Italian cruiser Gorizia

Gorizia painted in camouflage patterns (1942)
History
Italy
Name:	Gorizia
Builder:	OTO Livorno
Laid down:	March 1930
Launched:	28 December 1930
Commissioned:	31 December 1931
Fate:	Disabled by manned torpedoes in 1944, scrapped in 1946
General characteristics
Class and type:	Zara-class cruiser
Displacement:	11,870 t (11,683 long tons) standard 14,530 t (14,301 long tons) full load
Length:	182.8 m (599 ft 9 in)
Beam:	20.6 m (67 ft 7 in)
Draught:	7.2 m (23 ft 7 in)
Propulsion:	8 three-drum Thornycroft boilers 2 Parsons turbines 95,000 hp (71 MW)
Speed:	33 knots (38 mph; 61 km/h)
Range:	5,361 nmi (9,929 km) at 16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h)
Complement:	841
Armament:	8 × 203 mm (8.0 in)/53 cal. guns 16 × 100 mm (3.9 in)/47 cal. guns 6 × 40 mm/49 cal. guns 8 × 13.2 mm guns
Armour:	Maximum 70 mm (2.8 in) vertical, 150 mm (5.9 in) horizontal
Aircraft carried:	2 seaplanes

Gorizia was an Italian Zara-class heavy cruiser, which served in the Regia Marina during World War II. The ship was named after the city of Gorizia. She was the only surviving cruiser of her class after the Battle of Cape Matapan in 1941.

Service history

Gorizia participated in World War II as a member of 1st Division, 1st Squadron. She took part in the Battle of Punta Stilo, the Battle of Taranto, where she shot down a British Swordfish torpedo bomber,^[1] the Battle of Cape Teulada, where her Ro.43 floatplane spotted the British battle group,^[2] and the First and Second Battle of Sirte, where her guns hit two destroyers, HMS Kipling^[3] and HMS Sikh,^[4] inflicting minor damage on them. Some sources ^[5][6] claim that she also hit and severely damaged the destroyer HMS Kingston, instead of the battleship Littorio as widely reported. Among her other missions, there were escorts to Italian and German convoys, for a total of 20 operations accomplished.^[7]

On 10 April 1943, Gorizia was damaged by an allied air strike at La Maddalena naval base, and moved to La Spezia for repairs.^[8] She was still there on 8 September, when the armistice between Italy and the Allies was signed.^[7] Gorizia was crippled on 26 June 1944 at her moorings in La Spezia by manned torpedoes, after the Italians joined the Allies, in order to prevent her use by the Germans.^[9] Her hull was scrapped after 1946.^[10]

Notes

1. La Notte di Taranto (Italian)
2. Greene & Masignani, p. 119
3. Bragadin, p.149
4. Thomas, David A. (1999). Malta Convoys. Penn & Sword books, p. 149. ISBN 0-85052-663-9
5. Sadkovich, James (1994). The Italian Navy in World War II, Greenwood Press, Westport, p. 245. ISBN 0-313-28797-X
6. O'Hara, Vincent P. (2009). Struggle for the Middle Sea. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Maryland, p. 168. ISBN 978-1-59114-648-3
7. Gorizia, from Marina Militare official web site. (Italian)
8. Mitcham, Samuel and Von Stauffenberg, Friedrich (2007). The Battle of Sicily: How the Allies Lost Their Chance for Total Victory. Stackpole Books, p. 69. ISBN 0-8117-3403-X
9. Fitzsimons, Bernard (1977). Illustrated Encyclopedia of 20th Century Weapons & Warfare, Volume 24. Phoebus, p. 2615
10. Gorizia Schwerer Kreuzer

References

• Bragadin, Marc'Antonio (1957). The Italian Navy in World War II, United States Naval Institute, Annapolis. ISBN 0-405-13031-7
• Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro: (1998). The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940-1943. Chatam Publishing, London. ISBN 1-86176-057-4