Italian cruiser Zara

History
Italy
Name	Zara
Builder	Odero Terni Orlando, Muggiano
Laid down	4 July 1929
Launched	27 April 1930
Commissioned	20 October 1931
Fate	Sunk, 29 March 1941
General characteristics
Class and type	Zara-class cruiser
Displacement	Standard: 11,680 long tons (11,867 t) Full load: 14,300 long tons (14,529 t)
Length	182.8 m (599 ft 9 in)
Beam	20.6 m (67 ft 7 in)
Draught	7.2 m (23 ft 7 in)
Installed power	95,000 shp (71,000 kW)
Propulsion	8 × 3-drum Thornycroft boilers 2 × Parsons steam turbines
Speed	33 knots (61 km/h; 38 mph)
Range	5,361 nmi (9,929 km; 6,169 mi) at 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)
Complement	841
Armament	4 × 2 - 203 mm (8 in)/53 cal. guns 8 × 2 - 100 mm (4 in) / 47 caliber guns 6 × 1 - Vickers-Terni 40 mm/39 guns 8 × 13.2 mm machine guns
Armor	Deck: 70 mm (2.8 in) Belt: 150 mm (5.9 in) Turret faces: 150 mm Barbettes: 150 mm
Aircraft carried	2

Zara was a heavy cruiser built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy), the lead ship of the Zara class. Named after the Italian city of Zara (now Zadar, Croatia), the ship was built at the Odero-Terni-Orlando shipyard beginning with her keel laying in July 1928, launching in April 1930, and commissioning in October 1931. Armed with a main battery of eight 8-inch (200 mm) guns, she was nominally within the 10,000-long-ton (10,000 t) limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, though in reality she significantly exceeded this figure.

Zara saw extensive service during the first two years of Italy's participation in World War II, having taken part in several sorties to catch British convoys in the Mediterranean as the flagship of the 1st Division. She was present during the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, the Battle of Taranto in November 1940, and the Battle of Cape Matapan in March 1941. In the last engagement, Zara and her sister ships Fiume and Pola were sunk in a close-range night engagement with three British battleships. Most of her crew, 783 officers and sailors, including the divisional commander Admiral Carlo Cattaneo and the ship's commanding officer Luigi Corsi, were killed in the sinking.