After Italy surrendered to the Allies the Russians said that they wanted part of the Italian fleet that the Allies received. At the conference at Tehran it was agreed that the Russians would get one battleship, one cruiser, eight destroyers, four submarines and some mercantile ships. When the time came for the Allies to turn over the ships the Allies were concerned that the Italians would scuttle the ships rather than allow them to be sent to the Russians. The British offered to lend one of their battleships and the Americans offered to lend one of their cruisers until the Italian ships could be obtained. The Russians agreed to this but noted the lack of the other ships. The Italian ships were turned over after the war and the Russians returned the battleship and cruiser.

(Book – The Second World War – Winston S. Churchill)