Montecuccoli class

The Montecuccoli class was a class of light cruisers in the Italian Navy . The class consisted of two ships built in Trieste and Genoa in the early 1930s :

Raimondo Montecuccoli (type ship, named after Raimondo Montecuccoli )
Muzio Attendolo (named after Muzio Attendolo Sforza )

These two ships, put into service in 1935, represented a considerable improvement of the Alberto di Giussano class and the Cadorna class , with which they formed the so-called Condottieri classes . They were distinguished by their high speed, with their armor significantly improved compared to the two previous classes. This trend was continued in the following Duca d'Aosta and Duca degli Abruzzi classes .

Technical specifications

Cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli

Main dimensions

Overall length: 182.2 m
Width overall: 16.6 m
Draft: 6 m
Displacement: 8,895 ts (maximum)

Propulsion system

6 steam boilers , 106,000 hp
3 turbines, 3 screws
Top speed: 37 kn
Range: 4,122 nm at 18 kn

Armor

Vertical: 70 mm
Horizontal: 25 mm
Artillery: 70 mm
Superstructures: 100 mm

Crew and armament

Crew: 578 men
8 × 152/54 mm in four double towers
6 × 100/47 mm in three double towers
8 × 37/54 mm flak
8 × 13.2 mm MG
4 × 553 mm torpedo tubes
2 aircraft on board

Calls

Raimondo Montecuccoli

The cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli took part in the following skirmishes and naval battles during World War II:

After the armistice of September 8, 1943, he went to Malta in accordance with the armistice clauses . Until 1945 the cruiser Montecuccoli was used for transport tasks. From 1949 until its decommissioning in 1964, it served as a training ship at the Naval Academy in Livorno . During this time the cruiser sailed all the world's oceans.

Muzio Attendolo

The cruiser Muzio Attendolo also took part in the above. Sea battles. On August 13, 1942, he was badly damaged at the bow by the British submarine HMS Unbroken . Allied bombers sank the cruiser on December 4, 1942 during the repair work in Naples .