Gorizia

Gorizia was the fourth and final member of the Zara class of heavy cruisers to be built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1930s. Named for the town of Gorizia, the ship was laid down at the OTO Livorno shipyard in March 1930, was launched in December that year and was commissioned into the fleet in December 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.
During the ship's peacetime career, she frequently took part in fleet reviews. In 1934, she went on a tour with the royal yacht to eastern Africa, and she made another foreign cruise two years later to Germany during the 1936 Summer Olympics being held there. She was involved in the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s; she evacuated Italian nationals in August 1936, and while returning to Italy, suffered an explosion in an aviation gas tank that necessitated major repairs. The ship supported the Italian invasion of Albania in 1939.
The ship saw extensive service in World War II, which Italy entered in June 1940. She frequently operated against British convoys to Malta in the Mediterranean, and after the North African Campaign began, she escorted Italian convoys to support the Italo-German forces fighting there. In the course of these operations, she took part in the battles at Calabria, Cape Spartivento, and First and Second Sirte. Gorizia was also attacked numerous times by Allied bombers while in port, culminating in a major raid in April 1943 that inflicted serious damage to the ship. Under repair when Italy surrendered to the Allies in September, the ship was seized by occupying Germany forces, who found the ship to be unusable and so abandoned her. Italian and British frogmen tried unsuccessfully to sink the ship in 1944. After Germany's defeat in 1945, the Italian Navy determined the ship was beyond economical repair, and so she was broken up for scrap in 1947.

Historical Inaccuracies

• The four single 40 mm Vickers autocannons and eight twin 100 mm dual-purpose guns suggests that Gorizia is in her original 1931 condition, yet four twin 12.7 mm machine guns that were also part of this AA complement are missing. Their positions are instead occupied by four twin 13.2 mm Breda MGs.
• The four twin 13.2 mm Breda MGs were fitted to Gorizia in a 1937 refit. Yet four twin 37 mm Breda anti-aircraft guns that were also part of this AA complement are missing. Two of the eight twin 100 mm DP guns were removed yet all eight are still present on the ship.
• The "Claudus" camouflage scheme was first applied to Gorizia in early 1942, yet her AA complement still closely resembles her original 1931 condition. Her 1942 AA consisted of six twin 37 mm Breda AA guns, four twin 13.2 mm MGs and six twin 100 mm DP guns.
• Historical "Grigio-azzurro chiaro" paint scheme is missing. This can only be found on Zara which is essentially the tech tree version of Gorizia (similar in-game model but unhistorical AA and torpedoes).

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  Gorizia, date unknown

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  Gorizia at a pre-war fleet review

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  Gorizia painted in dazzle camouflage in 1942

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  Gorizia firing her main battery during the Second Battle of Sirte

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  Gorizia abandoned at the end of the war.