Despite all of the added size and tonnage, this allowed the maximum speed to be greatly increased from 21 kts to 27 kts. Giulio Cesare was now powered by eight Babcock & Wilcox boilers with two Yarrow geared steam turbines, turning two shafts with three-bladed propellers. The displacement was now 29,600t and the ship now measured 611’7″x108’7″x34′.

The end result was a fairly impressive, modern (for the time) battleship. The modernization lasted from October 1933 to October 1937. (Giulio Cesare before and after the drastic rebuild which completely transformed the battleship’s appearance.) One of the reasons for the project was that new construction was limited by arms control treaties, however “modernizations” did not count as new ships, even if they were this drastic. The project was immensely difficult and expensive, more so than simply building new battleships. The “modernization” was in fact a complete bow-to-stern rebuild, one of the most massive ship reconstructions ever, which left the vessels barely recognizable as their former selves. In October 1933, it was decided to modernize the two remaining battleships of this class. In 1928, the obsolete Giulio Cesare was mothballed due to the Great Depression. The maximum speed was 21 kts and the crew was 1,000. The main armament was eleven 12″ guns in five (three triple, two twin) turrets, plus some obsolete anti-surface casemate guns and three nearly useless fixed torpedo tubes.

(However one of her two sister-ships, Leonardo da Vinci, sank in 1916.) As completed, Giulio Cesare was typical of a WWI battleship, displacing 25,489t and measuring 577’5″x91’10″x30’6″.

In service throughout WWI, Giulio Cesare took no meaningful part in that war.

One of three Conte di Cavour class battleships, Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar) was launched on 15 October 1911 and commissioned on 7 June 1914. (The battleship Giulio Cesare in service with the Italian navy during WWII, and as the training ship Novorossiysk under the Soviet flag after the war.) The mystery surrounding the ship’s loss has never been solved. Later rated as a training ship, Novorossiysk sank on 29 October 1955 in what is the largest-ever Soviet or Russian peacetime naval disaster. The USSR received the battleship Giulio Cesare which was renamed Novorossiysk. After WWII, the victorious Allies divvied up most of the surrendered Italian navy.

Giulio cesare world of warships captain