Zara was aheavy cruiser built for the ItalianRegia Marina (Royal Navy), thelead ship of theZara class. Named after the Italian city of Zara (nowZadar, Croatia), the ship was built at theOdero-Terni-Orlando shipyard beginning with herkeel laying in July 1928,launching in April 1930, andcommissioning in October 1931. Armed with a main battery of eight 8-inch (200 mm) guns, she was nominally within the 10,000-long-ton (10,000 t) limit imposed by theWashington Naval Treaty, though in reality she significantly exceeded this figure.

History
Italy
Name	Zara
Builder	Odero Terni Orlando, Muggiano
Laid down	4 July 1929
Launched	27 April 1930
Commissioned	20 October 1931
Fate	Sunk, 29 March 1941
General characteristics
Class and type	Zara-classcruiser
Displacement	Standard: 11,680long tons (11,867 t) Full load: 14,300 long tons (14,529 t)
Length	182.8 m (599 ft 9 in)
Beam	20.6 m (67 ft 7 in)
Draught	7.2 m (23 ft 7 in)
Installed power	95,000 shp (71,000 kW)
Propulsion	8 × 3-drum Thornycroft boilers 2 × Parsons steam turbines
Speed	33knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range	5,361 nmi (9,929 km; 6,169 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement	841
Armament	4 × 2 -203 mm (8 in)/53 cal. guns 8 × 2 -100 mm (4 in) / 47 caliber guns 6 × 1 -Vickers-Terni 40 mm/39 guns 8 ×13.2 mmmachine guns
Armor	Deck: 70 mm (2.8 in) Belt: 150 mm (5.9 in) Turret faces: 150 mm Barbettes: 150 mm
Aircraft carried	2

Zara saw extensive service during the first two years of Italy's participation inWorld War II, having taken part in several sorties to catch British convoys in the Mediterranean as theflagship of the 1st Division. She was present during theBattle of Calabria in July 1940, theBattle of Taranto in November 1940, and theBattle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. In the last engagement,Zara and hersister shipsFiume andPola were sunk in a close-range night engagement with three Britishbattleships. Most of her crew, 783 officers and sailors, including the divisional commander AdmiralCarlo Cattaneo and the ship's commanding officerLuigi Corsi, were killed in the sinking.

Zara was 182.8 meters (600 ft)long overall, with abeam of 20.62 m (67.7 ft) and adraft of 7.2 m (24 ft). Shedisplaced 14,300long tons (14,500 t) atfull load, though her displacement was nominally within the 10,000-long-ton (10,000 t) restriction set in place by theWashington Naval Treaty. Her power plant consisted of twoParsonssteam turbines powered by eight oil-firedYarrow boilers, which were trunked into two funnelsamidships. Her engines were rated at 95,000shaft horsepower (71,000 kW) and produced a top speed of 32knots (59 km/h; 37 mph). She had a crew of 841 officers and enlisted men.^[1]

She was protected with anarmor belt that was 150 mm (5.9 in) thick amidships. Her main deck was 70 mm (2.8 in) thick and there was a secondary deck 20 mm (0.79 in) thick over the main one. The gun turrets had 150 mm thick plating on the faces and thebarbettes they sat in were also 150 mm thick. The main conning tower had 150 mm thick sides.^[1]

Zara was armed with amain battery of eight203 mm (8 in) Mod 29 53-caliber guns in fourgun turrets. The turrets were arranged insuperfiring pairs forward and aft. Anti-aircraft defense was provided by a battery of sixteen100 mm (4 in) 47-cal. guns in twin mounts, fourVickers-Terni 40 mm/39 guns in single mounts and eight 12.7 mm (0.50 in) guns in twin mounts. She carried a pair ofIMAM Ro.43seaplanes for aerial reconnaissance; the hangar was located in under theforecastle and a fixedcatapult was mounted on thecenterline at the bow.^[1][2]

Zara'ssecondary battery was revised several times during her career. Two of the 100 mm guns and all of the 40 mm and 12.7 mm guns were removed in the late 1930s, and eight37 mm (1.5 in) 54-cal. guns and eight13.2 mm (0.52 in) guns were installed in their place. Two 120 mm (4.7 in) 15-cal.star shell guns were added in 1940.^[1]

Zara'skeel waslaid down on 4 July 1928 at theOdero-Terni-Orlando (OTO) shipyard atMuggiano,La Spezia; she waslaunched on 27 April 1930, and her construction was completed on 20 October 1931, when she wascommissioned into active service.^[3] During sea trials,Zara reached a speed of 35.23 kn (65.25 km/h; 40.54 mph), but this was with the ship's machinery forced to give 120,690 shp (90,000 kW). This was not representative of in-service performance, however, and normal maximum at-sea speed was about 29 kn (54 km/h; 33 mph).^{[4][nb 1]} The ship was presented with her battle flag in her namesake city, nowZadar, Croatia.^[6]

In August 1932,Zara took part in fleet training exercises in theGulf of Naples; KingVictor Emmanuel III came aboard the ship on the 13th. She became theflagship of the First Naval Squadron in September. She took part in anaval review held forBenito Mussolini in the Gulf of Naples on 6–7 July 1933.Zara participated in another review on 27 November 1936, and Victor Emmanuel III, his sonUmberto, Prince of Piedmont, Mussolini, and the Regent of Hungary,Miklós Horthy, all came aboard the ship. Another fleet review was held for the GermanField MarshalWerner von Blomberg, the German minister of defense, on 7 June 1937. On 16 September, the commander of the squadron transferred his flag to thebattleshipConte di Cavour. A final peacetime naval review took place on 5 May 1938, held for the visit ofAdolf Hitler.^[6]

On 7 March 1939,Zara and hersister ships sortied fromTaranto to intercept a squadron ofRepublican warships—three cruisers and eightdestroyers—attempting to reach theBlack Sea. The Italian ships were ordered not to open fire but merely to try to impede the progress of the Spanish ships and force them to dock atAugusta, Sicily. The Spanish commander refused and instead steamed toBizerte in French Tunisia, where his ships were interned. A month later, from 7 to 9 April,Zara supported theItalian invasion of Albania without incident. She was in port inGenoa for Navy Day on 10 June; she spent the rest of 1939 uneventfully.^[6]

At Italy's entrance into the Second World War on 10 June 1940,Zara was assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Squadron, as the flagship ofRear Admiral Matteucci. The division also included her sistersGorizia andFiume and the fourOriani-classdestroyers.^[7] At the time, the division was based inTaranto; the ships were immediately sent to patrol off the island ofCrete, and on 11–12 June, the ships were attacked by an unknownsubmarine, which the destroyers unsuccessfully counterattacked. On 21 June,Zara and the rest of the division were transferred toAugusta, Sicily to be better positioned to intercept Allied convoys in the Mediterranean. The following day, the 1st Division joined a patrol with the 2nd and 3rd Divisions, though they failed to find any Allied vessels.Zara was present at theBattle of Calabria on 9 July. On 30 July, the 1st Division escorted a convoy toBenghazi andTripoli inItalian Libya, arriving back in Augusta on 1 August. Gunnery training offNaples followed on 16 August, and on 29 August the ships left Naples for Taranto, arriving the next day. On the 31st, the 1st Division sortied to intercept the British convoys inOperation Hats, though the Italian fleet broke off the attack without encountering the merchant ships.^[6]

Zara returned to Taranto, and was present during theBattle of Taranto on the night of 11–12 November. She was undamaged during the British attack. In the aftermath of the attack, the Italian command decided to disperse the fleet to protect them from further attacks;Zara was sent toLa Spezia for periodic maintenance on the 12th. The work lasted until 9 December, and she steamed south to Naples the following day. British bombing of the port four days later forced the Italians to again relocate the cruisers, sending them first toLa Maddalena in Sardinia on 15 December and then back to Naples on the 19th. They stayed there for three days before proceeding to Taranto on 22 December.^[6] That month, AdmiralCarlo Cattaneo came aboardZara as the new commander of the division.^[8] Training exercises withGorizia followed on 29 January and continued into the next month, whenPola joined them on 13 February. In mid March,Zara,Pola, andFiume conducted gunnery training in the Gulf of Taranto. By this time,Pola had replacedGorizia in the 1st Division.^[6]

The Italian fleet made another attempt to intercept a British convoy in the eastern Mediterranean south ofCrete in late March. This operation resulted in theBattle of Cape Matapan on 27–29 March. For most of the daytime engagement,Zara and the rest of the 1st Division were stationed on the disengaged side of the Italian fleet, and so did not see action during this phase.Vittorio Veneto was torpedoed by British aircraft from the carrierFormidable and was forced to withdraw, and the 1st Division remained on the port side of the Italian fleet to screen against another possible British attack.^[9] A second British airstrike later on the 28th failed to locate the retiringVittorio Veneto and instead scored a single torpedo strike onPola, hitting heramidships on her starboard side. In the confusion of the attack,Pola had nearly collided withFiume and had been forced to stop, which had prevented her from taking evasive action.^[10] The damage filled three compartments with water and disabled five of her boilers and the main steam line that fed the turbines, leaving her immobilized.^[10][11]

Admiral Iachino, the fleet commander, was unaware ofPola's plight until 20:10; upon learning of the situation he detachedZara,Fiume, and four destroyers to protectPola. At around the same time, the British cruiserHMS Orion detectedPola on her radar and reported her location.^[12] The British fleet, centered on the battleshipsValiant,Warspite, andBarham, was at this point only 50 nmi (93 km; 58 mi) away.^[13] The British ships, guided by radar, closed in on the Italians; at 22:10,Pola was about 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) fromValiant. Lookouts on the crippled Italian cruiser spotted shapes approaching and assumed them to be friendly vessels, so they fired a red flare to guide them. Almost twenty minutes later, the British illuminated firstZara and thenFiume with their searchlights; the British battleships obliteratedZara,Fiume, and two destroyers in a point-blank engagement.^[14]Zara had been hit by fourbroadsides fromWarspite and five more fromValiant in the span of just a few minutes. The destroyerHMAS Stuart launched torpedoes at the crippledZara and scored at least one hit. The destroyerHavock launched four more torpedoes with unknown results.^[15]

The British battleships then turned away to avoid a torpedo attack from the remaining destroyers.Zara, by now burning furiously, remained afloat and drifted near the immobilizedPola.Zara's commander decided at 02:00 that his ship could not be saved, and so ordered the crew toscuttle the ship.^[16] At around the same time, the destroyerJervis arrived on the scene and fired three torpedoes atZara.^[17] The demolition charges exploded in the magazines at 02:30, and within ten minutes, the ship capsized and sank.^[16] Most of her crew, some 783 men including Cattaneo, were killed in the sinking.^[8][18]Zara was formally stricken from thenaval register on 18 October 1946.^[16]

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• Brescia, Maurizio; de Toro, Augusto (2022).Italian Heavy Cruisers: From Trento to Bolzano. Barnsley: Seaforth Publishing.ISBN 978-1-68247-871-4.
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• Rohwer, Jürgen (2005).Chronology of the War at Sea, 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two. Annapolis: Naval Institute Press.ISBN 1-59114-119-2.

35°20′N20°57′E / 35.333°N 20.950°E /35.333; 20.950

• Zara (1930) Marina Militare website