When the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 effectively banned the building of battleships, competition between the major navies concentrated on the next most powerful category, Heavy cruisers limited to ten thousand tons displacement and eight-inch guns.
Translated From the same series that produced the highly successful
Italian Battleships, this volume is a fitting companion..
Tragically, they were all sunk, and the circumstance of each loss is explored.
As befits a technical history, the book is thoroughly illustrated with ship and armament plans, detail drawings and color camouflage schemes, as well as an outstanding collection of photographs.
They were important ships, subject to incremental improvement so no two were identical, and model makers will appreciate the space devoted to the variations in appearance, using both description and illustration.
As major units of the Italian battle fleet, they were more active than most during the war and their careers are fully detailed, including analyses of damage suffered.
However, before the final ship of this class (Pola) had been completed, there was a return to the earlier fast, lightly protected concept with the
Bolzano, although this ship also incorporated aspects of the
Zara design.
The political background, design history and technical features of these classes are covered in great depth in this volume.
These were the fastest of the first generation \'Treaty\' cruisers but were very lightly armored, and the succeeding
Zara class of four ships were slower but better protected.
Italy followed this trend, the first design for what became
Trento and
Trieste being ordered in 1924.
When the Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 effectively banned the building of battleships, competition between the major navies concentrated on the next most powerful category, Heavy cruisers limited to ten thousand tons displacement and eight-inch guns
