"Zara", by now burning furiously, remained afloat and drifted near the immobilized "Pola". "Zara"s commander decided at 02:00 that his ship could not be saved, and so ordered the crew to scuttle the ship. At around the same time, the destroyer arrived on the scene and fired three torpedoes at "Zara". The demolition charges exploded in the magazines at 02:30, and within ten minutes, the ship capsized and sank. Most of her crew, some 783 men including Cattaneo, were killed in the sinking. "Zara" was formally stricken from the naval register on 18 October 1946.