Later Condottieri join political naming to better armor

The Cadorna class name formed part of Fascist efforts to rehabilitate controversial First World War commanders. Luigi Cadorna was a particularly costly commander whose elevation to marshal served Mussolini's bargain with the army, while the Raimondo Montecuccoli group initially offered only incremental design change. By the Duca d'Aosta group, armor had risen to about 70 mm on the belt and 90 mm on the turrets while the ships still made roughly 36.5 knots. The following Abruzzi group's royal-admiral namesake supplies another example of prestige politics. Britain and France had refused to cooperate until he was removed, after which promotion preserved appearances without another command. The protection gains were meaningful, even if they still fell short of the robust fighting cruiser the episode considers necessary.