The 3rd Division escorted another convoy to North Africa on 12–13 March 1941. Two weeks later, on 27 March, the division—at this time commanded by Rear Admiral Luigi Sansonetti—sortied with the rest of the fleet for a major sweep toward the island of Crete. At 06:55 on the 28th, an IMAM Ro.43 floatplane launched by "Vittorio Veneto" located a British cruiser squadron, and by 07:55, "Trento" and the 3rd Division had come within visual range. Seventeen minutes later, the Italian cruisers opened fire from a range of , initiating the first phase of the Battle of Cape Matapan; in the span of the next forty minutes, "Trento" fired a total of 204 armor-piercing shells, though trouble with her rangefinders and the extreme range of the action prevented her from scoring any significant hits.