she led the line of Italian heavy cruisers as they engaged their British counterparts. She was hit by a salvo of three shells at 16:05 that killed two crewmen and jammed her rudder to port, forcing her to turn in a tight circle. The shells also hit her forward superfiring gun turret, though it was still able to fire. The hits had come from the light cruiser . After the two fleets disengaged, Italian aircraft misidentified the ship as a British vessel and attacked her, though they failed to score any hits. She reached La Spezia on 12 July, where her battle damage was repaired. By the night of 11–12 November, Bolzano had been moved to Taranto; she was present during the raid on Taranto that night, but was not attacked by the British torpedo bombers. A wave of horizontal bombers was tasked with attacking Bolzano and the two Trentos, but their captains decided to hold their fire; as a result, the British aircraft were unable to locate the three cruisers in the darkness and they attacked other vessels. On 26 November, Bolzano and the rest of the fleet sortied to intercept a British convoy to Malta. In the ensuing Battle of Cape Spartivento, Bolzano engaged the battlecruiser , but neither ship scored any hits before both sides broke off the action. She took part in the sweep into the eastern Mediterranean in late March 1941 that resulted in the Battle of Cape Matapan. During the battle, British torpedo bombers attacked Bolzano but she successfully evaded their torpedoes. Bolzano thereafter took part in escort duties for convoys to Tripoli for the next several months to support the Axis forces fighting the North African Campaign. The first such convoy took place on 24–30 April. Another followed a month later on 24–27 May, and two were conducted in June, on 8–9 and 25 June – 1 July. She protected a fifth convoy that steamed to Tripoli and back on 16–20 July. Convoy operations were interrupted in late August by an unsuccessful sweep to locate British warships. While returning to port via the Strait of Messina, Bolzano was torpedoed by the British submarine . She was towed to Messina by a pair of tugs, where repairs were effected, lasting three months. She was back in service in time to escort another convoy to Tripoli on 8–9 November. Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, heir to