Italian battleship Giulio Cesare

Giulio Cesare after reconstruction
History
Kingdom of Italy
Name	Giulio Cesare
Namesake	Julius Caesar
Operator	Regia Marina
Builder	Ansaldo, Genoa
Laid down	24 June 1910
Launched	15 October 1911
Completed	14 May 1914
Commissioned	7 June 1914
Decommissioned	18 May 1928
Recommissioned	3 June 1937
Decommissioned	15 December 1948
Stricken	15 December 1949
Fate	Transferred to Soviet Navy, 4 February 1949
Soviet Union
Name	Novorossiysk (Russian: Новороссийск)
Namesake	Novorossiysk
Acquired	4 February 1949
Commissioned	6 February 1949
Stricken	24 February 1956
Fate	Sunk by explosion, 29 October 1955
General characteristics (as built)
Class and type	Conte di Cavour-class dreadnought battleship
Displacement	23,088 long tons (23,458 t) (standard) 25,086 long tons (25,489 t) (deep load)
Length	176 m (577 ft 5 in) (o/a)
Beam	28 m (91 ft 10 in)
Draft	9.3 m (30 ft 6 in)
Installed power	24 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers 31,000 shp (23,000 kW)
Propulsion	4 × shafts; 4 × steam turbines
Speed	21.5 knots (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph)
Range	4,800 nmi (8,900 km; 5,500 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement	31 officers and 969 enlisted men
Armament	3 × triple, 2 × twin 305 mm (12 in) guns 18 × single 120 mm (4.7 in) guns 14 × single 76.2 mm (3 in) guns 3 × 450 mm (17.7 in) torpedo tubes
Armor	Waterline belt: 80–250 mm (3.1–9.8 in) Deck: 24–40 mm (0.9–1.6 in) Gun turrets: 240–280 mm (9.4–11.0 in) Barbettes: 130–230 mm (5.1–9.1 in) Conning tower: 280 mm (11 in)
General characteristics (after reconstruction)
Displacement	29,100 long tons (29,600 t) (deep load)
Length	186.4 m (611 ft 7 in)
Beam	28.6 m (93 ft 10 in)
Draft	10.42 m (34 ft 2 in)
Installed power	8 × Yarrow boilers 75,000 shp (56,000 kW)
Propulsion	2 × shafts; 2 × geared steam turbines
Speed	27 knots (50 km/h; 31 mph)
Range	6,400 nmi (11,900 km; 7,400 mi) at 13 knots (24 km/h; 15 mph)
Complement	1,260
Armament	2 × triple, 2 × twin 320 mm (12.6 in) guns 6 × twin 120 mm guns 4 × twin 100 mm (3.9 in) AA guns 6 × twin 37 mm (1.5 in) AA guns 6 × twin 13.2 mm (0.52 in) AA MGs
Armor	Deck: 135–166 mm (5.3–6.5 in) Barbettes: 130–280 mm (5.1–11.0 in)

Giulio Cesare was one of three Conte di Cavour-class dreadnought battleships built for the Royal Italian Navy (Regia Marina) in the 1910s. Completed in 1914, she was little used and saw no combat during the First World War. The ship supported operations during the Corfu Incident in 1923 and spent much of the rest of the decade in reserve. She was rebuilt between 1933 and 1937 with more powerful guns, additional armor and considerably more speed than before.

During World War II, both Giulio Cesare and her sister ship, Conte di Cavour, participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, when the former was lightly damaged. They were both present when British torpedo bombers attacked the fleet at Taranto in November 1940, but Giulio Cesare was not damaged. She escorted several convoys to North Africa and participated in the Battle of Cape Spartivento in late 1940 and the First Battle of Sirte in late 1941. She was designated as a training ship in early 1942, and escaped to Malta after the Italian armistice the following year. The ship was transferred to the Soviet Union in 1949 and renamed Novorossiysk (Новороссийск). The Soviets also used her for training until she was sunk in 1955, with the loss of 617 men, by an explosion most likely caused by an old German mine. She was salvaged the following year and later scrapped.