World of Warships: The Regia Marina is coming!
7 min readLadies, Gentlemen and specifically Italian people. You have been waiting for them, here they finally are! Italy is finally getting an actual tech tree. To start this new tech-tree, we will first get the cruiser line.
Let’s first look at special features/gimmicks of the line.
The line’s special features
First, let’s talk about the armament. The Italian cruisers will not possess HE shells. Instead, they will be carrying Semi-armor piercing shells. These shells will be a mix of HE and AP shells in terms of mechanics. They will have, like HE shells, a fixed penetration value and will detonate on contact (meaning that they cannot overpenetrate platings). However, they will not be able to set fires.
Also, just like AP shells, they can bounce but have improved auto-bounce angles.
Their damage will also be higher than HE shells but lower than AP shells.
In terms of gun characteristics, the ships will have slow reload but high alpha damage.
Finally, for the consumables, they will not have Defensive AA, Hydroacoustic search or Radar. However, they will have a new consumable, the Fuel Smoke. This type of smoke will have a short duration on each cloud, however, the ship will remain concealed by the smoke while sailing at full speed. It’s basically the return of the stealth-firing.
This is for now all we know about their gimmicks.
The ships
We will start with the cruiser line and then, we will have a look at the 2 other premium ships.
Tier I Italian cruiser Eritrea
The Eritrea was a sloop of the Regia Marina. The ship was armed with 2 twin turrets with 120 mm guns.
Built in 1935, she mostly served in the Indian and Pacific Oceans where she provided assistance to the Japanese Navy. When Italy surrendered in 1943, the ship sailed to Colombo to surrender as well. After the war, she was transferred to the French Navy and was renamed Francis Garnier until she was used for a nuclear test in the Pacific Ocean in 1966.
Tier II Italian cruiser Nino Bixio
The Nino Bixio, lead ship of her class, was launched in 1911 and served in the Regia Marina until 1929. The ship was armed with 6 120 mm guns as her main armament. This was completed by 6 76 mm guns and 2 single 450 mm torpedo launchers.
As you can see here, the armament of the ship in-game seems to be quite different with 8 single 120 mm guns as her main battery.
The ship served during World War I but due to her troublesome engines, her career turned to be short with on top of that, the demobilization of the Navy at the end of the war. In the end, she was scrapped in 1929.
Tier III Italian cruiser Taranto
Surprisingly, we are getting a German ship as the tier III cruiser. The Taranto was indeed initially named SMS Strassburg. The ship was transferred as a war prize to the Italian Navy in 1920. Overall, the ship didn’t have a very fascinating career. In 1940, she took part in a Minelaying operation and was converted into a training ship in 1942. In 1943, after the Armistice, she was scuttled to avoid the German forces from using her. After this, the Germans re-floated her, then she was sunk by Allied bombers, then the Germans re-refloated her. She proceeded to be sunk again by bombers after the Germans moved the hulk to block one of the entrances to the Gulf of La Spezia. After the war, she was once again raised to be scrapped. They really could have nicknamed that ship “Phoenix” at this point.
Tier IV Italian cruiser Alberto Di Giussano
The ship is part of the Alberto Di Giussano-class of light cruisers from the Regia Marina. Launched in 1930, she carries 4 twin turrets equipped with 152 mm guns as primary armament and completed by 3 twin secondary mounts with 100 mm guns and 2 twin 533 mm torpedo launchers. During World War 2, she was with her sister ship engaged in a convoy mission to carry gasoline for the German and Italian forces of the Afrika Korps in 1941. The ships were intercepted by Allied destroyers during the Battle of Cape Bon. After being struck by a torpedo amidships and shells from the enemy ships, the Alberto Di Guissano was abandoned. Out of the 720 men aboard, 283 lost their lives.
Tier V Italian cruiser Montecuccoli
The Raimondo Montecuccoli was the lead ship of a subclass from the Condottieri-class light cruiser of the Regia Marina. Launched in 1934, the Raimondo Montecuccoli represented a further evolution to the 2 previous subclasses by being larger and better protected.
The ship first served for a short period in the Sino-Japanese war. During World War 2, she took part in various battles and operations including the battle of Punta Stilo and the battle of Pantelleria. The ship was interned by the Allied after the Armistice and would serve as a training ship once back home until 1964.
Tier VI Italian cruiser Trento
The Trento is the first heavy cruiser of the Italian cruiser line. Lead ship of her class, she was launched in 1927 and saw extensive actions during World War 2. She served in the Mediterranean sea and took part in the battles of Calabria, Cape Spartivento, and Cape Matapan in July and November 1940 and March 1941, respectively. She was also present during the inconclusive First and Second Battles of Sirte, and at the latter, she severely damaged a British destroyer. Trento was also frequently tasked with escorting convoys to supply Italian forces in North Africa as well as interdicting British convoys to Malta.
She would meet her end after a British Bristol Beaufighter torpedo-bomber scored a hit on her, crippling the ship. The torpedo caused a serious fire in the forward boiler rooms, which forced her to stop. Later on, the British submarine Umbra finished her off by scoring another torpedo, sinking the ship with some 549 men out of a wartime complement of 51 officers and 1 100 enlisted.
Tier VII Italian cruiser Zara
The Zara is the last ship that was actually built in the line. Here, she seems to possess features from her initial design including torpedo tubes that were removed to fit the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty.
The Zara was launched in 1929 and saw extensive actions during the first 2 years of Italian’s participation to World War 2. She took part in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, the Battle of Taranto in November 1940, and the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. It’s during this last battle that she will be sunk with her 2 sister ships in a close-range night engagement with British battleships. Most of her crew, 783 officers and sailors, including the divisional commander Admiral Carlo Cattaneo, were killed in the sinking.
Tier VIII Italian cruiser Verona
The Verona is base on a cruiser design made for the Spanish Navy by the Italians. The 1940’s “Super Washington” Ansaldo cruiser plan – III was meant to be a heavy cruiser armed with 3 triple turrets with 2 superfiring at the front and 1 at the rear.
The question remains if the 203 mm guns and shells are the same as on the Zara which wouldn’t be that great.
Overall, out of all the different designs, this one was the most interesting.
If you want to learn more about the design’s characteristics, here is a link for you.
Tier IX Italian cruiser Torino
The Torino is similar to the Verona in terms of background. She is also based on a cruiser design for the Spanish navy. However, the actual design was a light cruiser design armed with 12 152 mm guns in 4 triple turrets.
In World of Warships, the Torino is carrying 12 guns as well but these are 203 mm guns.
If you want to learn more about the design’s characteristics, here is a link for you.
Tier X Italian cruiser Milano
For the Tier X ship, I saw a lot of salt because she wasn’t the 3 x 3 254 mm gun design. Personally, I don’t mind because these days, cruisers with large-caliber guns in 3 triple turrets are basically everywhere so a bit of fresh air, I’m not spitting on it.
Now, the Milano is a ship created by Wargaming just like things like Roon, Hindenburg, Henri IV, République, Zao (Actually for Zao, I’m not sure, it always was a big debate), Conqueror, etc. She carries a total of 15 203 mm guns in 5 triple turrets. 3 turrets are in superfiring position at the front and 2 in superfiring position at the rear. I’m not a naval architect but I question the stability of such design.
When it comes to her armament, someone on Reddit had fun identifying them.
Tier V Italian premium cruiser Genova
Right now, I have absolutely no idea of what that ship is based on. The only somewhat known element is the main battery of the ship. These should be the twin 191 mm/45 Model 1908 gun turrets that were used as secondaries on the armored cruisers like the Pisa.
If you want to learn more about these guns, here is the entry about them on navweaps.com.
Tier X Italian Freemium destroyer Paolo Emilio
Now, this ship is a weird one. The Paolo Emilio was a never built ship of the Capitani Romani-class of what was considered to be light cruisers. Some authors, however, tend to categorize them as heavy destroyers. Normally, the Capitani Romani-class was armed with 8 135 mm guns in 4 twin turrets, 2 superfiring at the front and 2 superfiring at the rear. the ships were also carrying 2 quad torpedo launchers mounted on the centerline of the ships.
When it comes to the ship in the game, it carries 3 quadruple torpedo launchers with one on the centerline and 2 wing-mounted. Her superstructure is also quite different from the one of the built ships from the Capitani Romani-class. The ship was balanced by the Community Contributors that were at the St-Petersburg summit (boy I’ve got a terrible feeling about that). She is planned to have SAP shells instead of HE and fuel smoke like the cruisers.
That is, for now, everything we know about the upcoming Italian ships. No stats are available as of now as the ships are still undergoing early balancing.
About Author
YES! Finally ive been waiting for!
Hail Mussolini!
My biggest concern is for the T8-9-10 names: all 3 of them are terribily wrong for RM ships: Milano, Torino and even Verona are not maritime cities, hence not suitable to be names of Italian ships, as is tradition. Others like Trento, Bolzano or Vittorio Veneto are exceptions, but only because of the irredentism of the time.
Those 3 have been Italian cities from the very start, in 1861 (heck, Torino, my city, has been the Reign first capital). Zara, Pola, Fiume, Trieste etc etc became Italians only after 1918, provocative names that were inspiring and desired to be used on cruisers by the regime for propagandistic reasons. All heavy cruisers, in fact, bear names from those locations across the Adriatic sea.
They go against every Regia Marina naming convention, it would be like naming the new T9 US BB Ohio, instead of a State, a City like USS Minneapolis or Boston, or naming the Conqueror Liverpool. It’s just wrong, and outrageous considering WG should just have put a bit of time on the naming choice.
There are far better alternatives, like Napoli, Bari, Venezia, you name it. Even if it didn’t come from a newly annexed territory, it would feel far better than those 3 cities.
I just hope they will reconsider all 3 of them, I love their designs and I’m glad the 3×3 254mm Ansaldo project can be added as another T10, but please please please, inform the developers about these errors, they seriously break the immersion for us naval enthusiasts.
My biggest concern is for the T8-9-10 names: all 3 of them are terribly wrong for Regia Marina ships: Milano, Torino and Verona are not maritime cities, hence not suitable to be names of Italian ships, as is tradition. Other like Trento, Bolzano or Vittorio Veneto are exceptions, but only because of the irredentism of that time.
Those 3 have been Italian cities from the very start, in 1861 (heck, Torino, from where I’m writing this, has been the Reign first capital). Zara, Pola, Fiume, Trieste etc. became Italian only after 1918, becoming provocative, inspiring names, desired to be used on cruisers by the regime for propagandistic reasons. Most heavy cruisers, in fact, bear names from those locations across the Adriatic sea.
They even go against every RM naming convention, it would be like naming the new US BB Ohio, instead of a State, a city like Minneapolis or Boston, or naming the Conqueror Liverpool, or the République Napoléon. It’s just wrong, and fairly lazy considering WG should just have put a bit of time on such an important naming choice.
There are far better alternatives, like Napoli, Bari, Venezia, you name it. Even if it didn’t come from a newly annexed territory, it would feel far better than those 3 cities, It doesn’t even have to be a city at all!
I just hope they will reconsider all 3 of them, I love their designs and I’m glad the 3×3 254mm Ansaldo project can now be added as another premium T10, but please, please, please, inform the developers about these errors, they seriously break the immersion for us naval enthusiasts.
There are far better alternatives, like Napoli, Bari, Venezia, you name it. Even if it didn’t come from a newly annexed territory, it would feel far better than those 3 cities.
I just hope they will reconsider all 3 of them, I love their designs and I’m glad the 3×3 254mm Ansaldo project can be added as another T10, but please please please, inform the developers about these errors, they seriously break the immersion for us naval enthusiasts.
My biggest concern is for the T8-9-10 names: all 3 of them are terribily wrong for RM ships: Milano, Torino and even Verona are not maritime cities, hence not suitable to be names of Italian ships, as is tradition. Others like Trento, Bolzano or Vittorio Veneto are exceptions, but only because of the irredentism of the time. There are far better alternatives, like Napoli, Bari, Venezia, you name it. Even if it didn’t come from a newly annexed territory, it would feel far better than those 3 cities.
I just hope they will reconsider all 3 of them, I love their designs and I’m glad the 3×3 254mm Ansaldo project can be added as another T10, but please please please, inform the developers about these errors, they seriously break the immersion for us naval enthusiasts.
My biggest concern is for the T8-9-10 names: all 3 of them are terribily wrong for RM ships: Milano, Torino and even Verona are not maritime cities, hence not suitable to be names of Italian ships, as is tradition. Others like Trento, Bolzano or Vittorio Veneto are exceptions, but only because of the irredentism of the time.
My biggest concern is for the T8-9-10 names: all 3 of them are terribily wrong for RM ships: Milano, Torino and even Verona are not maritime cities, hence not suitable to be names of Italian ships, as is tradition. Others like Trento, Bolzano or Vittorio Veneto are exceptions, but only because of the irredentism of the time.
Those 3 have been Italian cities from the very start, in 1861 (heck, Torino, my city, has been the Reign first capital). Zara, Pola, Fiume, Trieste etc etc became Italians only after 1918, provocative names that were inspiring and desired to be used on cruisers by the regime for propagandistic reasons. All heavy cruisers, in fact, bear names from those locations across the Adriatic sea.
They go against every Regia Marina naming convention, it would be like naming the new T9 US BB Ohio, instead of a State, a City like USS Minneapolis or Boston, or naming the Conqueror Liverpool. It’s just wrong, and outrageous considering WG should just have put a bit of time on the naming choice.
There are far better alternatives, like Napoli, Bari, Venezia, you name it. Even if it didn’t come from a newly annexed territory, it would feel far better than those 3 cities.
I just hope they will reconsider all 3 of them, I love their designs and I’m glad the 3×3 254mm Ansaldo project can be added as another T10, but please please please, inform the developers about these errors, they seriously break the immersion for us naval enthusiasts.
JESUS CHRIST FINALLY!
But I somewhat agree with the salt. The 3×3 254mm design could have been interesting, as we don’t even have a 254mm gun in game yet. And I agree on the stability problem caused by that 5×3 203mm arrangement, so the 3×3 254mm version would have also looked way less absurd.
f@ck mussolini, you mean.
i think WG decided to go with this thinkign to make the 254 version in the future, for the arsenal or maybe for the controversial system that has to regrind your ships
am I crazy or didn’t someone wrongly leaked the top Tier Italian Cruisers a couple of months ago together with screenshots from other ships that had entered ST?
I clearly remember the Super Zara, the Ansaldo design for the Spanish Navy and the Ansaldo design for the Soviet Navy
I cannot find the post anymore but I cannot shake the feeling I saw them, maybe it was on that wows.today site that has since been down
either way I have that feeling, am I wrong?
I almost feel like the Russian playerbase did not want someone else to have “their” interesting top tier cruiser and whined about that “forcing” WG to change plans, I mean, I do not think something like that would be impossible
Well, they could work the 3×3 254 in as an alternative Tier 10 “competing” with the Milano, in a similar fashion to several battleship lines these days (Kremlin/Slava, Montana/Ohio, Conqueror/Thunderer and probably in the future an alternative Grosser Kurfurst with 420mm guns only), but here’s the thing: with all these battleships, we are essentially looking at ships of the same cl***, with different main armament. They are not that difficult to remodel, because the hull and superstructure remain the same. The only different line is the French, with the Republique and the Bourgogne, but even in that case, the Bourgogne is an upgraded version of the Alsace which was already in the main line. The “Ansaldo for Russia”, on the other hand, would be a completely different ship than the Milano, even structurally speaking (three bigger turrets compared to five smaller ones), so I don’t know if we’ll ever see it. So far, the only really different Tier 10 ships have come from split lines, like the Russian and Japanese destroyers or the American cruisers, and I don’t think there’s enough ships to split the Italian cruiser line.
I hope I’m wrong. I was seriously hyped for that design, and I would love to see it come to the game in some form.
The Zao is a real design, it’s the 1941 type a heavy cruiser
Hybrid ammos are interesting. Abruzzi is floating piece of carbage. Even with IFHE 9/10 long range shots shatter against T7 battleships. Most frustrating ship I have played. So I welcome these new type ammos. Let’s see how they work in practice.