During World War II, both "Conte di Cavour" and her sister ship, , participated in the Battle of Calabria in July 1940, where the latter was lightly damaged. "Conte di Cavour" was badly damaged when British torpedo bombers attacked the fleet at Taranto in November 1940. She was deliberately run aground, with most of her hull underwater, and repairs were not completed before the Italian armistice in September 1943. The ship was then captured by the Germans, but they made no effort to finish her repairs. She was damaged in an Allied air raid in early 1945 and capsized a week later. "Conte di Cavour" was eventually scrapped in 1946.