Gorizia was the third member of the Zara class of heavy cruisers to be built for the Italian Regia Marina (Royal Navy) in the 1930s.

Armed with a main battery of eight 8-inch (200 mm) guns, she was nominally within the 10,000-long-ton (10,000 t) limit imposed by the Washington Naval Treaty, though in reality she significantly exceeded this figure.

In 1934, she went on a tour with the royal yacht to eastern Africa, and she made another foreign cruise two years later to Germany during the 1936 Summer Olympics being held there.

She was involved in the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930s; she evacuated Italian nationals in August 1936, and while returning to Italy, suffered an explosion in an aviation gas tank that necessitated major repairs.

Gorizia was also attacked numerous times by Allied bombers while in port, culminating in a major raid in April 1943 that inflicted serious damage to the ship.

She carried a pair of IMAM Ro.43 seaplanes for aerial reconnaissance; the hangar was located in under the forecastle and a fixed catapult was mounted on the centerline at the bow.

Gorizia escorted the royal yacht Savoia on a trip to the east coast of Africa in October; the tour included port calls in Berbera and Mogadishu in British and Italian Somaliland, respectively.

After a short stop, the ship left the port, bound for Italy, but that night her forward aviation gas tank exploded, causing serious damage.

While in dry dock, British officials examined the vessel and concluded that she exceeded her nominal 10,000-ton displacement, though they lodged no formal complaint for Italy's violation of the Washington Naval Treaty.

A naval review was held in the Gulf of Naples on 7 June, followed by another the following year on 5 May; the latter was to honor German dictator Adolf Hitler during his state visit to Italy.

[3] On 7 March 1939, Gorizia and her sister ships sortied from Taranto to intercept a squadron of Spanish Republican Navy warships—three cruisers and eight destroyers—attempting to reach the Black Sea.

She was present during the visit of Ramón Serrano Suñer, then the foreign minister of Francoist Spain, which had recently defeated the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War.

[3] Upon Italy's entrance into the Second World War on 10 June 1940, Gorizia was assigned to the 1st Division of the 1st Squadron, which also included her sisters Zara and Fiume and the four Oriani-class destroyers.

A hit on the battleship Giulio Cesare that reduced her speed to 18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) forced the Italian commander to break off the engagement, as his ships could no longer keep formation.

On the 31st, the 1st Division sortied to intercept the British convoys in Operation Hats, though the Italian fleet broke off the attack without encountering the merchant ships.

British bombing of the port four days later forced the Italians to again relocate the cruisers, sending them temporarily to La Maddalena in Sardinia on 15 December.

[3] Over the course of 9–11 September, the British launched several air strikes on Messina, and Gorizia contributed her anti-aircraft batteries to the defense of the port.

An Allied air attack on the port on 21 November caused extensive damage to Gorizia's superstructure from bomb splinters, though she nevertheless sortied that day to escort another convoy to North Africa.

On 16 and 17 December, while on another convoy escort mission, she took part in the First Battle of Sirte against a force of British light cruisers and destroyers.

Five days later, Umberto, Prince of Piedmont, the heir to the italian crown, and Hermann Göring, the commander of the Luftwaffe, visited the ship on a tour of major bases in Sicily.

Gorizia returned to combat operations in February; she sortied on the 14th to search for Allied shipping, but instead came under heavy attack from both torpedo bombers and submarines.

[7] The engagement occurred at long range, and smoke from the British ships interfered with the Italians' gunnery, and Gorizia scored no hits.

[7] By December, the threat from Allied bombers had increased significantly, forcing the Regia Marina to abandon Messina as a major base.

Nevertheless, a major attack from USAAF heavy bombers struck La Maddalena on 10 April 1943 and sank Trieste and hit Gorizia with three bombs, inflicting serious damage.

One bomb penetrated the rear superfiring turret and exploded inside and the other two struck the deck abreast of the superstructure on the port side.

Ten days later, the 3rd Division was disbanded, since the two surviving Italian heavy cruisers were out of action,[7] Bolzano having been torpedoed and badly damaged by a British submarine in August 1942.