Italy answered France's large, fast destroyers with small offensive destroyers and light cruisers intended to kill the French ships. The cruisers also had to provide the fleet's reconnaissance force. Against a Le Fantasque-class destroyer, their eight six-inch guns had a maximum range of about 22.6 kilometres against roughly 20 kilometres for the French five 5.5-inch guns. If both ships approached at 37 knots, a cruiser opening fire at its maximum range would have only about a minute before the French guns could reply. The Italian cruiser would then be the larger target, while the French could field more of the smaller ships. Its greater replacement cost made this an expensive way to counter destroyers. Wartime difficulties against British Tribal-class destroyers reinforce the criticism of the intended destroyer-killing role.
Chapter · 41:37-45:23
Condottieri cruisers built to catch the wrong fight
Early Condottieri cruisers had only a brief maximum-range advantage over Le Fantasque in a head-on approach, followed by an expensive fight for a larger target.