Italian Battleship Conte di Cavour Country: Italy Type: Battleship Service: 1915 - 1940 Laid down: 1910 Launched: 1911 Commissioned: 1915 Decommissioned: 18 May 1928 Recommissioned: 1 June 1937 Struck: 1947 Fate: Captured 1943

The three Conte di Cavour class battleships served with the Italian Regia Marina in World War I and World War II.

Conte di Cavour was the lead ship of the class. She was based in Taranto at the time of the Italian entry into World War I (24 May 1915). The battleship never engaged the enemy during the war. On 12 May 1928 it was decommissioned; five years later, in October 1933, Conte di Cavour was transferred to Trieste, to be rebuilt. The reconstruction process left only 40% of the original structure. The central 305 mm turret was removed, and the remaining guns of the same caliber were upgraded to 320 mm. The new engines were able to provide 93,000 hp, allowing Conte di Cavour to reach 28 knots. Conte di Cavour had weak anti-aircraft and submarine defenses.

Conte di Cavour was returned to Regia Marina on 1 June 1937; it was in Taranto at the beginning of the World War II, on 10 June 1940. On 9 July 1940 it participated in the battle of Calabria, which was the first between Italian and British navies. During the British raid on Taranto, 11-12 November 1940, Conte di Cavour was sunk in shallow waters by a torpedo dropped by a British aircraft. The ship was raised at the end of 1941, and then sent to Trieste to be repaired and upgraded but it never returned to active duty.

On 10 September 1943, Conte di Cavour was captured by Germans, but later abandoned during Trieste bombing (15 February 1945). The battleship was scrapped on 27 February 1947.