A strange feeling from this ship. It seems like working on mistakes, but there are even more mistakes than in work. They began to build the ship after the cruisers of the Zara project, but completely without taking into account the experience of building and operating ships. Bolzano is more like a return to Trento, and there is a logical explanation for this.
On the one hand, two Trentos and four Zars are quite normally divided into two, that is, into two divisions of heavy cruisers. In fact, five, because the cruiser "Pola" was originally designed as the flagship of the cruising (but in fact was the acting line) fleet, so one more ship was definitely needed.
The division, albeit minimal, existed among the Italian heavy cruisers. The Trentos were lighter and a little faster. Therefore, a ship was needed to match them. That is why Bolzano was planned as the third in a pair to Trento and Trieste. But with improvements, since the Zary had already been built by that time.
The priority of the design was left on speed, and they did not play with a displacement like that of "Zara". But they began to lighten the ship wherever possible. The result was "Trento" with a front superstructure, power plant and weapons from "Zara".
We also revised the damage control system. The reservation was left like that of Trento. Reduced ammunition, both the main caliber and the auxiliary.
The main caliber of the cruiser consisted of eight 203-mm guns of the 1929 model, similar to those installed on the Zara-class cruisers.
The fire control system of the main battery remained the same as on the rest of the heavy cruisers. The universal caliber consisted of 16 100-mm guns (8 double-barreled installations), the fire control system was of the same type as on the Zara-class cruisers. Anti-aircraft artillery usually consisted of four 40-mm anti-aircraft machine guns, eight (4 coaxial installations) 13, 2-mm machine guns.
Unlike the Zara cruisers, torpedo armament was not eliminated for the sake of relief. Eight 533-mm vehicles (four twin-tube installations), located in the same way as on the Trento-class cruisers.
With the catapult located on the bow in front of the main caliber turret, adopted on Italian large ships in the 1920s, the Trento was tortured. Therefore, at Bolzano, it was decided to apply a different solution. The cruiser was equipped with a rotary catapult of the Gagnetto system, which was located between the chimneys on the boat deck and could rotate at a certain angle (up to 30 ° on each side) from the center plane.
The aircraft were mounted on a catapult and lifted from the water using an arrow, which the Zarya had abandoned altogether. The boom was attached to the base of the mainmast. According to the project, the cruiser was supposed to take three aircraft. The hangar was now not provided at all, so one aircraft was stored directly on the catapult, and two more - on special sites on the sides of the front tube. In reality, the cruiser carried no more than two seaplanes.
Initially, the cruiser housed the Piaggio P.6ter, and in 1937 they were replaced by the IMAM Ro.43.
The crew consisted of 725 people.
In the process of service, anti-aircraft artillery was constantly improved, all heavy cruisers were constantly re-equipped with air defense weapons, following the development of aviation.
In 1937, 2 aft 100-mm installations were removed from the cruiser. Instead, two pairs of 37 mm anti-aircraft guns appeared. Further, the crews of the cruisers without regret said goodbye to the licensed 40-mm "Pom-poms" from the "Vickers", installing anti-aircraft guns with a caliber of 37 mm and 20 mm instead of outdated assault rifles and large-caliber machine guns. By 1942, the Bolzano had increased the number of anti-aircraft guns to 16 barrels, which was not enough, but could not be compared with the original configuration.
Together with the outdated and useless 40-mm machine guns, the control gear for the auxiliary caliber fire control was removed from the mainmast. Instead, manual 1.5-meter rangefinders began to be used. At the same time, rangefinders were installed on the cruiser in towers No. 1 and No. 4, which made it possible to navigate independently of other towers.
And the last innovation. Immediately before the start of the war, two 120-mm howitzers "OTO" were added to the cruiser, intended for firing lighting shells (ammunition - 120 shells per barrel). The guns were placed behind the first chimney.
On trials in December 1932, "Bolzano" showed a record speed of 36, 81 knots. But we are in no hurry to applaud and admire, it was a sin not to accelerate. The ship lacked artillery, ammunition and fire control devices.
In June 1933, a fully equipped cruiser developed "only" 35 knots. A very good result. However, during service, a fully loaded ship did not show more than 34 knots. And even then such a good speed turned out to be a completely useless "feature", since the comrades-in-arms in the division of heavy cruisers could not give more than 30 knots.
In terms of military merit, "Bolzano" was no worse or better than other heavy cruisers.
In 1936-1939, like almost all ships of the Italian fleet, he assisted the troops of General Franco. In June 1940, when Italy entered World War II, the first operation for Bolzano was a cover for a mine-barrage operation. The cruiser participated in two exits to intercept the enemy fleet, but it never came to a battle due to the absence of the enemy.
On July 9, the ship took part in the battle at Punto Stilo (Calabria). Bolzano received three 152-mm shells from British cruisers, one of which had steering control removed.
After repairs, Bolzano mainly escorted supply convoys to North Africa.
On November 27, 1940, as part of the Bolzano cruiser squadron, he took part in the battle with the British "H" formation. "Bolzano" during the battle had a short fire contact with the battle cruiser "Rinaun". Here the cruiser's ability to give full speed to retreat was definitely useful, since the Rhinaun with eight 381 mm guns was not an enemy for the Bolzano. More precisely, the Italian cruiser was not the enemy for the British battle cruiser. As a result, they parted without hitting each other.
The battle at Cape Matapan, fortunately, did not become the last point in the Bolzano's career, and for a long time the cruiser sadly accompanied the North African convoys.
On August 25, 1941, at the northern entrance to Messina, the commander of the Triumph submarine discovered a detachment of Italian ships and decided to attack.
The escort destroyers found the Triumph and began to drop depth charges, but Captain Woods managed to deceive the Italians, break away from the destroyers and fired a salvo towards the departing squadron. And ended up in Bolzano. And he hit it well. To the aft compartment.
The damage to the cruiser turned out to be heavy, it completely lost its speed, and it was very difficult to control. With great difficulty, the Bolzano was towed to Messina for repairs at a local factory.
In September 1941, British bombers flew in and added half-ton bombs on top. The repair was delayed, and the cruiser returned to the fleet only in the summer of 1942. By this time, the Italian fleet was paralyzed by the "fuel crisis". There was barely enough oil to support daily combat activities.
Only in August 1942, "Bolzano" went to sea in order to disrupt the supply operation of Malta, where the British troops were holding out their last strength. The British command planned and carried out a supply convoy operation from Gibraltar, codenamed "Pedestal". The Italians planned a retaliatory operation.
An Italian cruising squadron went to sea. It included the cruisers Bolzano, Gorizia, Trieste, Eugenio di Savoia, Montecuccoli, Attendolo and 11 destroyers. Their appearance could be fatal for the British convoy, which suffered heavy losses, including in the escort ships from the actions of the German-Italian air squadron. In fact, there was simply no one to fight the Italian cruisers, and the convoy was facing the final defeat. But at the most crucial moment, on August 12, the Italian ships were recalled.
In the literature, this stupid cowardice, similar to the behavior of the Japanese in Leyte Gulf, is well understood, there are many versions. The fact is that “they could but didn't want to” is about the Italian naval command.
"If you don't score, they score for you." The football principle is quite applicable in this moment. On the way back, the Italian squadron was intercepted by a small number of British submarines.
The commander of the submarine "Anbroken", having discovered the moving delight of the ships of the Italian fleet, prudently let the destroyers past him and calmly fired a four-torpedo salvo.
One torpedo struck the cruiser Attendolo, tearing off its nose, the second - the Bolzano. On "Bolzano" there was an explosion in the area of fuel tanks, a strong fire broke out, which threatened the ammunition cellars. The commander gave the order to flood the cellars.
The fire was extinguished, but the water gained so much that the cruiser had to run aground off the island of Panorea. Two days later, having gathered strength, the water was partially pumped out, the Bolzano was removed from the shallows and towed to Naples, where it was repaired in a hurry. Then they decided to convert the cruiser into an aircraft carrier and ferried to La Spezia.
The Italians tried to solve two problems: to create a transport for the delivery of fighters to North Africa, and, if necessary, use it as an aircraft carrier. With the "Bolzano" it was planned to cut off all the superstructures, lengthen the deck, and mount two catapults on the tank.
It was planned to dismantle part of the main power plant, so the power was reduced to 30,000 hp, and the speed to 25 knots.
The armament of the air transport would be 10 anti-aircraft guns 90 mm and 40 machine guns 37 mm. The ship could carry 12 RE-2001 fighters. Fighters would take off from catapults and land on coastal airfields.
But they never got to work. On September 8, Italy signed a truce with the Allies, and on September 9, La Spezia was captured by the Germans. "Bolzano" was not even nominally included in the German fleet, it did not interest the Kriegsmarine at all.
However, the allies had their own considerations about the cruiser. There were fears that the Germans could sink the ship in the fairway and block the port's harbor.
Therefore, on the night of June 21-22, 1944, the Italian destroyer Grekale and the Italian torpedo boat MAS-74 approached the harbor; Englishmen.
Penetrating into the harbor, the combat swimmers attached four magnetic mines to the bottom of the ship with a slowdown of 2 hours, and to intensify the explosion, they attached a torpedo warhead with a charge of about 200 kg of explosives. At 6 o'clock. 23 minutes an explosion occurred, the Bolzano capsized and sank. After the war, he was still raised and cut into metal.
As an epilogue.
Bolzano was a good job on Trento's mistakes. The cruiser was more seaworthy, had good habitability, the hull did not "play" and the speed was just good.
However, in the squadron, its 33 knots were balanced by 30 knots of its predecessor cruisers. And how many claims were made to the main caliber artillery …
The ship was not bad, yes, it ran well, but in terms of fighting … Although, choosing between Bolzano and Zara, I would choose Bolzano. On it it would be possible at least to escape from the enemy, since it is still unrealistic to get into an enemy ship.
