Giovanni delle Bande Nere was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 light cruiser

Light cruiser

A light cruiser is a type of small- or medium-sized warship. The term is a shortening of the phrase "light armored cruiser", describing a small ship that carried armor in the same way as an armored cruiser: a protective belt and deck...

 of the first group of the Condottieri class

Condottieri class cruiser

The Condottieri class was a sequence of five, different, light cruiser classes of the Regia Marina , although these classes show a clear line of evolution. They were built before World War II to gain predominance in the Mediterranean Sea...

, which served in the Regia Marina

Regia Marina

The Regia Marina dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification...

 during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. She was named after the eponymous

Giovanni dalle Bande Nere

Lodovico de Medici also known as Giovanni dalle Bande Nere was an Italian condottiero.-Biography:Giovanni was born in the Northern Italian town of Forlì to Giovanni de' Medici and Caterina Sforza, one of the most famous women of the Italian Renaissance.From an early age, he demonstrated great...

 16th century condottiero and member of the Medici

Medici

The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...

 family. Her keel was laid down in 1928 at Cantieri Navali di Castellammare di Stabia, Castellammare di Stabia

Castellammare di Stabia

Castellammare di Stabia is a comune in the province of Naples, Campania region, southern Italy. It is situated on the Bay of Naples about 30 kilometers southeast of Naples, on the route to Sorrento.-History:...

; she was launched on 27 April 1930, and her construction was completed in 1931. She was sunk on 1 April 1942 by the British submarine HMS Urge

HMS Urge (N17)

HMS Urge was a British U class submarine, of the second group of that class, built by Vickers Armstrong, Barrow-in-Furness. She was laid down on 30 October 1939 and was commissioned on 12 December 1940...

.

The Condottieri type of cruiser (there were several sub-classes) sacrificed protection for high speed and weaponry, as a counter to new French large destroyers.

Service

Bande Nere's service was entirely in the Mediterranean, initially as a precaution during the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 and afterwards in the Navy Ministry's Training Command. At the outbreak of Italy's war in June 1940, she formed the 2nd Cruiser Division with the Luigi Cadorna

Italian cruiser Luigi Cadorna

Luigi Cadorna was an Italian light cruiser, which served in the Regia Marina during World War II. She was launched on 30 September 1931. This ship was named after Italian Field Marshal Luigi Cadorna who was commander in Chief of the Italian Army during World War I.During her early service she did...

. She did some mine-laying in the Sicilian Channel on 10 June and in July covered troop convoys to North Africa.

Bande Nere and Bartolomeo Colleoni

Italian cruiser Bartolomeo Colleoni

Bartolomeo Colleoni was an Italian Condottieri class light cruiser, that served in the Regia Marina during World War II. It was named after Bartolomeo Colleoni, an Italian military leader of the 15th century....

, en route from Tripoli

Tripoli

Tripoli is the capital and largest city in Libya. It is also known as Western Tripoli , to distinguish it from Tripoli, Lebanon. It is affectionately called The Mermaid of the Mediterranean , describing its turquoise waters and its whitewashed buildings. Tripoli is a Greek name that means "Three...

 to Leros

Leros

Leros is a Greek island and municipality in the Dodecanese in the southern Aegean Sea. It lies 317 km from Athens's port of Piraeus, from which it can be reached by an 11-hour ferry ride . Leros is part of the Kalymnos peripheral unit...

, took part in the Battle of Cape Spada

Battle of Cape Spada

The Battle of Cape Spada was a naval battle during the Battle of the Mediterranean in Second World War. It took place on 19 July 1940 in the Mediterranean Sea off Cape Spada, the north-western extremity of Crete.-Prelude:...

 (17 July 1940), when the light protection of the Condottieri class was clearly exposed. In the fight between the two Italian light cruisers and the Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n cruiser HMAS Sydney

HMAS Sydney (1934)

HMAS Sydney , named for the Australian city of Sydney, was one of three Modified Leander class light cruisers operated by the Royal Australian Navy...

 with five British destroyers, the Allies sank Colleoni and damaged Bande Nere. Colleoni was disabled by a shell that penetrated to her engine room, allowing the destroyers to torpedo and sink her. Bande Nere scored a hit on Sydney and returned to Tripoli.

From December 1940 into 1941, she was assigned to the 4th Cruiser Division and covered several important troop convoys and attempts to interdict Malta. In June 1941, Bande Nere and Alberto Di Guissano laid a defensive minefield off Tripoli which, in December, effectively destroyed the hitherto aggressive and successful British Force K; a cruiser and a destroyer were sunk and two more cruisers damaged. Further minelaying was done in July in the Sicilian Channel.

In 1942, Bande Nere continued to support Italian convoys and interdict British ones. The Italian operation K7 ran supplies from Messina and Corfu

Corfu

Corfu is a Greek island in the Ionian Sea. It is the second largest of the Ionian Islands, and, including its small satellite islands, forms the edge of the northwestern frontier of Greece. The island is part of the Corfu regional unit, and is administered as a single municipality. The...

 to Tripoli with heavy naval support and there was an attempt to block the British convoy MW10, which led to the Second Battle of Sirte

Second Battle of Sirte

The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval engagement in which the escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta frustrated a much more powerful Regia Marina squadron. The British convoy was composed of four merchant ships escorted by four light cruisers, one anti-aircraft cruiser, and 17 destroyers...

 on 22 March 1942. Bande Nere was part of the Littorio

Italian battleship Littorio

|-External links:...

's flotilla. The Italian cruiser scored a hit on a British counterpart HMS Cleopatra

HMS Cleopatra (33)

HMS Cleopatra was a Dido-class cruiser of the Royal Navy. She was built by R. and W. Hawthorn, Leslie and Company, Limited , with the keel being laid down on 5 January 1939...

 during this engagement, damaging her after turrets. Other reports state that Cleopatra's radar and radio installations were disabled.

On 23 March, Bande Nere was damaged in storms and, needing repairs, was sent to La Spezia

La Spezia

La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...

 on 1 April 1942. While en route, she was hit by two torpedoes from the submarine HMS Urge, broke in two and sank.

During the war, Bande Nere participated in 15 missions: four interceptions, eight convoy escorts, and three mine layings, for an overall total of 35,000 miles.

1942

• 21 February: operation K 7
• 22 March: Second Battle of Sirte
  Second Battle of Sirte
  The Second Battle of Sirte was a naval engagement in which the escorting warships of a British convoy to Malta frustrated a much more powerful Regia Marina squadron. The British convoy was composed of four merchant ships escorted by four light cruisers, one anti-aircraft cruiser, and 17 destroyers...
  
  
• On the morning of 1 April 1942, Bande Nere left Messina for La Spezia
  La Spezia
  La Spezia , at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the Liguria region of northern Italy, is the capital city of the province of La Spezia. Located between Genoa and Pisa on the Ligurian Sea, it is one of the main Italian military and commercial harbours and hosts one of Italy's biggest military...
  
  , escorted by the destroyer Aviere and patrol boat Libra. Eleven miles from Stromboli
  Stromboli
  Stromboli is a small island in the Tyrrhenian Sea, off the north coast of Sicily, containing one of the three active volcanoes in Italy. It is one of the eight Aeolian Islands, a volcanic arc north of Sicily. This name is a corruption of the Ancient Greek name Strongulē which was given to it...
  
  , at 0900, the group was intercepted by the British submarine ; a torpedo broke the Bande Nere into two sections, and she sank quickly.

External links

• Italian light cruisers