Post by Diarist on Sept 14, 2014 12:27:21 GMT 1
Trento-class
The Trento class is an Italian heavy cruiser design of the Regia Marina from the late 1920s. The three ships in the class are named after the three unredeemed cities taken from the Austro-Hungarian empire after the victory in the Great War: Trento, Trieste, and Bolzano.
The Trentos are the first ships designed specifically to the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty. This limits cruisers to 10,000 tons and 8 inch (203 mm) guns, a limitation that made firepower, speed and protection difficult to build into a single design. A particular problem faced by the Italian designers was that their ships had to be able to protect the lengthy Italian coastline from widely separated naval bases, meaning that high speed was a key feature. In the end they chose to sacrifice armor and fuel storage, and thus range, in order to attain the required speed and weight while still being armed with the latest 8 inch (203 mm) guns.
Trento started construction in 1925 along with her sister ship, Trieste. Trieste was launched first in 1926 and commissioned in 1928, while Trento followed in 1927 and 1929 respectively. A third, Bolzano, started construction in 1930 and was commissioned in 1933; the Bolzano is quite different from the other two vessels, and sometimes it is considered a class on its own. It was later concluded that the tradeoff in armour put the ships at a disadvantage, and an up-armored version of the design was produced as the highly rated Zara-class in the early 1930s. The three warships constitute Italian Navy's Third Division of cruisers.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trento-class_cruiser
Zara-class cruiser
The Zara-class is an Italian heavy cruiser design of the Regia Marina from the early 1930s, considered by many to be one of the best cruiser design of the era. Four ships of the class have been completed, Zara, Fiume, Pola and Gorizia.
Design
The Zaras are essentially an improved Trento-class tasked with dealing with the latest French designs.
The Trentos have been designed to the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty, which stated that cruisers had to be 10,000 tons or less, and armed with 8-inch (200 mm) guns or smaller. The weight limitation made it impossible to design a ship with those guns and armour able to stop shells of the same caliber. A typical Washington design had 76 mm in its armour belt, and less on other areas of the ship. These thicknesses were reasonably good against destroyer and light cruiser weapons (typically between 5 in {127 mm} and 6 in {150 mm}), but insufficient against the 120 kg shells that 203 mm fired, capable of piercing even 150 mm at medium range. In general, in order to be effective, armour should be roughly the same thickness as the diameter of the shells fired against it.
Trentos have sacrificed armor for speed, allowing them to make high-speed dashes up and down the long Italian coastline, which would otherwise be difficult to defend from Italy's widely separated naval bases. Although equipped with powerful armament, hits against them would likely penetrate the armour and knock the ships out of combat. Even a won battle might seriously deplete Italian naval strength, something they were not prepared to address through sheer numbers.
The solution was a new design, one combining the armament of the Trentos with the armour needed to protect them from similar French designs. To achieve this, the Zaras are almost 2000 t (at standard displacement) over the 10,000 ton limit, even if fully loaded (because the modest amount of the fuel load) they displace no more than, for example, British heavy cruisers. Extras such as a high superstructure and torpedo tubes were removed in an effort to save weight, but in the end the ships ended up considerably "overweight" anyway. The removal of the superstructure made placement of radar difficult, and in the end none of the class would ever carry one. This could prove to be a fatal omission.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zara-class_cruiser
The Trento class is an Italian heavy cruiser design of the Regia Marina from the late 1920s. The three ships in the class are named after the three unredeemed cities taken from the Austro-Hungarian empire after the victory in the Great War: Trento, Trieste, and Bolzano.
The Trentos are the first ships designed specifically to the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty. This limits cruisers to 10,000 tons and 8 inch (203 mm) guns, a limitation that made firepower, speed and protection difficult to build into a single design. A particular problem faced by the Italian designers was that their ships had to be able to protect the lengthy Italian coastline from widely separated naval bases, meaning that high speed was a key feature. In the end they chose to sacrifice armor and fuel storage, and thus range, in order to attain the required speed and weight while still being armed with the latest 8 inch (203 mm) guns.
Trento started construction in 1925 along with her sister ship, Trieste. Trieste was launched first in 1926 and commissioned in 1928, while Trento followed in 1927 and 1929 respectively. A third, Bolzano, started construction in 1930 and was commissioned in 1933; the Bolzano is quite different from the other two vessels, and sometimes it is considered a class on its own. It was later concluded that the tradeoff in armour put the ships at a disadvantage, and an up-armored version of the design was produced as the highly rated Zara-class in the early 1930s. The three warships constitute Italian Navy's Third Division of cruisers.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trento-class_cruiser
Zara-class cruiser
The Zara-class is an Italian heavy cruiser design of the Regia Marina from the early 1930s, considered by many to be one of the best cruiser design of the era. Four ships of the class have been completed, Zara, Fiume, Pola and Gorizia.
Design
The Zaras are essentially an improved Trento-class tasked with dealing with the latest French designs.
The Trentos have been designed to the limitations of the Washington Naval Treaty, which stated that cruisers had to be 10,000 tons or less, and armed with 8-inch (200 mm) guns or smaller. The weight limitation made it impossible to design a ship with those guns and armour able to stop shells of the same caliber. A typical Washington design had 76 mm in its armour belt, and less on other areas of the ship. These thicknesses were reasonably good against destroyer and light cruiser weapons (typically between 5 in {127 mm} and 6 in {150 mm}), but insufficient against the 120 kg shells that 203 mm fired, capable of piercing even 150 mm at medium range. In general, in order to be effective, armour should be roughly the same thickness as the diameter of the shells fired against it.
Trentos have sacrificed armor for speed, allowing them to make high-speed dashes up and down the long Italian coastline, which would otherwise be difficult to defend from Italy's widely separated naval bases. Although equipped with powerful armament, hits against them would likely penetrate the armour and knock the ships out of combat. Even a won battle might seriously deplete Italian naval strength, something they were not prepared to address through sheer numbers.
The solution was a new design, one combining the armament of the Trentos with the armour needed to protect them from similar French designs. To achieve this, the Zaras are almost 2000 t (at standard displacement) over the 10,000 ton limit, even if fully loaded (because the modest amount of the fuel load) they displace no more than, for example, British heavy cruisers. Extras such as a high superstructure and torpedo tubes were removed in an effort to save weight, but in the end the ships ended up considerably "overweight" anyway. The removal of the superstructure made placement of radar difficult, and in the end none of the class would ever carry one. This could prove to be a fatal omission.
Source: Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zara-class_cruiser