side. She was transferred to Genoa for repairs, which were not completed before the Armistice that ended Italian participation in the war. Littorio was hit by three bombs on 19 June, a week after her sister was damaged. She was renamed Italia after Benito Mussolini's regime collapsed. Roma was damaged during the 5 June attack and again in a third attack on 23 June. In September 1943, following the withdrawal of Italy from the war, all three ships and a significant portion of the Italian fleet left port to be interned in Malta. While en route, German bombers laden with Fritz X radio-guided bombs attacked the formation. One hit Italia in the bow forward the main battery turrets, causing serious damage. Two hit Roma; one passed through the ship and exploded under her keel, and the second hit near the forward magazines. The bomb detonated the magazines, causing a massive explosion that destroyed the ship with heavy casualties. Italia and Vittorio Veneto reached Malta, where they remained until 14 September, when they were transferred to Alexandria. They remained at the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal for the rest of the war. On 6 June 1946, Vittorio Veneto steamed to Augusta in Sicily, where, under the Treaty of Peace with Italy, she was allocated to Britain. On 14 October 1946, she was moved to La Spezia, paid off on 3 January 1948, and broken up for scrap. Italia left Great Bitter Lake on 5 February 1947, to join her sister in Augusta. Allocated to the United States, she was stricken on 1 June 1948 and scrapped in La Spezia. The incomplete Impero had meanwhile been seized by the retreating Germans in 1943, who used her as a target, until she was sunk by American bombers on 20 February 1945. In October 1947, the ship was raised and towed to Venice, where she was broken up. The Littorio design in foreign navies In 1939, Spain's General Francisco Franco briefly considered a naval building program after seizing power in the Spanish Civil War. Franco concluded several agreements with the Italian government that would have seen the building of four Littorio-class battleships in Spain. The Italians promised to provide all necessary technical and material support for the construction of the ships. The Italian Navy pushed to modernize and enlarge the existing shipyards in Spain, so that they could handle a vessel as