Trento was the first of two s; they were the first heavy cruisers built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy). The ship was laid down in February 1925, launched in October 1927, and was commissioned in April 1929. Trento was very lightly armored, with only a thick armored belt, though she possessed a high speed and heavy main battery of eight guns. Though nominally built under the restrictions of the Washington Naval Treaty, the two cruisers significantly exceeded the displacement limits imposed by the treaty. Trento frequently served as the flagship of the Cruiser Division throughout the 1930s. During the pre-war period, she also made lengthy trips abroad, including a tour of South America from May to October 1929 and a deployment to China from January to June 1932 to protect Italian nationals during the Chinese Civil War. She also took part in numerous naval reviews held for visiting foreign leaders. After Italy entered World War II in June 1940, Trento saw extensive action in the Mediterranean Sea, including at the battles of Calabria, Cape Spartivento, and Cape Matapan in July and November 1940 and March 1941, respectively. She was also present during the inconclusive First and Second Battles of Sirte, and at the latter she severely damaged a British destroyer. Trento was also frequently tasked with escorting convoys to supply Italian forces in North Africa as well as interdicting British convoys to Malta. During one of the latter missions to attack the British Operation Harpoon convoy in June 1942, Trento was torpedoed twice, first by a Bristol Beaufort torpedo bomber and then sunk by the submarine with very heavy loss of life. Design Trento was long overall, with a beam of and a draft of . She displaced at full load, though her displacement was nominally within the restriction set in place by the Washington Naval Treaty. The ship's superstructure included a large conning tower forward and a smaller, secondary conning position aft. She was fitted with a pair of tripod masts, one just aft of the conning tower and the second further aft. She had a crew of 723 officers and enlisted men, though during the war this increased to 781. Her power plant consisted of four Parsons steam turbines powered by twelve oil-fired Yarrow boilers, which were trunked into two funnels amidships. Her engines were rated at for a top speed of . On trials, she