Vittorio Veneto was the second member of the that served in the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) during World War II. The ship's keel was laid down in October 1934, launched in July 1937, and readied for service with the Italian fleet by August 1940. She was named after the Italian victory at Vittorio Veneto during World War I, and she had three sister ships: , , and , though only Littorio and Roma were completed during the war. She was armed with a main battery of nine guns in three triple turrets, and could steam at a speed of . Vittorio Veneto saw extensive service during the war. The ship escaped undamaged during the British raid on Taranto in November 1940. Early in the war, she participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in November 1940 and the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941 where she was damaged by a torpedo bomber, and then she was torpedoed by the British submarine in December 1941. She spent 1941 and early 1942 attempting to attack British convoys to Malta, but crippling fuel shortages in the Italian fleet curtailed activity thereafter. Vittorio Veneto was among the Italian ships that were surrendered to the Allies in September 1943 after Italy withdrew from the war, and she spent the following three years under British control in Egypt. After the war, she was allocated as a war prize to Britain and subsequently broken up for scrap. Description Vittorio Veneto was long overall and had a beam of and a draft of . She was designed with a standard displacement of , a violation of the restriction of the Washington Naval Treaty; at full combat loading, she displaced . The ship was powered by four Belluzo geared steam turbines rated at . Steam was provided by eight oil-fired Yarrow boilers. The engines provided a top speed of and a range of at . Vittorio Veneto had a crew of 1,830 to 1,950 over the course of her career. Vittorio Venetos main armament consisted of nine 50-caliber Model 1934 guns in three triple turrets; two turrets were placed forward in a superfiring arrangement and the third was located aft. Her secondary anti-surface armament consisted of twelve /55 Model 1934/35 guns in four triple turrets placed at the corners of the superstructure. These were supplemented by four /40 Model 1891/92 guns in single mounts; these guns were