Supertest: Italian Tier IV Battleship Dante Alighieri
6 min readThe Dante Alighieri was the first dreadnought battleship ever built by the Regia Marina. She was laid down in June 1909, launched in August 1910 and completed in January 1913.
The ship was armed with a unified main battery of 12 305 mm guns in 4 triple turrets, all on the centerline and optimized for broadside fire.
The ship saw little action during World War I and during her whole career, never fired her guns in anger. In 1923, she received a small refit in the form of a new tripod mast and an aircraft flying platform on her 3rd turret. With the Italian economy being weakened after the war, it was decided to scrap the ship which was done in 1928.
In World of Warships, we are getting Dante Alighieri as she was during World War I.
The main features of the Italian battleships are:
- Like the Italian cruisers, instead of HE shells, the new ships are armed with SAP shells. They inflict high damage on weakly and moderately protected targets and ship parts but do not cause fires.
- The “Exhaust smoke generator” is among the consumables of the Italian battleships starting from tier VIII, which will allow you to hide from the enemy without sacrificing speed.
- A large number of guns with a relatively short firing range and poor accuracy. They will basically be close/mid-range SAP sailing shotguns.
- Decent concealment and average maneuverability, quickly turning turrets and rather good armor.
For the classic reminder, this is a ship in testing, anything can change so don’t look at her like she would already be released.
Hull | Engine | Gun Fire Control System | Main battery |
Dante Alighieri |
Propulsion: 32 000 hp |
SDT 4 mod. 1 |  305 mm/46 Vickers-Terni Model 1909 |
SDT 4 mod. 2 |
Stock Ship
| Tier | IV |
| Health | 36 000 HP |
| Torpedo Damage Reduction | 16 % |
| Displacement | 21 800 tons |
| Main Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 13.260 km |
| 305 mm/46 Vickers-Terni Model 1909 | 4 x 3 305 mm |
| Secondary Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 3.500 km |
| 120 mm/50 Ansaldo 1909 120 mm/50 Vickers 1909 | 4 x 2 120 mm 12 x 1 120 mm |
| Maximum speed | 23 knots |
| Turning Circle Radius | 580 m |
| Rudder Shift Time | 11.56 s |
| Surface Detectability | 11.14 km |
| Air Detectability | 7.84 km |
| Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 8.6 km |
| 4 x 3 305 mm/46 Vickers-Terni Model 1909 | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 13.260 km |
| Reloading Time | 33.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 60.0 s |
| Optimal firing angles at the front | 32° |
| Optimal firing angles at the rear | 33° |
| Sigma | 1.60 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 195 m |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | SAP – 305 mm proiettili CS 1909 |
| Alpha Damage | 7 850 HP |
| Penetration capacity | 79 mm |
| Projectile Speed | 850 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.412 |
| Projectile Mass | 406 kg |
| Ricochet Angles | 70° – 80° |
| Type of Projectile | AP – 305 mm proiettili AP 1909 |
| Alpha Damage | 8 650 HP |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.412 |
| Projectile Mass | 452 kg |
| Projectile Krupp | 2 400 |
| Projectile Detonator | 0.01 s |
| Detonator threshold | 51 mm |
| Ricochet Angles | 45° – 60° |
| 4 x 2 120 mm/50 Ansaldo 1909 | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 3.500 km |
| Reloading Time | 5 s |
| Sigma | 1.00 sigma |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE – 120 mm proiettili HE 1918 |
| Alpha Damage | 1 700 HP |
| Damage | 720 HP |
| HE penetration | 20 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.36 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 6 % |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.35 |
| Projectile Mass | 22.75 kg |
| 12 x 1 120 mm/50 Vickers 1909 | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 3.500 km |
| Reloading Time | 4 s |
| Sigma | 1.00 sigma |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE – 120 mm proiettili HE 1918 |
| Alpha Damage | 1 700 HP |
| Damage | 720 HP |
| HE penetration | 20 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.36 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 6 % |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.35 |
| Projectile Mass | 22.75 kg |
| 4 x 1 76/40 Ansaldo 1917 8 x 1 40 mm/39 QF MKII | |
| Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.0 km |
| Hit chance | 75 % |
| Sector’s damage | 45 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 158 |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
Damage Control Party  Work time: 15 sCooldown: 80 s | Repair Party  Number of charges: 4Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s |
Upgraded Ship
| Tier | IV |
| Health | 36 000 HP |
| Torpedo Damage Reduction | 16 % |
| Displacement | 21 800 tons |
| Main Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 14.586 km |
| 305 mm/46 Vickers-Terni Model 1909 | 4 x 3 305 mm |
| Secondary Armament | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 3.500 km |
| 120 mm/50 Ansaldo 1909 120 mm/50 Vickers 1909 | 4 x 2 120 mm 12 x 1 120 mm |
| Maximum speed | 23 knots |
| Turning Circle Radius | 580 m |
| Rudder Shift Time | 11.56 s |
| Surface Detectability | 11.14 km |
| Air Detectability | 7.84 km |
| Detectability After Firing Main Guns in Smoke | 8.6 km |
| 4 x 3 305 mm/46 Vickers-Terni Model 1909 | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 14.586 km |
| Reloading Time | 33.0 s |
| 180 Degree Turn Time | 60.0 s |
| Optimal firing angles at the front | 32° |
| Optimal firing angles at the rear | 33° |
| Sigma | 1.60 sigma |
| Maximum Dispersion | 209 m |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | SAP – 305 mm proiettili CS 1909 |
| Alpha Damage | 7 850 HP |
| Penetration capacity | 79 mm |
| Projectile Speed | 850 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.412 |
| Projectile Mass | 406 kg |
| Ricochet Angles | 70° – 80° |
| Type of Projectile | AP – 305 mm proiettili AP 1909 |
| Alpha Damage | 8 650 HP |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.412 |
| Projectile Mass | 452 kg |
| Projectile Krupp | 2 400 |
| Projectile Detonator | 0.01 s |
| Detonator threshold | 51 mm |
| Ricochet Angles | 45° – 60° |
| 4 x 2 120 mm/50 Ansaldo 1909 | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 3.500 km |
| Reloading Time | 5 s |
| Sigma | 1.00 sigma |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE – 120 mm proiettili HE 1918 |
| Alpha Damage | 1 700 HP |
| Damage | 720 HP |
| HE penetration | 20 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.36 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 6 % |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.35 |
| Projectile Mass | 22.75 kg |
| 12 x 1 120 mm/50 Vickers 1909 | |
| Maximum Firing Range | 3.500 km |
| Reloading Time | 4 s |
| Sigma | 1.00 sigma |
| Shells | |
| Type of Projectile | HE – 120 mm proiettili HE 1918 |
| Alpha Damage | 1 700 HP |
| Damage | 720 HP |
| HE penetration | 20 mm |
| Explosion Size | 0.36 |
| Chance to Cause Fire | 6 % |
| Projectile Speed | 840 m/s |
| Air Drag | 0.35 |
| Projectile Mass | 22.75 kg |
| 4 x 1 76/40 Ansaldo 1917 8 x 1 40 mm/39 QF MKII | |
| Sector range | 0.1 km – 3.0 km |
| Hit chance | 75 % |
| Sector’s damage | 45 |
| Sector’s damage frequency | 0.29 s |
| Sector’s damage per second | 158 |
Slot 1 | Slot 2 |
Damage Control Party Work time: 15 sCooldown: 80 s | Repair Party Number of charges: 4Work time: 28 s Cooldown: 80 s HP regeneration speed: +0.5%/s |
The Armor
The armor protection on the Dante is, like on quite a lot of other tier IV battleships, very good.
The bow section
The bow is, at the top and deep below water, protected by 19 mm of armor. For the rest, there is a massive 100 mm ice-breaker. With how high it is, it perfectly protects the citadel athwartship.
Inside the bow, there is a 20 mm armored deck. It pretty much won’t help against anything but… it’s here.
For the protection of the middle section, the upper bulkhead is 120 mm thick and the citadel athwartship is 25 mm thick.
The middle section
The middle section of the Dante is also well armored. The deck is 25 mm thick which gives her some resistance against cruiser HE and also the capacity to bounce AP shells from battleships.
The upper belt is 100 mm thick and the main belt is 250 mm thick.
Behind the main belt, there is a 50 mm turtleback sloped at 45° to 58° but also the sloped deck of the citadel.
The citadel’s sides are protected by 25 mm of armor.
Finally, for the horizontal protection, there is a 24 mm deck and then the 30 mm citadel deck. This is nowhere near enough to protect the citadel from AP bombs so Hoshou and Rhein will be able to cheese her without issue.
The stern section
For the stern, the upper and lower parts are protected by 19 mm of armor while the rest is protected by a large 75 mm extended belt.
Inside the stern, there is also a 20 mm armored deck but just like on the bow, the thickness and height make it useless.
For the protection of the middle section, the upper casemate is 75 mm thick, then there is the 120 mm bulkhead and finally, the citadel athwartship with 25 mm of armor.
The superstructure
Just like on a lot of tier IV ships, the superstructure is very small. It is 13 mm thick except for the conning towers with 120 mm to 280 mm of armor.
The turrets
The turrets are decently protected with 250 mm on the face, sides and back as well as 150 mm of armor on the roof.
The barbettes are 75 mm thick at the top, 220 mm thick on the sides for the exposed part and 120 mm thick for the inner part.
Personal Opinion
Right now, that ship looks absolutely scary at this tier for one reason: Semi-armor piercing shells with 12 guns and 79 mm of penetration. Any cruiser that she can meet with an exposed citadel can get citadelled by her SAP and on top of that, there is the fact that the shells can also overmatch their platings. Against battleships, she will still need to switch to AP in general since a lot of them have very thick side armor everywhere.
Another scary aspect of that ship is the concealment. She is by a fairly good margin the stealthiest battleship at tier IV.
All of this is “compensated” by having the lowest HP pool of all tier IV battleships, including the stock hulls.
Thank you for reading this article! Don’t hesitate to subscribe to our notifications to make sure that you don’t miss any future articles. Have a good one and see you soon!
Small side note: I will wait for the live client to update to 0.9.11. to do the article for Lepanto. Considering the fact that Wargaming changed her armor quite a lot, I prefer to wait and see how it will look like after the nerf.
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The first dreadnought ever designed with triple turrets!