RN Andrea Doria - Guide 345 

Pinned post for Q&A :)

The Regia Marina battleship rebuilds probably win the grand prize for the most extreme capital ship rebuilds ever.

The Italians, whatever they built had to be pleasing to the eye. It didn't matter if it was a car or a battleship.

Okay they were a little undergunned but after the rebuild they look so good.

Both the rebuild and the Littorio class were some of the most elegant warships that graced the Mediterranean sea ...

1:46 “Then in 1910…. the Regia Marina chief naval engineer died. Very careless of him.” There’s your Drachism of the day.

These ships would definitely win a beauty contest if there ever was one for Battleships.

Very good as usual! Yes during ww2 they saw little deployment, also because the available fuel was diverted to the Littorios. They participated in the convoy escort operations of late 41' (including first sirte) early 42' and that's it. Aftet the war they also became flagships of the postwar Italian navy

Whatever their capacities, these boats became very pretty after the rebuilds.

She Actually became a very beautiful ship …The perfect Rake on the bow that little bit of tuck in the stern .. Motto Bella ..

Ever since the old days of NavyField and later WoWS, the Andrea Doria's have always been one of my favorite looking ships, glad to see it get a guide finally.

I have always the designs that the Italian naval architects came up with fascinating. Given the restrictions they were hobbled with, very interesting and creative (and beautiful) designs.

All those Italian refits sure turned out beautiful.

Love this ships, Italians made warships look elegant

Nice succinct overview of two excellent Mediterranean battleships. Italy did tend to frequently go a bit 'Fisherific' with their pre-WW2 capital ships, often seeming to prefer punching the enemy in the face, at speed, over defending themselves. The conversions of these two are, without any doubt, the most excellent rebuilds of any gun capital in all of history; taking previously adequate but by-then obsolescent ships and turning out a pair of very modern and capable second-class battleships. Literally *EVERY. SINGLE. THING* about them was made better. Hats off to the Italian engineers and dockyard workers.

Always love it when the thumbnail shows that green, white, red flag! Beautiful ships, favourite navy.

I've been waiting for this ever since the video on Conte di Cavour. I've always loved the Italian dreadnoughts and I'm glad that more people are learning about these often overshadowed ships.

That's quite the refit. Italy's capital ships of the world wars are underrated.

Thank you, Drachinifel.

Just want to say that I love that Drach is still using the computer voice for the outro. I remember when he stopped and then almost immediately started again, but that was years ago now. So its great that he still uses it. Never forget where you came from, right?

I wrote/begged several model manufacturers about 20 years ago to address the lack of 1:700 scale Italian & French capital ships in plastic model form. I cited these ships & Richelieu, ect. Some 3 years later or so, they were on the market. Did I do it ? I like to think I had SOMETHING to do with it.... who knows ? All I know is I was extremely pleased, as well some others !! 🚬😎👍

The rebuilt Cavours and Doria/Duilio classes have some of the cleanest looking lines among the BBs active in WWII, they're really elegant. I wonder if their extreme rebuilds actually came in cheaper than simply scrapping the old ones and building entirely new ships though...

Yes, very pretty after the refit! Glad they got some use after the waar out of them.

Thank you so much Sensei. I love Learning from you. If I fall asleep with something else on I wake up to Drachinifel. Like your so calm voice is easy to listen to. I have cancelled channels that got all hyper and shouty. Thanks for the what you do.

I love these ships, heavy rebuilds, good looking, balanced and fast. I also like the 10 gun broadside

I’m currently doing an Ultimate Admirals run as Italy. I’ve made it to 1932 as of now and although I have a large, very advanced navy….i still have 2 older battleships from 1915 that have gone through MULTIPLE refits. Those two literally took on 7-to-1 odd when I got into a war with the ottomans and basically saved me in that war. They’re now a local-ish force only…but they are never going to be scrapped. They look great and hit well, and with upgrades make for great anti-cruiser ships with 29knts speed. The Gabagool Squad

Wow, the modernization program had them looking like brand new designs.

The best rebuilds

Thanks for the history and it's a fun ship to play.

Wonderful looking ships - these vessels should have seen more action - better shells and more fuel allowing!

Thank you Drach!

We think of battleships as being humongous steel behemoths, but the P&O ferries out of Dover are about twice the displacement when loaded. Plenty of firepower too. In the bars and duty free. 🤣

Been waiting for this video I just got Andrea Doria in WT

Nice looking ships.

Probably the best looking battleships ever.

My god this is the 355th guide... wow...

Gota admit she became a beautiful mature old lady, the engineer that made her rebuild project had good taste.

Its amazing how modern the refit made it look.

Could you cover Italo-Turkish war of 1911? Itali gained Lybia and Dodecanes as the result of war, but geography implies that there had to some naval operations and possibly even battles?

Thank you for the insightful video about the Italian ship Andrea Doria! Just wanted to mention that there were actually two ships with that name: the luxury ocean liner SS Andrea Doria and the battleship RN Andrea Doria, both named after the renowned Italian admiral Andrea Doria. It's a common mix-up, and your video helped clear it up for me. Great content as always!

It’d be lovely to see a video on the HMS Fylgia, the world’s smallest armored cruiser that somehow managed to last into the post-ww2 era.

Your shot at 2.00...I would have asked at the time, 'What cost savings are generated by articulating two warships and where is the hinge?'.

When I first saw images of this and other Italian battleships and warships in the Sixties (my father having among many other battles having been torpedoed on the Nelson during a Malta convoy ) I thought such Italian warships attractive. However like many pleasing Italian products they had similar design issues (as indeed do all warships to this day as they are compromises) but more so!. 👍🏻🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

This is interesting, also I have a suggestion for a ship from the Royal Thai navy, the Thonburi class.

I'd like to see a vid on the USS _Alarm_ and its experimental propulsion systems, if you could.

These ships were homely at best when they were first launched, but their refits turned them into the best looking battleships I've ever seen. Italians could make a septic tank stylish... (With above-average maintenance required)

I have very little confidence in Italian engineering, but they sure know how to make something look good.

7:32 I believe there was a destroyer involved with helping Duilio run aground here, the destroyer's captain would later command the ill fated ocean liner, Andria Doria

I always had a soft spot for the unique set up for the AD with her 3-2-3-2-3 setup and later refit to 3-2-2-3 that the uss Nevada also had. Or the 2-3-3-2 of the Pensacola. Or the ranger with her 6 funnels that folded over to allow carrier operation. Or the Japanese side spewing exhaust with the ability to open to vent exhaust in the event a list was so bad the normal outlet would be in the water. (such as akagi and kaga before their flat top refit)

You can argue whether refitting the Cavours and the Dorias was necessary, given the cost and their later use. However, you can't argue they were some of the most beautiful ships to sail the Meditteranean !

Waiting for the drop!!!

It is easy to forget how much buoyancy makes it convenient to move heavy guns. When Drachinifel mentions "smaller guns" like the 3.5" or 90 mm guns had 5 pairs on each side.

The earlier pictures, with no superstructure to speak of, seemed very odd. I saw the conning tower, but having just enough to see over the turrets, very unusual

Another great video about a class that has always interested me. Again it is mentioned that multiple thin armoured decks are not as effective as a single deck equivalent to the total thickness. Is there a rule of thumb that equates multiple decks to a dingle thick one?

Thanks Drach. More or less... I don't remember the last 'less'.

I love how they looks like mini-Littorios after rebuilt

And I thought Kongo class were the most extensive rebuild out of WW1 era capital ships

Masters of the aesthetic dating back to the Renaissance. I'm sure even their tug boats had beautiful lines. lol

As with the rest of the WWII-era Italian battleships, the Duilios look amazing. :O

The History Guy recently covered the Battle of Shimonoseki straights, USS Wyoming. I would really like to see a more in depth technical read of the battle by you.

Transformation, Modernization, Rebuilt, Rebirth, Perfection! Jokes aside, this is wonderfull! 1:00 Do not forget Sardinia.

I m kinda Impressed with this ship they Modernized it well

What Italy did actually obtain with its 4 reconstructions were just 4 battle cruisers fully comparable to the British WW1 Lion class, nothing worse but nothing better.

Whatever you want to say about Italy there sure did have some nice battleships

I have a weak spot for these ships, especially the "D's", Duilio and Doria. Although maybe not that efficient, and not a good bargain for Italy's scant resources, they look GREAT!

Hi there, would you consider doing a special on capital ship's underwater torpedo tubes? I cannot be the only one curious about the practicalities of their use, loading, successes (if any) and other related stories - such as a claim USS Texas flooded hers on one side to gain extra elevation off Normandy? (also please tell me what the hell is that debris thrown up by what I think could be Brit 15in guns in your opening credits..?)

I love the look of these ships. French and Italian BBs don't get the attention that they are due.

Awesome thanks 👍👍

Boring out the barrels. So - they reused old ones? Was that a regular practice?

Interestingly, the Andrea Doria was scrapped in the middle of the Atlantic with the help of the Swedish ocean liner Stockholm. Oh wait, wrong Andrea Doria...

By chance, have you done a video on the pros and cons of dual gun turrets vs. triple and quadruple gun turrets? If not, do you have any links to anyone who has done this comparison? Video or text.

At 140 it looks like the ship is moving fast forward but the smoke looks like its moving forward as well. What is going on?

i guess the IJN Yubari episode has been delayed :P

Should this be Guide #345? Or did I miss a bunch?

Hei drach did you delete the "next on the list " ships you have it in your early vids

Just breaks my heart every time I hear a battleship was scrapped.

Caracciolo class next please?

Probably a good thing they did not sortie to oppose allied landing, I am not sure how well they would have faired against allied ships supporting the landing,

So it wasn't involved in the collision of the Stockholm and the Andrea Doria then? 🙂

Is it bad that the very first thing I thought when I saw this video pop up was "Now, what if Stockholm had hit this instead?"

I think Regia Marina wasn't so bad and should be reevaluated: The Italian fleet was the fourth in the world in 1940, it had the same tonnage of navy like France .The Littorio Class was the backbone of the navy with the 3 huge battleships: Littorio ,Vittorio Veneto and Roma(in 1940 they were considered the most powerful battleships in the world like artillery.). The Regia Marina had very great successes with submarines ,they fought in fourth different seas:Mediterranean Sea, in the Red Sea,in the Persian Gulf and in the Atlantic Ocean. ,with 1750 missions and the sinking of 132 merchant ships and 18 military ships,Italy lost 128 submarines of the totaly 172.The X Mas ,was a special unit of assault and raid of the Regia Marina ,with great success of sinking to the Royal Navy.

Andrea Doria? Isn't that the one they did the song about?

Ciao Bella!

I wonder what they did with the removed turrets? ☮

Yesterday would have been the day of the battle of Lissa...

I love this ship in War Thunder. Good armor, good guns, acceptable speed, absolutely beautiful looks. Duilio though... now that one is suffering. Sure, guns are 320 mm, but so what if the explosive filler is pitiful and the rate of fire was unimpressive. That 90mm though... IRL it was arguably the best AA gun that Italy designed in that time period, but I can't help but wonder just how good it would be with VT shells...

That guy who carelessly died was a General because until 45 at least, engineering officers in Italy had Army ranks like "Colonello di Genio Navale". At least they had ranks while in the Imperial German navy they just had "Marine-Ingenieur" titles and silver stripes as rank... Though the Kriegsmarine gave the Engineers ranks but just added (ing.) behind them.

Not too bad as super cruisers.

Still the best looking dreadnought modernization (imo)

After modernization they were beautiful ships. It is a shame one wasn't preserved as a museum ship.

Aw yeah, battleship time again!

Oh hey the new Azure Lane BB, pitty that she doesn't have much history. Hopefully since she got a refit she will get a refit to UR in Azure Lane too.

Finally, I understand that Seinfeld Episode 😅

I think it's so sad to hear,Sold for Scrap,the Enterprise one of the biggest 😥

Just a little nitpick, but a quite important one. After the war the Andrea Doria and Duilio would serve just briefly in the Regia Marina, before the change of the Kingdom in the Italian Republic. So, in their service up to the 50s they would serve in the Marina Militare (Italian Navy), not the Regia Marina (Royal Navy), because, of course, the king was gone - an excellent thing, if you ask me. Interestingly enough, these two are up to this day the only battleships that has been in active service in the Republican Marina Militare. Coincidentally, their namesakes are very appropriate in a republican context (Caio Duilio being a great admiral of the Roman Republic, and Andrea Doria being, beside a badass admiral, also considered the protector and a father of the nation for the Republic of Genoa). In fact their names have being used and reused in pair in the Marina Militare for capital ships of the same class not less than three times. After the battleships, as missile cruisers, and today as missile destroyers.

I like her high super structure that looks like she's wearing a chef's hat.

Personally I think the secondary triple turrets should have been mirrored at the rear as well but overall I think the Italian navy did well with what they had. The same DOES NOT apply for the army or air force who could definitely do better especially if they had just copied Germany's homework in the mid to late 30's

Did they have the same 1 forward and 4 reverse gears, like their tanks?

the money spent on the modernisation of these ships would have been better spent to build one from scratch and convert the Caracciolo to a carrier. oh well.

Not to be confused with the cruise ship