Trento class cruiser
R.N. Trento |
|---|
| General Characteristics | |
|---|
| Displacement: | Trento and Trieste 13,110 t Normal, 13,545 t full load
Bolzano 13,243 t Normal, 13,885 t full load |
| Length: | 196.9 m |
| Beam: | 20.6 m |
| Draught: | 6.7 m |
| Propulsion: | 12 boilers
4 Parsons turbines
150,000 hp total |
| Speed: | 35 knots (63 km/h) |
| Range: | Trento and Trieste: 4,160 nautical miles at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Bolzano: 4,460 nautical miles at 16 knots (30 km/h) |
| Complement: | 723 (Bolzano 725) |
| Armament: | 4 × 2 203 mm / 50 caliber
16 100 mm / 47 caliber
8 40 mm / 39 caliber AA
8 12.7 mm AAMG (Bolzano: 8 13.2 mm)
8 533 mm torpedo tubes |
| Aircraft: | 3 reconnaissance |
| Protection: | turrets 100 mm |
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 uparmored 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,
Bozen-Bolzano.
In June 1929,
Trento began a cruise to
South America which extended until on
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 the
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. The
Trento was immobilized and left behind, while the rest of the fleet continued south in pursuit of the 'Vigorous' convoy.
Royal Navy submarine
HMS Umbra found the smoking ship at 9:10am, and torpedoed her hitting the magazine that sunk the
Trento rapidly (9:15am). Crew members had little time to put on a life vest and jump to safety. Over half the crew died from the explosions, sank with the ship or drowned when Italian support ships dropped
depth charges to stop the submarine. The
Trento still lies at the bottom of the
Ionian Sea, where the
Mediterranean is at its deepest ().
Trieste operated in much the same fashion, serving as the flagship of the 3rd Division. In 1940, she patecipated to 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 air-carrier, but the project was dropped, and the ship was demolished.
Bolzano was built a year later than the previous ones, with some differences, so tha also served in most of the same missions, and was also damaged by a torpedo in mid-1943. 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.
*
Trento in Cina, site devoted to
Trento, with particular attention to the cruise in China (1932).
*
"Trento", from
Marina Militare web site.
