RM Giulio Cesare
by Paul Helfrich

1/2400 RM Giulio Cesare (Viking Forge)

The Giulio Cesare was part of the three-ship Conte di Cavour class of battleships laid down in 1910. They mounted 13 12" inch guns in an unusual arrangement of three triple turrets plus superfiring double turrets fore and aft. All three ships were modernized in the mid-1930s and emerged from the yards with a totally different appearance.

The Giulio Cesare was surrendered to the Allies in 1943 and was given to the Soviet Union as spoils of war. She became part of the Black Sea fleet, as Novorossiysk. Her final fate is unclear - sometime around 1955 she ceased to be part of the Soviet fleet. She may have hit a mine or suffered some type of internal explosion.

Viking Forge's kit is very simple and not well-detailed, but it does capture the unusual look of this ship, with the five turrets and tall, narrow tripod masts. I own a 1/200 paper model kit of the Cesare as well, but I'll be lucky if I finish that one before shuffling off this mortal coil.