ships | RN Dante Alighieri |
| Duilio-class | RN Duilio |
| Francesco Caracciolo-class | RN Francesco Caracciolo |
| Italy battleships | |
|---|---|
| RN Dante Alighieri* | |
| Conte di Cavour-class | RN Conte di Cavour · RN Leonardo da Vinci |
| Duilio-class | RN Duilio · RN Andrea Doria |
| Francesco Caracciolo-class | RN Francesco Caracciolo |
| * = Unique ship | |
