The ''Zara'' class was a group of four
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...
s built for the Italian ''
Regia Marina
The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' changed its name to ''Marina Militare'' ("M ...
'' (Royal Navy) in the late 1920s and the early 1930s. The class comprised the vessels , , , and , the last of which was completed to a slightly different design. The ships were a substantial improvement over the preceding s, incorporating significantly heavier armor protection at the cost of the very high speed of the ''Trento''s. They carried the same main battery of eight guns and had a maximum speed of . Among the best-protected heavy cruisers built by any navy in the 1930s, the heavy armor was acquired only by violating the terms of the
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...
, which limited cruiser displacement to .
All four ships served with the main fleet in the
interwar period, where they were primarily occupied with training exercises and
fleet review
A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...
s. During the
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
, ''Gorizia'' evacuated Italian nationals and ''Pola'' took part in
non-intervention patrols. All four ships supported the
Italian invasion of Albania
The Italian invasion of Albania (April 7–12, 1939) was a brief military campaign which was launched by the Kingdom of Italy against the Albanian Kingdom in 1939. The conflict was a result of the imperialistic policies of the Italian prime m ...
in April 1939, shortly before the outbreak of
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. After Italy joined the wider conflict in 1940, the four ships saw extensive action in the
Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
against British forces. The ships took part in the battles of
Calabria and
Cape Matapan
Cape Matapan ( el, Κάβο Ματαπάς, Maniot dialect: Ματαπά), also named as Cape Tainaron or Taenarum ( el, Ακρωτήριον Ταίναρον), or Cape Tenaro, is situated at the end of the Mani Peninsula, Greece. Cape Matap ...
, and in the latter engagement, ''Zara'', ''Pola'', and ''Fiume'' were all sunk in a one-sided night action with three British
battleships.
''Gorizia'' continued in service, seeing further action at the
First
First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1).
First or 1st may also refer to:
*World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement
Arts and media Music
* 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...
and
Second Battles of Sirte. She was seriously damaged by American
heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
s in April 1943 and towed to
La Spezia, where she was still under repair when Italy surrendered in September. Germany seized the ship when they occupied the port, and Italian commandos unsuccessfully attempted to sink her in June 1944. In poor condition by the end of the war, the postwar
Italian Navy decided to sell the ship for scrap in 1947.
Design
While the preceding of
heavy cruiser
The heavy cruiser was a type of cruiser, a naval warship designed for long range and high speed, armed generally with naval guns of roughly 203 mm (8 inches) in caliber, whose design parameters were dictated by the Washington Naval T ...
s were still being built, elements of the Italian naval command began to doubt the effectiveness of the new vessels, which sacrificed armor protection in favor of very high speeds. They advocated a more balanced design that would incorporate more comprehensive armor, with a
main belt
The asteroid belt is a torus-shaped region in the Solar System, located roughly between the orbits of the planets Jupiter and Mars. It contains a great many solid, irregularly shaped bodies, of many sizes, but much smaller than planets, called ...
that was thick, while retaining the battery of eight guns and a speed of at least . The designers quickly found that these characteristics could not be incorporated into a vessel that remained within the limit imposed by the
Washington Naval Treaty
The Washington Naval Treaty, also known as the Five-Power Treaty, was a treaty signed during 1922 among the major Allies of World War I, which agreed to prevent an arms race by limiting naval construction. It was negotiated at the Washington Nav ...
. The naval command agreed to allow the new ships to exceed the
displacement
Displacement may refer to:
Physical sciences
Mathematics and Physics
* Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...
limits, but instructed the designers to eliminate unnecessary features to save as much weight as possible. As a result, the belt armor was reduced in thickness and the planned
torpedo tube
A torpedo tube is a cylindrical device for launching torpedoes.
There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units (also referred to as torpedo launchers) installed aboa ...
s were removed. The
flush deck
Flush deck is a term in naval architecture. It can refer to any deck of a ship which is continuous from stem to stern.
History
The flush deck design originated with rice ships built in Bengal Subah, Mughal India (modern Bangladesh), resulting ...
of the ''Trento''s was abandoned, with the ships instead incorporating a
forecastle
The forecastle ( ; contracted as fo'c'sle or fo'c's'le) is the upper deck of a sailing ship forward of the foremast, or, historically, the forward part of a ship with the sailors' living quarters. Related to the latter meaning is the phrase " be ...
deck and a stepped-down
main deck
The main deck of a ship is the uppermost complete deck extending from bow to stern. A steel ship's hull may be considered a structural beam with the main deck forming the upper flange of a box girder and the keel forming the lower strength me ...
. In addition, the ''Zara'' design would be powered by just two
propellers driven by lightweight machinery, unlike the four-shaft arrangement used in the ''Trento''s. Nevertheless, the ships still exceeded the displacement limit by at least . By 1928, the work was finished on what would become the ''Zara'' class, and the first two ships, and , were ordered for the 1928–1929 building program. followed in the 1929–1930 construction year, and was ordered under the 1930–1931 program. All four ships were named for formerly
Austro-Hungarian cities that were annexed to Italy in the aftermath of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
.
[Brescia, p. 76]
General characteristics
The ships of the ''Zara'' class were long at the waterline and long overall
__NOTOC__
Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, an ...
. They had a beam
Beam may refer to:
Streams of particles or energy
*Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy
**Laser beam
*Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles
**Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...
of and a draft
Draft, The Draft, or Draught may refer to:
Watercraft dimensions
* Draft (hull), the distance from waterline to keel of a vessel
* Draft (sail), degree of curvature in a sail
* Air draft, distance from waterline to the highest point on a vesse ...
of . The ships had a standard displacement
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
of , and displaced at full load
The displacement or displacement tonnage of a ship is its weight. As the term indicates, it is measured indirectly, using Archimedes' principle, by first calculating the volume of water displaced by the ship, then converting that value into wei ...
, with ''Fiume'' being the lightest of the four and ''Gorizia'' the heaviest. The first three ships were built with light superstructures as a weight saving measure, but ''Pola'', intended to serve as a flagship, received a much larger bridge
A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...
structure to accommodate an admiral's staff. All four ships received two tripod masts, with the forward mast erected over the bridge. They had a crew of 841 officers and enlisted men. The ships carried a pair of IMAM Ro.43
The IMAM Ro.43 was an Italian reconnaissance single float seaplane, serving in the Regia Marina between 1935 and 1943.
Design and development
The Ro.43 was designed to meet a 1933 requirement by the ''Regia Marina'' (the Italian navy) for a c ...
seaplane
A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their technological characteri ...
s for aerial reconnaissance; the hangar was located under the forecastle and a fixed catapult was mounted on the centerline
Center line, centre line or centerline may refer to:
Sports
* Center line, marked in red on an ice hockey rink
* Centre line (football), a set of positions on an Australian rules football field
* Centerline, a line that separates the service cou ...
at the bow.[Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 292][
The ships' power plant consisted of two ]Parsons
Parsons may refer to:
Places
In the United States:
* Parsons, Kansas, a city
* Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community
* Parsons, Tennessee, a city
* Parsons, West Virginia, a town
* Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...
steam turbines powered by eight oil-fired Thornycroft boiler
Three-drum boilers are a class of water-tube boiler used to generate steam, typically to power ships. They are compact and of high evaporative power, factors that encourage this use. Other boiler designs may be more efficient, although bulkier, a ...
s, with the exception of ''Fiume'', which received Yarrow boiler
Yarrow boilers are an important class of high-pressure water-tube boilers. They were developed by
Yarrow & Co. (London), Shipbuilders and Engineers and were widely used on ships, particularly warships.
The Yarrow boiler design is characteristic ...
s. The boilers were trunked into two funnels amidships
This glossary of nautical terms is an alphabetical listing of terms and expressions connected with ships, shipping, seamanship and navigation on water (mostly though not necessarily on the sea). Some remain current, while many date from the 17th ...
.[ Their engines were rated at and produced a top speed of , though on ]sea trial
A sea trial is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a " shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on open water, and ...
s all four vessels significantly exceeded those figures, reaching a minimum of and speeds of . Nevertheless, in service, their practical speeds were in the range of . The vessels each carried of fuel oil, which allowed them to steam for at a cruising speed of . When operating at maximum speed, their operational radius fell to ,[ though due to the fact that Italian naval vessels were intended to operate only within the narrow confines of the ]Mediterranean Sea
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ...
, their relatively short cruising range was not a significant problem.
Armament and armor
The ''Zara''s were armed with a main battery
A main battery is the primary weapon or group of weapons around which a warship is designed. As such, a main battery was historically a gun or group of guns, as in the broadsides of cannon on a ship of the line. Later, this came to be turreted ...
of eight 203 mm Mod 29 53- caliber guns in four gun turret
A gun turret (or simply turret) is a mounting platform from which weapons can be fired that affords protection, visibility and ability to turn and aim. A modern gun turret is generally a rotatable weapon mount that houses the crew or mechani ...
s. The turrets were arranged in superfiring pairs forward and aft. The guns fired shells at a muzzle velocity of , with a rate of fire of about three and a half rounds per minute. The turrets allowed elevation to 45 degrees, which provided a maximum range of . Each ship carried 157 shells per gun.[ Like the ''Trento''s, the ''Zara''-class ships suffered from shell dispersion that hampered accuracy. The problem was in large part due to poor quality control in Italian munition factories, which failed to ensure tight manufacturing tolerances necessary for accurate shells. In addition, the single cradle mounts required the guns to be very close together; this caused the shells to interfere with each other in flight and contributed to the dispersion problem. In an attempt to rectify the dispersion problem, the guns were supplied with modified shells that fired at .
Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a battery of sixteen 47-cal. guns in twin mounts, four Vickers-Terni /39 guns in single mounts and eight guns in twin mounts.][ The 100 mm guns were copies of Austro-Hungarian guns designed in 1910 by ]Škoda
Škoda means ''pity'' in the Czech and Slovak languages. It may also refer to:
Czech brands and enterprises
* Škoda Auto, automobile and previously bicycle manufacturer in Mladá Boleslav
** Škoda Motorsport, the division of Škoda Auto respons ...
that were placed in newly designed dual-purpose mounts that elevated to 85 degrees for a maximum range of . The ships' secondary battery
A rechargeable battery, storage battery, or secondary cell (formally a type of energy accumulator), is a type of electrical battery which can be charged, discharged into a load, and recharged many times, as opposed to a disposable or pri ...
was revised several times during their careers. Two of the 100 mm guns and all of the 40 mm guns were removed in the late 1930s and eight 54-cal. guns were installed in their place. Two 15-cal. star shell guns were added in 1940. In 1942, the star shell guns aboard ''Gorizia'', by this time the only surviving member of the class, were replaced with four more 37 mm guns. The following year, a battery of fourteen guns in six twin and two single mounts replaced the machine guns.[
The ships were protected with an ]armored citadel
In a warship an armored citadel is an armored box enclosing the machinery and magazine spaces formed by the armored deck, the waterline belt, and the transverse bulkheads. In many post-World War I warships, armor was concentrated in a very ...
that covered the ships' vitals, including the machinery spaces and ammunition magazines
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combination ...
. Vertical protection consisted of an armored belt that was thick at the waterline and reduced to at the bottom edge of the belt. Their main armor deck was thick, and the box formed by the belt and deck was capped at either end by armored bulkheads that were thick in the upper portion and in the lower section. The main deck was supplemented with an upper deck that was thick, which was intended to detonate the fuses of incoming shells before they struck the main deck; the upper deck was connected to an upper belt that was thick. The gun turrets had 150 mm thick plating on the faces and the barbette
Barbettes are several types of gun emplacement in terrestrial fortifications or on naval ships.
In recent naval usage, a barbette is a protective circular armour support for a heavy gun turret. This evolved from earlier forms of gun protectio ...
s they sat in were also 150 mm thick. The main conning tower had 150 mm thick sides and an thick roof.[
The ''Zara'' class carried three times the armor protection of the preceding ''Trento''s.][ Their heavy armor made the ''Zara''s the best-protected cruisers until the introduction of the , laid down in 1945 by the United States. This additional armor would have made the ships decidedly nose-heavy, so to offset this the rear of the ship was raised by one deck behind the front funnel. The result was excellent watertight integrity and protection.
]
Ships
Service history
After entering service in the early 1930s, the four members of the ''Zara'' class took part in training exercises with the Italian fleet and participated in fleet review
A fleet review or naval review is an event where a gathering of ships from a particular navy is paraded and reviewed by an incumbent head of state and/or other official civilian and military dignitaries. A number of national navies continue to ...
s held for foreign leaders, including Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Nazi Germany, Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his death in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the le ...
of Nazi Germany
Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...
and Miklós Horthy
Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya ( hu, Vitéz nagybányai Horthy Miklós; ; English: Nicholas Horthy; german: Nikolaus Horthy Ritter von Nagybánya; 18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957), was a Hungarian admiral and dictator who served as the regent ...
, the Regent of Hungary
The Regent of Hungary was a position established in 1446 and renewed in 1920. It was held by Admiral Miklós Horthy until 1944. Under Hungary's Constitution there were two regents, one a regent of the ruling house, called the Nádor, and another ...
. ''Gorizia'' and ''Pola'' were involved in the Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...
; in 1936 ''Pola'' conducted non-intervention patrols and ''Gorizia'' carried Italian nationals from Gijon, Spain, to Le Verdon-sur-Mer
Le Verdon-sur-Mer (, literally ''Le Verdon on Sea'') is a commune in the Gironde department in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France.
Population
See also
*Communes of the Gironde department
The following is a list of the 535 communes o ...
, France that year. After departing France, ''Gorizia'' visited Germany, and on the way back, she suffered a major explosion in an aviation gasoline
Avgas (aviation gasoline, also known as aviation spirit in the UK) is an aviation fuel used in aircraft with spark-ignited internal combustion engines. ''Avgas'' is distinguished from conventional gasoline (petrol) used in motor vehicles, whi ...
tank that forced her to put into Gibraltar
)
, anthem = " God Save the King"
, song = " Gibraltar Anthem"
, image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg
, map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe
, map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green
, mapsize =
, image_map2 = Gib ...
for repairs. There, British shipyard inspectors discovered that the ship was grossly over the Washington Treaty's displacement restriction. In March 1939, all four ships sortied to prevent a squadron of Republican
Republican can refer to:
Political ideology
* An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law.
** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...
warships from reaching the Black Sea
The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...
, forcing them to stop in Bizerte, Tunisia, where they were interned. The following month, ''Zara'', ''Pola'', and ''Gorizia'' provided gunfire support to Italian forces invading Albania.[Hogg & Wiper, pp. 18, 24, 46, 54]
The ''Zara''-class cruisers saw extensive service during World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
, having taken part in several sorties to catch British convoys in the Mediterranean as the flagship of the 1st Division.[ At the ]Battle of Calabria
The Battle of Calabria, known to the Italian Navy as the Battle of Punta Stilo, was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in the Second World War. Ships of the Italian '' Regia Marina'' were opposed by vessels of the British R ...
in July 1940, torpedo bomber
A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carrying the weight ...
s from the British aircraft carrier attacked the ''Zara''-class cruisers, but they failed to score any hits. The ships steamed ahead to the front of the Italian line of battle
The line of battle is a tactic in naval warfare in which a fleet of ships forms a line end to end. The first example of its use as a tactic is disputed—it has been variously claimed for dates ranging from 1502 to 1652. Line-of-battle tacti ...
and joined the attack on the leading British battleship, , but they scored no hits. British cruisers attacked as the Italians withdrew, but heavy fire from the Italian cruisers drove them off. All four ships escaped damage at the Battle of Taranto
The Battle of Taranto took place on the night of 11–12 November 1940 during the Second World War between British naval forces, under Admiral Andrew Cunningham, and Italian naval forces, under Admiral Inigo Campioni. The Royal Navy launched ...
in November 1940.[ In March 1941 at the ]Battle of Cape Matapan
The Battle of Cape Matapan ( el, Ναυμαχία του Ταινάρου) was a naval battle during the Second World War between the Allies, represented by the navies of the United Kingdom and Australia, and the Royal Italian navy, from 27 t ...
, ''Pola'' was immobilized by a torpedo from a Swordfish torpedo bomber launched by the British aircraft carrier ; ''Zara'' and ''Fiume'' were detached from the rest of the fleet to protect ''Pola'', and all three and a pair of destroyers were sunk in a close-range night engagement with the battleships , , and ''Warspite''.[ Italian casualties were very heavy, with 783 killed aboard ''Zara'', 328 killed aboard ''Pola'', 812 aboard ''Fiume''. The survivors, mostly from ''Pola'', were rescued primarily by British destroyers, though Greek destroyers and an Italian ]hospital ship
A hospital ship is a ship designated for primary function as a floating medical treatment facility or hospital. Most are operated by the military forces (mostly navies) of various countries, as they are intended to be used in or near war zones. I ...
picked up others over the following few days.
''Gorizia'', the sole surviving member of the class, saw action at the First Battle of Sirte
The First Battle of Sirte was fought between the British Royal Navy and the ''Regia Marina'' (Italian Royal Navy) during the Mediterranean campaign of the Second World War. The engagement took place on 17 December 1941, south-east of Malta, ...
in December 1941 and Second Sirte in March 1942, where she was heavily engaged with British light cruisers and destroyers.[Hogg & Wiper, p. 47] As the action took place at very long range, neither side scored any hits. During this period, the ship also took part in convoy escort operations to supply Italian and German forces in North Africa. While the ship was moored in La Maddalena
La Maddalena (Gallurese: ''Madalena'' or ''La Madalena'', sc, Sa Madalena) is a town and ''comune'' located on the islands of the Maddalena archipelago in the province of Sassari, northern Sardinia, Italy.
The main town of the same name is loca ...
on 10 April 1943, a major attack from United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
heavy bomber
Heavy bombers are bomber aircraft capable of delivering the largest payload of air-to-ground weaponry (usually bombs) and longest range (takeoff to landing) of their era. Archetypal heavy bombers have therefore usually been among the larges ...
s sank the heavy cruiser and hit ''Gorizia'' with three bombs, inflicting serious damage. She was still under repair in La Spezia when Italy surrendered to the Allies in September, and she was seized by German forces when they occupied much of the country. On 22 June 1944, Italian frogmen
A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some European countries, police work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, comb ...
used Chariot manned torpedo The Chariot was a British manned torpedo used in World War II. The Chariot was inspired by the operations of Italian naval commandos, in particular the raid on 19 December 1941 by members of the Decima Flottiglia MAS who rode "''Maiali"'' human to ...
es to enter the harbor and sink ''Gorizia'' and the heavy cruiser , which was also out of service due to battle damage, to prevent them from being used as blockship
A blockship is a ship deliberately sunk to prevent a river, channel, or canal from being used. It may either be sunk by a navy defending the waterway to prevent the ingress of attacking enemy forces, as in the case of at Portland Harbour in 1914 ...
s though ''Gorizia'' survived the attack. She was nevertheless sold for scrap in 1947, since it would have been cost-prohibitive to repair her.[Hogg & Wiper, pp. 46–47]
Notes
References
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External links
Zara (1930)
Marina Militare website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Zara-class cruiser
Cruiser classes
World War II cruisers of Italy