Ship model: Italian navy battleship RN Roma 1943 - Trumpeter

The Roma and her sister-ship the Impero were ordered in 1938. The Roma was put on hold at the CDRA shipyards in Trieste on September 18, 1938. Launched on June 9, 1940, she was admitted to active service on June 14, 1942. Entered in service at a time when the Italian navy had lost all initiative on the Mediterranean front, the Roma only made history by becoming at its expense the first ship destroyed by a weapon fired from a safe distance. On September 8, 1943, Italy signed an armistice with the allies and Badoglio's government ordered the fleet to join Malta. The Roma sailed from La Spezia with Admiral Carlo Bergamini, Commander-in-Chief of the Regia Marina on board, which then included two other battleships (Vittorio Veneto and Italia), three cruisers and eight destroyers. The next day, September 9, the fleet was intercepted in the north of Sardinia by 12 Dornier Do 217K2 bombers of the Kampfgrupe 100 based in Istres carrying an FX1400 Fritz X radio guided bomb, the first firing of which on July 21, 1943 had been unsuccessful. This ancestor of anti-ship missiles had a total weight of 1362kg and a range of 5km. The German bombers launched their weapons leaving the Italian DCA powerless. A first projectile hit the Italia at the bow, encumbering it with 900 tons of water, which did not prevent it from continuing its journey without reducing its speed. The Roma was not so lucky since it was hit by a first bomb which pierced the armored deck, exploded under the waterline destroying the starboard turbine reducing the speed of the ship to 10 knots. The second Fritz X exploded between turret # 2 and the command tower, knocking the turret overboard and forcing the ship to stop. The ship exploded at 4:12 p.m. and of the 1350 crew, only 596 were saved, most of them badly burned.
Length: 34.38.
Number of pieces: 440.
Scale: 1/700.