WI: Leonardo da Vinci does not explode?

This may seem like a minuscule POD, but what if the Italian battleship Leonardo da Vinci, a Cavour class, didn't blow up in Taranto in 1916. Could its survival have any significant effect when WWII comes around, with the Italians now owning a extra battleship to threaten the British with, or even better, if her Captain was killed, he is promoted to a high rank and is the aggressive, skilled tactician the Regina Marnia needed?
 

Cook

Banned
It still gets sunk while at anchor along with a large chunk or the Italian Fleet in Taranto on 11 November 1940 by Fleet Air Arm Fairy Swordfish torpedo bombers.
 
The (remaining) Conte di Cavour-class were extensively rebuilt, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to serve any purpose in WWII.

Their rebuilt was so extensive apparently, that these were practically newly built ships.

If Italy still had had a third Cavour-class and decided to rebuilt it, they would have had to skip something else or you should come up with a POD explaining how Italy has more industry/funds and generally resources altogether.
Maybe no Vittorio Veneto class ships?

Considering how the Italian armed forces were already badly underfunded, that's not good news.
 
Sorry, for a moment I had a vision of the famous Florentine meeting a very messy end :eek:

My first reaction to the thread title would have been: "Fewer shrapnel holes in the Mona Lisa?" :D

[Chapman]But enough with this silliness![/Chapman]

Italy with one more older BB will either need to scrap, modernize, or sell it. They lack the money to modernize unless they scrap more new building plans (1-2 fewer Cruisers?) or reallocate resources from elsewhere, like the army or aeronautica.

Assuming they DID, the one extra old BB won't likely make much of a difference in the war unless it somehow butterflies Cavagneri a pair of nuts. Otherwise it's just one more target for Stringbags at Taranto. Conceivably, if stationed at the Horn of Africa, it could make some early difference in control of the Red Sea straights.

Most likely, though, the butterflies are elsewhere when the extra old BB is sold to some other nation's navy. Asia? South America?

Otherwise, maybe the construction of a new BB (or the Aquilla?) goes faster since they have one more BB worth of scrap steel available.

Edit: just realized the biggest difference it could make would be pre-WWII. The extra BB on paper will affect the on-paper strategic balance with France and the UK. This may affect naval treaties or diplomacy with possibly interesting diplomatic butterflies.
 
There is some chance that with a third battleship that the Italians would have been more aggressive at the Battle of Punto Stillo aka Calabria.
 
A third ship of the Conte Di Cavour class, would not have mattered much, as this class of ships was the first to be modernized in the 30's and appearently less succesfull than the Andrea Doria's, given the later's different scheme. Even the eventually pressence of the first dreadnought; Dante Alighieri, propably refitted as well, would not have made things much differnt, as the strategi was more to blame in WW2 for th Italians, then the number and quality of its ships.

A different and more agressive Commander of teh Regina Marina would have made little else too, as the combined command between Regina Marina and Aeronautica was missing. Simmilar to the problems in Germany between Luftwaffe and Kriegsmarine, the Italians had no real cooperation between the two armed forces, making operations in the Med. problematic at best. Since the Mediteranean Fleet of admiral Cunningham always included at least one aircraft carrier, as well as aircraft supporting from both RAF and FAA on landbases in the Eastern Med, Gibraltar and Malta. As long as there was nothing done about the British pressence in the air over the battle erea, the chances of the Regina Marina were little better than in the OTL.
 
Leonardo Da Vinci...

Dante Alighieri...

That's like the Royal Navy having ships called the John Constable and the Emily Bronte.
 
He, I realized in retrospect what a funny name it is. :eek::D

Well, thanks fot those who answered it. Just wondering if anything could come about from it, as obscure POD's are always interesting.
 

Hecatee

Donor
A different Washington treaty due to a slightly larger italian navy (one or two more slots to France and the UK for exemple) could be interesting. Can the Navies specialists here give us some idea of what could come out of it ?
 
A different Washington treaty due to a slightly larger italian navy (one or two more slots to France and the UK for exemple) could be interesting. Can the Navies specialists here give us some idea of what could come out of it ?

The Italians had da Vinci on their list of ships for the Washington Treaty, no change to the Washington Treaty is needed.
 
The Italians had da Vinci on their list of ships for the Washington Treaty, no change to the Washington Treaty is needed.


After the signing of the Washington Naval Treaty Italy had to deside what to do with the sunken Leonardo Da Vinci, as this vessel was indeed listed in the agrements. She was also allowed to replace the sunken ship by new construction, if repair was not economically possible, but Italy did not use up all its tonnage, until starting in the 30's with the Litorio class battleships, but that wa after the Washington Naval Treaty already was going to expire, since it was known, the Japanese would veto it off, for the next round.
 
Sorry, for a moment I had a vision of the famous Florentine meeting a very messy end :eek:

Me too, never heard of this ship so I was just thinking 'wtf? Is this some asb dbwi placed in the wrong place?' or perhaps 'da vinci died by exploding? what did he do? How didn't i know of something so cool?'
 
Me too, never heard of this ship so I was just thinking 'wtf? Is this some asb dbwi placed in the wrong place?' or perhaps 'da vinci died by exploding? what did he do? How didn't i know of something so cool?'

My initial reaction also. WTF , I never heard that was how he died. Uber cool . And now I am muchly disappointed to find out that it is merely about a ship.
 
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