italian cruiser class heavy cruiser italian regia marina second ships class built april november armed main battery inch guns nominally long ton limit imposed reality significantly exceeded figure saw extensive service world war having participated sorties catch british convoys mediterranean present july november ultimately march engagement sister ships sunk close range night engagement british battleships design meters long overall beam draft displaced long tons load displacement nominally long ton restriction set place power plant consisted parsons steam turbines powered oil fired yarrow boilers funnels amidships engines rated shaft horsepower produced speed knots mph crew officers enlisted men protected armored belt thick amidships armor deck thick central portion ship reduced end gun turrets thick plating faces barbettes sat thick main conning tower thick sides armed main battery caliber guns gun turrets turrets arranged superfiring pairs forward aft anti aircraft defense provided battery sixteen guns twin mounts guns single mounts guns twin mounts carried pair aerial reconnaissance hangar located forecastle fixed catapult mounted centerline bow secondary battery revised times career guns guns removed late 1930s guns guns installed place guns added service history built laid april member class laid launched nearly year later april day sister ship fitting work lasted year half new cruiser commissioned royal_navy november january tests conducted aboard wooden platform built stern ship support aircraft experiments proved successful limited range unreliable took lavish ceremony held visit adolf hitler dictator nazi_germany conducted gunnery demonstration hitler dictator italy observed battleship world war italy formally joined second world war declaring war france britain june assigned 1st division destroyers 9th destroyer flotilla unit assigned 1st squadron command admiral days later rest 1st division sortied response british attacks italian positions libya sea british submarine unsuccessfully attacked sister july convoy left naples bound north_africa following day italian reconnaissance reported british cruiser squadron arrived malta italian naval high command ordered 1st division cruisers destroyers join escort convoy battleships provide distant support days later italian fleet briefly clashed inconclusive action late september italian fleet including sweep british troop convoy alexandria malta contact british ships present harbor taranto british fleet launched nighttime carrier strike taranto night november attacked raid attempt intercept british convoy late november resulted italian fleet left port november clashed british fleet day engagement lasted hour broke action mistakenly believed facing superior force result poor aerial reconnaissance british heavy cruiser hit twice rounds engagement fired sister italian fleet commanded admiral attempt intercept british convoy late march fleet supported 10th operation resulted early battle rest 1st division northeast rest italian fleet encountered british southwest battleship torpedoed british aircraft forced withdraw phase battle remained port italian fleet began return port screen possible british attack second british later day failed locate retiring instead torpedoed left cruiser destroyers detached protect british fleet centered battleships point nmi away guided radar british fleet closed crippled darkness destroyers approached opposite direction aboard leading british battleship illuminated range yards followed immediately inch shells main battery struck caused damage superfiring rear turret blown overboard second struck ship shortly fired inch shells causing devastation burning wreck spared destruction british battleships turned attention fell line listing badly starboard similarly inch remained afloat minutes capsized sank stern destroyers sunk action lasted mere minutes men lost commanding officer survivors picked british destroyers following morning greek destroyers evening march italian hospital ship march april
Italian cruiser Fiume