Italian cruiser Trieste
Trieste in 1930
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History | |
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Kingdom of Italy | |
Name | Trieste |
Namesake | City of Trieste |
Builder | Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino |
Laid down | 22 June 1925 |
Launched | 24 October 1926 |
Commissioned | 21 December 1928 |
Stricken | 18 October 1946 |
Fate | Sunk, 10 April 1943 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Heavy cruiser |
Displacement | ) |
Length | 196.96 m (646 ft 2 in) |
Beam | 20.6 m (67 ft 7 in) |
Draft | 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed |
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Range | 4,160 nmi (7,700 km; 4,790 mi) at 16 kn (30 km/h; 18 mph) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Armor |
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Aircraft carried | 2 × IMAM Ro.43 seaplanes |
Trieste was the second of two
The ship saw extensive action during World War II, including the battles of Cape Spartivento and Cape Matapan in November 1940 and March 1941, respectively. Trieste was also employed to escort convoys to supply Italian forces in North Africa; during one of these operations in November 1941, she was torpedoed by a British submarine. On 10 April 1943, while the ship was moored in La Maddalena, Sardinia, she was bombed and sunk by American heavy bombers. Her superstructure was cut away and she was refloated in 1950; the Spanish Navy purchased the hull in 1952, with plans to convert the vessel into a light aircraft carrier, though the plan came to nothing due to the growing costs of the project. She was ultimately broken up by 1959.
Design
Trieste was 196.96 meters (646 ft 2 in)
Her power plant consisted of four
Trieste was armed with a
Trieste's
She was protected with an armor belt that was 70 mm (2.8 in) thick amidships with armored bulkheads 40 to 60 mm (1.6 to 2.4 in) thick on either end. Her armor deck was 50 mm (2 in) thick in the central portion of the ship and reduced to 20 mm (0.79 in) at either end. The gun turrets had 100 mm (3.9 in) thick plating on the faces and the supporting barbettes they sat in were 60 to 70 mm (2.4 to 2.8 in) thick. The main conning tower had 100 mm thick sides.[1]
Service history
Trieste had her
On 18 June 1935, Trieste temporarily relieved Trento as the divisional flagship. Mussolini took a short tour of Italian Libya from 10 to 12 March 1937, and Trieste was among the vessels to escort him. On 7 June, she took part in a major naval review held during the visit of German
World War II
On 10 June 1940, Italy declared war on Britain and France, formally entering World War II. The heavy cruiser
Trieste sortied with the fleet on 26 November in an attempt to intercept another convoy to Malta.
On 9 February 1941, Trieste sortied with the rest of the 2nd Squadron to search for Force H after the latter had shelled Genoa; the Italians returned to port without success. On 12–13 March, Trieste escorted a fast convoy to North Africa.[5]
Battle of Cape Matapan
On 27 March, the division sortied with the rest of the fleet for a major sweep toward the island of Crete.
At 08:55, the Italian fleet commander,
Later in the day, Vittorio Veneto and Pola were torpedoed by British aircraft, the latter left immobilized. Trieste, Trento, and Bolzano were also attacked by aircraft, but they escaped without damage. Trieste reached Taranto in company with the damaged Vittorio Veneto at 15:30 the following day. in the meantime, Pola and two other Zara-class cruisers were destroyed in the night action with British battleships late on the 28th.[5]
Convoy operations
From 24 to 30 April, Trieste and Bolzano escorted a convoy to North Africa. A combination of heavy seas and the presence of British warships forced the convoy to shelter in Palermo, Messina, and Augusta in Sicily before being able to make the crossing to Tripoli. A month later, the two cruisers covered another convoy; for the return leg of the voyage, the ships joined a second convoy also returning to Italy. Another convoy made the crossing on 8–9 June, again escorted by Trieste and Bolzano, along with the destroyers Corazziere, Ascari, and Lanciere. Trieste and the heavy cruiser Gorizia and the vessels of the 12th Destroyer Squadron covered four ocean liners that had been converted into troopships on 25 June; heavy British air attacks that night forced the convoy to return to Taranto. A second attempt was made on 27 June, and the ships successfully reached Tripoli on the morning of the 29th. Heavy air attacks targeted the ships while they were unloading the following day, but the ships were able to complete the task, depart that day, and reach Taranto on 1 July.[5]
From 16 to 20 July, Trieste, Bolzano, Ascari, Corazziere, and the destroyer Carabiniere covered another fast convoy to Tripoli. On 22 August, Trieste sortied with other elements of the Italian fleet to try to locate Force H; they returned to port four days later empty handed. In late September, the British sent another convoy to reinforce Malta, codenamed Operation Halberd; the Italian fleet sortied on 26 September to try to intercept it, but broke off the operation upon discovering the strength of the British escort force. Trieste took part in the Duisburg convoy on 8–9 November along with Trento, the two ships serving as the convoy's covering force. The convoy was attacked by British warships in the early hours of 9 November, though the covering force failed to intervene and the convoy was destroyed.[17][18]
Trieste escorted another convoy to Libya on 21 November in company with the light cruiser Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi. Late that evening, the convoy came under a combined submarine and aircraft attack; at 23:12, Trieste was torpedoed by the submarine HMS Utmost, and a torpedo bomber hit Duca degli Abruzzi shortly thereafter. The two damaged vessels were escorted back to Messina by the cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi and the destroyer Bersagliere, arriving at around 08:00 the next morning. After repairs were completed, Trieste joined Bolzano and Gorizia—the only other surviving heavy cruisers in the fleet—in the reorganized 3rd Division. The ships sortied with eight destroyers on 12 August 1942 to try to intercept a British convoy; while turning back after the operation was cancelled, Bolzano and one of the destroyers were torpedoed by a British submarine.[19]
Fate
On 10 April 1943, while moored in
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Gardiner & Chesneau, p. 291
- ^ a b Brescia, p. 72
- ^ Gardiner & Chesneau, pp. 291–292
- ^ Campbell, pp. 345–347
- ^ a b c d e f g h Hogg & Wiper, p. 10
- ^ Greene & Massignani, p. 116
- ^ Mattesini, p. 114
- ^ Greene & Massignani, p. 119
- ^ O'Hara, pp. 70–71
- ^ Stern, p. 62
- ^ O'Hara, p. 72
- ^ Bennett, p. 119
- ^ Greene & Massignani, pp. 150–151
- ^ Bennett, p. 120
- ^ Bennett, pp. 120–121
- ^ Greene & Massignani, pp. 152–153
- ^ Hogg & Wiper, pp. 10–11
- ^ Brescia, p. 48
- ^ a b c Hogg & Wiper, p. 11
- ^ Sanna, p. 11
References
- Bennett, Geoffrey (2003). Naval Battles of World War II. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 0-85052-989-1.
- Brescia, Maurizio (2012). Mussolini's Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regia Marina 1930–1945. Barnsley: Seaforth. ISBN 978-1-84832-115-1.
- Campbell, John (1985). Naval Weapons of World War II. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-459-4.
- Gardiner, Robert & Chesneau, Roger, eds. (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 0-87021-913-8.
- Greene, Jack; Massignani, Alessandro (1998). The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940–1943. London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 1-86176-057-4.
- Hogg, Gordon E. & Wiper, Steve (2004). Warship Pictorial 23: Italian Heavy Cruisers of World War II. Flowers, T. A. (illustrator). Tucson: Classic Warships Publishing. ISBN 0-9710687-9-8.
- Mattesini, Francesco (2000). La battaglia di Capo Teulada: 27-28 novembre 1940 (in Italian). Rome: Ufficio storico della Marina Militare. OCLC 605485901.
- O'Hara, Vincent P. (2009). Struggle for the Middle Sea: The Great Navies At War In The Mediterranean Theater, 1940–1945. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-1-59114-648-3.
- Sanna, Salvatore (1999). La Maddalena 1943: La Piazzaforte di Latta (in Italian). Olbia: Studio Grafico Editoriale Maiore. OCLC 879927792.
- Stern, Robert C. (2015). Big Gun Battles: Warship Duels of the Second World War. Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4738-4969-3.
Further reading
- Brescia, Maurizio; de Toro, Augusto (2022). Italian Heavy Cruisers: From Trento to Bolzano. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-68247-871-4.
External links
- Trieste Marina Militare website