| Career (Italy) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | Pola |
| Builder: | OTO shipyard, Livorno |
| Laid down: | 17 March 1930 |
| Launched: | 5 February 1931 |
| Commissioned: | 21 December 1932 |
| Fate: | Sunk at Cape Matapan, March 29, 1941 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 13,531 tonnes (standard), 13,145 tonnes (full load) |
| Length: | 182.8 m |
| Beam: | 20.6m |
| Draught: | 7.2m |
| Propulsion: | 8 boilers, 2 turbines, 2 shafts, 95,000 hp |
| Speed: | 32 knots (63 km/h) |
| Range: | 5230 miles at 16 knots |
| Complement: | 841 |
| Armament: |
guns:
|
| Armour: | 70 mm (horizontal), 150 mm (vertical), 100 mm (towers), 100mm (control tower) |
| Aircraft carried: | 2 Piaggio P6 seaplanes |
| Aviation facilities: | 1 catapult |
The Pola was a Zara class heavy cruiser of the Italian Regia Marina. She was built in the OTO shipyard at Livorno and entered service in 1932. She was sunk in the battle of Cape Matapan (29 March 1941) during World War II.
After intensive peacetime activity, at the start of the Second World War the Pola was made the flagship of Admiral Riccardo Paladini, commander of 2nd Squadron, and took part in 12 actions between then and her sinking, including the battles of Calabria and Cape Spartivento.
She also participated in the cruise across the western Mediterranean which culminated in the battle of Cape Matapan. At Matapan she was detected by the radar of a Royal Navy ship, then badly damaged by a hit from a torpedo fired from a Fairey Swordfish aeroplane and immobilised near the Matapan peninsula, though the rest of the Italian fleet continued its return journey. This immobilisation indirectly led to the later phase of the battle, when Admiral Angelo Iachino ordered Carlo Cattaneo to take the remaining Zara class cruisers and four Oriani class destroyers to rescue the Pola. The rescue group's route there brought them directly within range of Admiral A B Cunningham's force. All the rescuing ships were sunk.
A British destroyer HMS Jervis went alongside the unresisting Pola and boarded her taking off the wounded (275 of the Pola's crew in total) and some materiel. It being impracticable to tow the ship to Alexandria, it was sunk by torpedoes first by Jervis then Nubian.[1] The Italians were signalled of her position so those not already picked up by the British destroyers could be rescued.[2] with most of her crew rescued by Gaetano Tavoni (the great effort of the rescue caused him a fatal heart attack and his body was never found).