Palau – 2011 – 500 Dollars – RN Vittorio Veneto Battleship Series (PROOF)

Description

Metal: Gold .9999
Weight: ca. 2.5 oz
Diameter: 42 x 42 mm
Quality: Proof
Mintage: 77 pcs.

The “Regia Nave Vittorio Veneto“ was a battleship which served the Royal Italian Navy. Her name is a reminiscent of the Battle of Vittorio Veneto which sealed Italy’s victory over Austria-Hungary in 1918 at the end of World War I. The ship was 237 m long, its beam was 33 m and it had a displacement of over 44‘000 tons. Her keel laying was in 1934 in Trieste and three years later she was launched.

South of Sardinia, in November 1940, the Vittorio Veneto was used in a naval battle for the first time. In the process her strong fire power forced a big British Navy convoy to retreat. In March 1941 the Italian battleship had to take severe hits during the Battle of Cap Matapan on the Greek coastline.

Thanks to her high speed of over 31 knots she was able to escape her British attackers and flee to Italy. Further missions followed in 1942. After the Italian surrender in 1943 and up until 1946 the Vittorio Veneto including her crew was interned to the Great Bitter Lake of the Suez Canal. Thereafter she was offered to the British as reparation payment which was dismissed. Therefore, as most ships in those days, she was dismantled in 1948.