Barletta was an Italian cargo liner built during the 1930s and later became an auxiliary cruiser of the Regia Marina (Royal Navy) during World War II.

Built between March and November 1931 in the Cantieri Riuniti dell'Adriatico of Monfalcone (construction and assembly number 248, completion number 208) together with her sister ships Adriatico, Brindisi, Brioni, Zara, Lero and Monte Gargano, the ship was originally a mixed motor vessel of 1,975 gross register tons (GRT) and 1069 net tonnage.

On 20 April 1937 the ship was deployed to Palma de Mallorca with the task of patrolling the Iberian coast, as part of the Spanish Civil War, alternating in this role with her sister Adriatico.

As part of this task, on 31 August 1937, Barletta/Rio left her patrol area and intercepted and captured, the British-flagged Greek oil tanker SS Burlington north of the Strait of Messina and then her delivered to Francoist ships.

In 1938 the ship was returned to the Adriatica company and resumed the civil service, sailing on the lines 43 and 43 B, which linked the ports of Venice, Bari, Rhodes, and Smyrna, along with various cities in Greece, Albania, and Turkey.

She made six voyages (three from La Spezia to Cadiz and three from Genoa to Barcelona) and carrying a total of 857 men and 2172 tons of provisions for the civilian population.

On 6 June 1940, after the completion of the conversion works, the unit was employed as minelayer and carried out the laying of minefields off Gallipoli, Santa Maria di Leuca and Durazzo.

On 10 June, date of Italy's entry in the Second World War, the Barletta was framed, as a minelayer, in the Gruppo Navi Ausiliarie Dipartimentali del Dipartimento Militare Marittimo "Jonio e Basso Adriatico", based in Taranto.

[3] On 7 July the ship left Brindisi and, sent to Libya, began laying new minefields, this time in the waters of Benghazi and Tripoli, returning to Italy on 12 August.

Barletta was used as a transport on 16 September; carrying a load of gasoline in drums, she left Suda in company with the destroyer Nicoloso da Recco, bound for Tobruk in North Africa.

The following day, the British submarine HMS Taku attempted unsuccessfully to torpedo Barletta, and she arrived in Tobruk undamaged later that morning.

Based in the Apulian port, the unit was employed for a short time in the escort of traffic to and from Tunisia, before being subjected to work in the Taranto Arsenal.

On 3 April 1943, once the work was completed, Barletta was again sent to the Aegean, carrying out both convoy escort missions and the laying of minefields off Apulia and the Ionian Islands.

[7] The announcement of the Armistice of Cassibile on 3 September surprised the ship in its eponymous city, which remained under the control of Italian and Allied troops, thus avoiding its loss.

On the evening of 2 December 1943, the ship was at anchor near the old breakwater of Bari when, starting at around 19:15, the port was subjected to a heavy bombardment by about fifty Junkers Ju 88 bombers of the Luftwaffe, which sank or damaged irreparably between 17 and 28 ships (one of which, SS John Harvey, was loaded with mustard gas bombs, which exploded and released toxic gases in the port area).

The crew, led by the chief engineer, tried to suppress the flames which were seriously threatening the magazine in the bow, but at 21:15 a nearby vessel exploded, inflicting further damage on Barletta.

The magazine eventually caught fire and exploded, fatally damaging Barletta, which around nine o'clock in the morning of 3 December rolled over on her side and sank.