Italian cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli

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Career

Ordered:
Laid down:	1 October 1931
Launched:	2 August 1934
Commissioned:	30 June 1935
Fate:	Decommisioned 1 June 1964
General Characteristics
Displacement:	7,523 tonnes standard 8,994 tonnes full load
Length:	182.2 meters
Beam:	16.6 meters
Draught:	5.6 meters
Propulsion:	2 shaft Belluzzo geared turbines 6 Yarrow boillers 106,000 horsepower
Speed:	37 knots
Range:	4122 nautical miles at 18 knots
Complement:	578 men
Armament:	8 6 inch guns (4 × 2) 6 3.9 inch guns (3 × 2) 8 37&nbsp mm guns (4 x 2) 8 13.2 mm guns (4 × 2) 4 21 inch torpedo tubes (2x2)
Aircraft:	2 aircraft, 1 catapult
Protection:	30 mm deck 60 mm main belt 70 mm turrets 100 mm conning tower

Raimondo Montecuccoli was a Condottieri class light cruiser of the Regia Marina, which fought in World War II. She survived the war and served in the post-war Marina Militare until 1964.

[edit] Design

Montecuccoli, which gives name to its own sub-class, was part of the third group of Condottieri class light cruisers. They were larger and better protected then their predecessors.

Montecuccoli was built by Ansaldo, Genoa, and was named after Raimondo Montecuccoli a 17th century Italian general in Austrian service.

[edit] Career

Montecuccoli entered service in 1935 and was sent out to the Far east in 1937 to protect Italian interests during the Sino Japanese war. She returned home in November 1938 handing over to the Bartolomeo Colleoni. During the war she fought in the following actions:

She was badly damaged by USAAF bombers in Naples on 4 December 1942, but was repaired and just weeks before the armistice, she attacked, without results, a small allied convoy off Palermo during the allied invasion of Sicily. After the armistice she was interned by the Allies and returned to Italy after the war. She served as a training cruiser until 1964.