Raimondo Montecuccoli carries Italian presence to East Asia

Raimondo Montecuccoli entered service in 1935 and remained in Italian service until 1964, a notably long career for a cruiser of its generation. Before the Second World War it visited Australia and spent much of its time in East Asia during the Second Sino-Japanese War. The deployment protected Italian interests at a time when medium and great powers used cruisers to maintain a visible presence around the world. It also gave other navies repeated opportunities to inspect a design that Italy would soon employ in Mediterranean combat.