Littorio

"The second ship of the Vittorio Veneto-class battleships, Littorio. I have confidence in my speed and firepower. Nice to meet ya ~"

- Littorio

"I'm Italia, the second ship of the Vittori Veneto-class battleships and previously known as Littorio. Nice to meet ya ~"

- Italia

Littorio was the lead ship of her class of battleship and she served in the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) during World War II. She was named after the Lictor ("Littorio" in Italian), in ancient times the bearer of the Roman fasces, which was adopted as the symbol of Italian Fascism. Littorio and her sister Vittorio Veneto were built in response to the French battleships Dunkerque and Strasbourg. They were Italy's first modern battleships, and the first 35,000-ton capital ships of any nation to be laid down under the terms of the Washington Naval Treaty. Littorio was laid down in October 1934, launched in August 1937, and completed in May 1940.

Shortly after her commissioning, Littorio was badly damaged during the British air raid on Taranto on 11 November 1940, which put her out of action until the following March. Littorio thereafter took part in several sorties to catch the British Mediterranean Fleet, most of which failed to result in any action, the notable exception being the Second Battle of Sirte in March 1942, where she damaged several British warships. Littorio was renamed Italia in July 1943 after the fall of the Fascist government. On 9 September 1943, the Italian fleet was attacked by German bombers while it was on its way to internment. During this action, which saw the destruction of her sister Roma, Italia herself was hit by a Fritz X radio-controlled bomb, causing significant damage to her bow. As part of the armistice agreement, Italia was interned at Malta, Alexandria, and finally in the Great Bitter Lake in the Suez Canal, where she remained until 1947. Italia was awarded to the United States as a war prize and scrapped at La Spezia.

Appearance
She has long, wavy brown hair in a ponytail that is swept over her shoulder, and brown eyes. She wears a white sleeveless shirt with additional detached sleeves, a red necktie, and her waist is covered in armor with anchors hanging down. She wears a red pleated skirt, and white thighhighs with red candy-stripes held up by garter straps. On her head is a white armored headdress.

Trivia

 * The real Littorio was badly damaged during the British air raid on Taranto on November 11 1940, which put her out of action until the following March. She participated in a few naval battles, such as the First and Second Battle of Sirte, but she stayed in port during the latter part of the war because of Italy's lack of fuel. She was renamed Italia on 30 July 1943 after the collapse of the Benito Mussolini's Fascist government. She was struck from the naval register on 1 June 1948 and later scrapped in 1952-54 at La Spezia.
 * The name "Littorio" comes from the Roman lictor. Lictors were civil servants tasked with defending the magistrates of the Roman Empire. The term became associated with the National Fascist Party, who derived their name and emblems from the "fasces lictoriae", the symbol of authority carried by lictors. Therefore, her name was changed to Italia when Italy left the axis powers to disassociate her from fascism.
 * The red and white stripes come from the distinctive markings fitted on the bow of all Italian ships after the Battle of Punta Stilo (1940), during which Italian bombers couldn't distinguish between the Italian and the British ships; the grey and green pattern on her corset is a reference to the first "fishbone"-style camouflage scheme adopted by the Italian ships during the war.