Compared to her sisters, Pola was built as a flagship with a larger conning tower to accommodate an admiral's staff.

Later, in a fierce night engagement in the early hours of 29 March, Pola, Zara, Fiume, and two destroyers were sunk by the British Mediterranean Fleet with heavy loss of life.

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

[1] Pola, named for the eponymous city seized by Italy after World War I, was laid down at the Odero-Terni-Orlando shipyard in Livorno on 17 March 1931 and was launched on 5 December that year.

[2] Pola participated in a naval review in the Gulf of Naples, where she hosted Italy's fascist dictator, Benito Mussolini, on 6–7 July 1933.

On 7 June, she took part in a naval review in the Gulf of Naples held for the visiting German Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg.

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

The Italian naval high command therefore ordered several other cruisers and destroyers from the 1st Squadron to join the escort for the convoy.

[11] According to some sources, the two 203 mm hits on the British cruiser HMS Berwick which disabled one of her main battery turrets were fired by Pola.

[12] Other authors state instead that Berwick was actually damaged by the main guns of Pola's sister, the heavy cruiser Fiume.

[13] Admiral Inigo Campioni broke off the action because he mistakenly believed he was facing a superior force, the result of poor aerial reconnaissance.

[11] The Italian fleet was reorganized on 9 December, and Pola joined her three sister ships in the 3rd Division of the 1st Squadron, which was now commanded by Admiral Angelo Iachino.

[3] The Italian fleet made another attempt to intercept a British convoy in the eastern Mediterranean south of Crete in late March.

For most of the daytime engagement, Pola and the rest of the 3rd Division were stationed on the disengaged side of the Italian fleet, and so did not see action during this phase.

[16] A second British airstrike later in the day failed to locate the retiring Vittorio Veneto and instead scored a single torpedo strike on Pola, hitting her amidships on her starboard side.

In the confusion of the attack, Pola had nearly collided with Fiume and had been forced to stop, which had prevented her from taking evasive action.

[22] The British ships, guided by radar, closed in on the Italians; at 22:10, Pola was about 6 nautical miles (11 km; 6.9 mi) from Valiant.

Lookouts on the crippled Italian cruiser spotted shapes approaching and assumed them to be friendly vessels, so they fired a red flare to guide them.

After picking up survivors, the destroyers joined Havock and a boarding party was prepared to take Pola, though it was discovered that most of her crew had jumped into the water, and the remaining men were huddled on the forecastle, ready to surrender.