The Soviet Navy used Novorossiysk as a training ship, gave her repeated refits, replaced Italian anti-aircraft weapons, and planned further armament changes. The 1955 explosion opened a large hole forward of A turret, flooding could not be controlled, and the capsizing killed 617 men, including rescuers sent from other ships. The official explanation presented here is that a wartime German bottom mine was triggered near the ship's final mooring. Later searches found roughly a dozen compatible mines close to the explosion site. An Italian frogman attack would have risked war for little military gain against an obsolete battleship, and Italy's links with Russia made the theory still harder to justify.
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Novorossiysk in Soviet service and the 1955 explosion
Transferred to the Soviet Union as Novorossiysk, the former Giulio Cesare was refitted repeatedly before a 1955 explosion capsized her with heavy loss of life.