Condottieri (Family)

Description

The Condottieri class was a group of 12 light cruisers built for the Regia Marina during World War II. These 12 light cruisers were divided into subvariants:

• Alberto di Giussano class (4 units)
• Luigi Cadorna class (2 units)
• Raimondo Montecuccoli class (2 units)
• Duca d'Aosta class (2 units)
• Duca degli Abruzzi class (2 units)

Vehicles

Rank III

Alberto da Giussano class

• RN Bartolomeo Colleoni ₍₁₉₃₂₎

Rank IV

Raimondo Montecuccoli class

• RN Raimondo Montecuccoli ₍₁₉₄₃₎

Duca d'Aosta class

• RN Eugenio di Savoia ₍₁₉₄₃₎
• ▂Kerch ₍₁₉₅₃₎ - (previously RN Duca d'Aosta)

Rank V

Duca degli Abruzzi class

• RN Duca degli Abruzzi ₍₁₉₄₄₎

Vehicles are listed in order of refit year, not build year

History

The Condottieri class was a grouping of 5 classes of Italian light cruisers, each class being different from the other in which technological development could be seen from the oldest Alberto di Giussano class to the new Duca degli Abbruzzi class.

Each class is named after the first ship in the group, and the classes are divided into:

1. Alberto di Giussano-class
2. Luigi Cadorna-class
3. Raimondo Montecuccoli-class
4. Duca D'Aosta-class
5. Duca degli Abruzzi-class

Alberto di Giussano-class

The Condottieri class cruisers of the Alberto di Giussano type, designed and built for exploration missions and hunting enemy destroyers, were initially classified as 'Large Explorers', then as Light Cruisers.

Since this type of cruiser was designed to explore vast areas of sea and hunt down french destroyers, they were modified to have good speed at sea, but this made them less armoured, in fact, during test sailings and battles the hull suffered much damage; during World War II the hull was reinforced, but in the same war all cruisers of this type were lost.

Instead of building more cruisers of this type, the design was revised with new and better ones, which led to the creation of the Luigi Cadorna type.

Ship name	Builder	Laid down	Launch	Commissioning	Fate
RN Alberto di Giussano	Ansaldo	29 March 1928	27 March 1930	5 February 1931	13 December 1941	Sunk by 2 torpedoes of HMS Maori
RN Alberico da Barbiano	Ansaldo	16 April 1928	23 August 1930	9 June 1931	13 December 1941	Sunk by HMS Sikh, HMS Legion and HMS Maori
RN Bartolomeo Colleoni	Ansaldo	21 June 1928	21 December 1930	10 February 1932	19 July 1940	Sunk by various British Destroyers and HMAS Sydney
RN Giovanni delle Bande Nere	Castellammare di Stabia	31 October 1928	27 April 1930	1 January 1931	1 April 1942	Sunk by HMS Urge (N17)

Luigi Cadorna-class

During construction, it became evident that the first four light cruisers (Alberto di Giussano-class) were too fragile, so the Regia Marina began to design an improved version that was named Luigi Cadorna, whose improvements were hull stability and strength, and a new catapult for aircraft.

The main armament still consisted of eight 152/53 cannons but these belonged to the new 1929 model and were installed on larger towers than the previous ones.

The secondary armament consisted of 6 pieces of 100/47 positioned between the 2 funnels in 3 twin installations, while the anti-aircraft armament at the outbreak of war had 8 single 20mm and 4 twin 13.2mm emplacements and at the end still retained 2 twin torpedo launchers and could carry between 84 and 138 naval mines, depending on the model.

In particular, the Cadorna was modified in 1943, with an aircraft catapult with 2 twin 20mm emplacements; the following year the torpedoes were removed

Ship name	Builder	Laid down	Launch	Commissioning	Fate
RN Luigi Cadorna	C.R.D.A.	19 September 1930	30 September 1931	11 August 1933	1951	Broken up in 1953
RN Armando Diaz	O.T.O.	28 July 1930	10 July 1932	29 April 1933	25 February 1941	Sunk by HMS Upright (N89)

Raimondo Montecuccoli-class

Ship name	Builder	Laid down	Launch	Commissioning	Fate
RN Raimondo Montecuccoli	Ansaldo	1 October 1931	2 August 1934	30 June 1935	31 May 1964	Broken up in 1972
RN Muzio Attendolo	C.R.D.A.	10 April 1933	9 September 1934	7 August 1935	18 October 1946	Broken up

Duca D'Aosta-class

Ship name	Builder	Laid down	Launch	Commissioning	Fate
RN Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta / Z-15 Kerch	O.T.O.	29 October 1932	22 April 1934	13 July 1935	2 March 1949	War repatriation to Soviet Navy. Decommissioned on 20 February 1959 and broken up in 1961.
RN Eugenio di Savoia / C-24 Elli II	Ansaldo	6 July 1933	16 March 1935	16 January 1936	26 June 1951	War repatriation to Hellenic Navy (Greece). Broken up in 1973.

Duca degli Abruzzi-class

Ship name	Builder	Laid down	Launch	Commissioning	Fate
RN Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abbruzzi	O.T.O.	28 December 1933	21 April 1936	1 December 1937	1961	Broken up in 1965
RN Giuseppe Garibaldi	C.R.D.A.	28 December 1933	21 April 1936	20 December 1937	16 November 1976	Broken up in September 1978

Sources

• [Marina Militare] Alberto Da Giussano
• [Marina Militare] Alberico da Barbiano
• [Marina Militare] Bartolomeo Colleoni
• [Marina Militare] Giovanni dalle Bande Nere
• [Marina Militare] Luigi Cadorna
• [Marina Militare] Armando Diaz
• [Marina Militare] Raimondo Montecuccoli
• [Marina Militare] Muzio Attendolo
• [Marina Militare] Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta
• [Marina Militare] Eugenio di Savoia
• [Marina Militare] Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi
• [Marina Militare] Giuseppe Garibaldi

USSR light cruisers
	Imperial Russia
Svetlana-class	Krasny Krym* · Krasny Kavkaz*
	* Laid down by Imperial Russian Navy; Finished and renamed by the USSR
Project	Soviet Union
Pr.26	Kirov · Voroshilov · Maxim Gorky
Pr.68	Chapayev · Zheleznyakov
Pr.68-bis	Sverdlov · Mikhail Kutuzov
Pr.68-bis-ZiF	Shcherbakov
Trophies	Italy
Condottieri-class	Kerch