Trento class cruiser

The "Trento" class was an Italian heavy cruiser design of the "Regia Marina" from the late 1920s. The three ships of the class sacrificed protection for speed, and were fairly lightly armored for such large ships. It was later concluded that this tradeoff put the ships at a disadvantage, and an up-armored version of the design was produced as the highly rated "Zara" class in the early 1930s.

The "Trentos" were the first ships designed specifically to the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty. This limited cruisers to 10,000 tons and 8 inch (200 mm) guns, a limitation that made firepower, speed and protection difficult to build into a single design. A particular problem faced by the Italian designers was that their ships had to be able to protect the lengthy Italian coastline from widely separated naval bases, meaning that high speed was a key feature. In the end they chose to sacrifice armor and fuel storage, and thus range, in order to attain the required speed and weight while still being armed with the latest 8 inch (200 mm) guns.

"Trento" started construction in 1925 along with her sister ship, "Trieste". "Trieste" was launched first in 1926 and commissioned in 1928, while "Trento" followed in 1927 and 1929 respectively. A third, "Bolzano", started construction in 1930 and was commissioned in 1933; the "Bolzano" was quite different from the other two vessels, and sometimes it is considered a class on its own.

The cruisers in this class were named after the two "unredeemed" cities reunited with the victory in World War I, Trento and Trieste, and with the other important city gained after the war, Bolzano.

"Trento"

In June 1929, "Trento" began a cruise to South America which extended until 10 October 1929. In February 1932 "Trento" was sent to Tianjin, China, to join the "San Marco Battalion" as a show of force during the Second Sino-Japanese War, returning on 30 June. In August 1933, "Trento" joined the "Trieste" and newly-commissioned "Bolzano" to become the Second Naval Division. In 1934 the "Regia Marina" was re-organized, and the three ships became the Third Naval Division.

During the Spanish Civil War the division carried out escort missions in the western Mediterranean Sea.

During World War II, "Trento" took part in most major Italian operations, including the battles of Calabria, Cape Spartivento, and Cape Matapan.

On the morning of 15 June 1942 "Trento" was navigating in a battle fleet to prevent allied supply ships from reaching Malta (Operation "Vigorous"), and was attacked and sunk after being torpedoed twice. The first hit was inflicted by a Malta-based allied aircraft (Bristol Beaufort) at 5:15am. "Trento" was immobilized and left behind, while the rest of the fleet continued south in pursuit of the "Vigorous" convoy. The Royal Navy submarine HMS "Umbra" found the smoking ship at 9:10am, and torpedoed her hitting the magazine, sinking the "Trento" rapidly (9:15am). Crew members had little time to put on life vests and abandon ship. Over half the crew died from the explosions, went down with the ship or were killed when Italian escort ships dropped depth charges to stop the submarine. "Trento" still lies at the bottom of the Ionian Sea, where the Mediterranean is at its deepest (coord|36|10|N|18|40|E).

"Trieste"

"Trieste" operated in much the same fashion as "Trento", serving as the flagship of the 3rd Division. In 1940, she participated in the battle of Cape Spartivento. On 21 November 1941 she was hit by a torpedo from the submarine HMS "Utmost", and although badly damaged, she was able to reach base at Messina with difficulty. She remained out of action until mid-1942, when she rejoined the fleet. On 10 April 1943, she sank after being hit by several bombs dropped by USAAF B-24s while in port at La Maddalena, Sardinia. She was sold to Spain, in order to make an aircraft carrier, but the project was dropped, and the ship was scrapped.

"Bolzano"

"Bolzano" was built a year later than the other two, with enough differences that she is sometimes considered a separate class. She served in most of the same missions as her sisters, and was damaged by a torpedo salvo in mid-1942, together with the light cruiser Muzio Attendolo, when attacked by the British submarine HMS "Unbroken". She was undergoing repairs in La Spezia in September, when the Italians exited the war, and was taken over by the Germans. However the damage was bad enough that they did not bother to repair her. She was sunk in a raid by Italian human torpedoes on 22 June 1944. After the war she was refloated, and sold for scrap in 1947.

External links

* [http://www.trentoincina.it/ "Trento in Cina"] , site devoted to "Trento", with particular attention to the cruise in China (1932).
* [http://www.marina.difesa.it/storia/Almanacco/Parte04/Navi0419.htm "Trento"] , from "Marina Militare" web site.
* [http://www.regiamarina.net/arsenals/ships_it/cruisers_heavy/crui_heavy_us.htm Italian Heavy Cruisers] www.regiamarina.net