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Regia Marina

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This article is about the Royal Navy of Italy. For other Royal Navies, see Royal Navy (disambiguation).
Image:Flag of Italy (1861-1946) crowned.svg

The Italian Regia Marina (literally: "Royal Navy") dates from the proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy in 1861 after Italian unification. With the birth of the Italian Republic (1946) it changed its name to become the Marina Militare.

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Before World War I

July 20, 1866: Sea battle against the Austrian fleet in the Battle of Lissa, near the island of Vis in the Adriatic sea - the last major sea battle that involved ramming.

[edit] World War I

Italy built and maintained six Dreadnought battleships (Dante Alighieri as a prototype, Giulio Cesare, Conte di Cavour and Leonardo da Vinci of Cavour class, Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio of Doria Class), but they did not participate in major naval actions in World War I. For most of the war the Italian and Austrian navies each kept a relatively passive watch over their counterparts. However, both sides did initiate some action. The Austrians successfully sabotaged and sank the battleships Benedetto Brin at Brindisi (27 September 1915) and Leonardo da Vinci at Taranto (2 August 1916). The Regia Marina attacked with insidious weapons: MAS 21 and MAS 15 sank the Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István in the Adriatic sea on 10 June 1918; an early type of human torpedo (Mignatta) entered the harbour of Pula and sank the Austro-Hungarian flagship Viribus Unitis on 1 November 1918. The battleship Teggetthoff (sister of the former two) was handed over to Italy as war prize in 1919.

[edit] After World War I

The Italian government decided to enhance the Regia Marina with a view to challenging the British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet. In order to minimize contact with the more experienced British vessels, the Regia Marina based its strategy on fast ships with long-range artillery. Accordingly it had new guns developed which had smaller calibers but longer ranges than their British counterparts; furthermore, in order to allow higher speeds, new Italian ships had designs with thinner armour (see, for example, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere).

[edit] World War II

[edit] With the Axis

When Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940 Regia Marina was the fourth largest navy in the world and had a mix of modernised and new battleships. It challenged the British Royal Navy for supremacy of the Mediterranean. Regia Marina's objectives were to:

  • protect sea routes between Italy and Libya, assure uninterrupted movement of convoys between Italy and Tripoli and Benghazi; protect sea routes between Italy and Albania.
  • provide coastal protection.
  • anti-convoy action against British.

Italian warships had a general reputation as well-designed and good-looking, but proved rather deficient in armour and anti-aircraft armament and they lacked radar. In addition, whereas British commanders at sea had discretion on how to act, Italian commanders were closely and precisely governed by Supermarina (Naval Headquarters). This lead to action being avoided when the Italians had a clear advantage, eg, during Operation Hats [1]. Supermarina were conscious that the British could replace ships lost in the Mediterranean, whereas the Regia Marina resources were limited.

The British gained the upper hand after several actions. The British attack at the naval base of Taranto (Battle of Taranto, November 1940) proved a very successful attack by carrier-borne aircraft carrying torpedoes against Italian battleships in harbor. This provided one of the inspirations for the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

There was a major defeat for the Regia Marina at Cape Matapan where the Royal Navy intercepted and destroyed three heavy cruisers (Zara, Pola and Fiume; all of the same class) and two Poeti class destroyers in a night ambush, with the loss of over 2300 seamen. The British had the advantages of Ultra intercepts which predicted the Italian movements and also of radar which enabled them to locate ships and range their weapons at distance and at night. The better air reconnaissance skills of the Fleet Air Arm and their close collaboration with surface units was another mayor cause of the Italian debácle.

The most successful attack performed by the Italian navy involved divers planting mines on British battleships in Alexandria harbour (19 December 1941). HMS Queen Elizabeth and Valiant were sunk in shallow water but later raised and returned to active service almost two years later.

On the same night, Force K, comprising three cruisers and four destroyers based at Malta, which had accounted for some 60000 Tons of Axis shipping during 1941, became stranded in an Italian minefield off Tripoli. As a result, they lost a cruiser, HMS Neptune and a destroyer, HMS Kandahar and suffered serious damage in other three ships: more than 900 men died. Force K was put out of action and Malta's offensive capabilities were reduced to a minimum.

This sudden series of British disasters allowed the Regia Marina to achieve naval supremacy in the central Mediterranean, her supply routes were almost untouched by the enemy for several months.

The Italian Fleet also took advantage of the situation and moved onto the offensive, blocking or decimating at least three large British convoys bound for Malta. This lead to a number of naval engagements, such as the Second Battle of Sirte, the Battle of Mid-June or Operation Harpoon (plus Operation Vigorous) and finally to Operation Pedestal, all of them favourable to the Axis. Despite this activity, the only real success of the Italian Fleet was the attack on the Harpoon convoy, which sank several British warships and damaged others. Only two transports of the original six reached Malta. This was the only squadron-size victory for the Italian surface forces in World War II.

However, this was only a brief happy time for the Axis. The oil and supplies brought to Malta, despite heavy losses, by Operation Pedestal in August and the Allied landings in North Africa, Operation Torch, in November, turned the fortunes of war against Italy. After years of stalemate, the Axis forces were ejected from Libya and Tunisia in just six months, their supply lines harassed day after day by the overwhelming aerial and naval supremacy of the Allies.

The Regia Marina performed well and bravely [citation needed] in its North African convoy duties, but remained at a technical disadvantage. They relied on speed advantage but would easily be damaged by shell or torpedo, due to their relatively thin armour. The fatal and final blow to the Italian Navy was the shortage of fuel, which forced her main units to remain at anchor for most of the last year of the Italian alliance with Germany.

At German request, in May 1942 the Regia Marina deployed four 24 tonne MAS (Motoscafo Anti Sommergibile – Anti Submarine Motorboat), 6 CD class submarines, 5 torpedo-motor boats, and 5 explosive motorboats to the Black Sea. They were transported overland to the River Danube at Vienna and then to Constanca, Romania. The flotilla had an active and successful campaign, based at Yalta and Feodonia. Eventually, they were passed to the Kriegsmarine and ultimately captured by Soviet forces in Constanca in August 1944

[edit] The Armistice

In 1943, Benito Mussolini was deposed and the Italians agreed an armistice with the Allies. Under the terms of this the Regia Marina had to sail its ships to an Allied port. Most sailed to Malta, but a flotilla from La Spezia headed towards Sardinia. They were intercepted and attacked by German aircraft and the Roma was sunk by two hits from Fritz X guided glide-bombs. Among the 1600 sailors killed onboard Roma was the Italian Naval Commander in Chief, Admiral Carlo Bergamini [2].

Other ships were captured in port by the Germans or scuttled by their crews.

There was no use for the surrendered battleships and there was doubt about the loyalties of their crews, so they were interned in Egypt. In June, 1944, the less powerful battleships (Andrea Doria, Caio Duilio and Giulio Cesare) were allowed to return to Augusta harbour, in Sicily, for training. The others (Vittorio Veneto and Italia - ex Littorio), remained at Ismaïlia, in the Suez Canal until 1947. After the war, the Giulio Cesare was passed to the Soviet Union.

In the Co-belligerency period, until VE (Victory Europe) day, Italian light cruisers participated in the naval war in the Atlantic with patrols against German raiders. Smaller naval units (mainly submarines and torpedo boats) served in the Mediterranean. In the last days of war, the issue of whether Italian battleships and cruisers should participate in the Pacific war was debated between Allied leaders.

[edit] Far East

There were Regia Marina units in the Far East when the new Italian government agreed the armistice with the Allies. The reactions of their crews varied greatly. In general, surface units, mainly supply ships and auxiliary cruisers, either surrendered at Allied ports (Eritrea, at Colombo, Ceylon) or if in Japanese controlled ports, they were scuttled (Conte Verde, Lepanto and Carlotto at Shanghai, Calitea II, in Kobe). Four submarines were in the Far East. The Cagni heard of the armistice and surrendered at Durban, South Africa. The Cappellini, Giuliani and Torelli and their crews were temporarily interned by the Japanese. The boats passed to German U-boat command and, with mixed German and Italian crews, they continued to fight the Allies.

After the German surrender in May, 1945, about twenty Italian sailors continued to fight with the Japanese. The Torelli was active until August 30th, 1945 when in Japanese waters, this last Fascist Italian unit shot down an American B-25 Mitchell bomber.

[edit] Ships

[edit] Pre-World War I

[edit] Battleships

For more details on this topic, see List of Italian sail battleships.
For more details on this topic, see List of Italian steam battleships.

[edit] World War I

[edit] Battleships

  • Duilio class: Dandolo
  • Re Umberto class: Sardegna
  • Saint Bon class: Ammiraglio di Saint Bon, Emanuele Filiberto
  • Regina Margherita class: Regina Margherita, Benedetto Brin
  • Regina Elena class: Regina Elena, Vittorio Emanuele, Napoli, Roma

[edit] Cruisers

  • Garibaldi class: Giuseppe Garibaldi, Varese, Francesco Ferruccio
  • Vittor Pisani class: Vittor Pisani
  • Pisa class: Pisa, Amalfi
  • San Giorgio class: San Giorgio, San Marco
  • Piemonte class: Piemonte
  • Lombardia class: Lombardia, Liguria, Elba, Puglia
  • Libia class: Libia

[edit] Destroyers

  • Lampo class: Ostro, Lampo, Euro, Strale, Dardo
  • Nembo class: Nembo, Turbine, Espero, Borea, Aquilone, Zeffiro
  • Soldati Artigliere class: Granatiere, Bersagliere, Garibaldino, Corazziere, Lanciere, Artigliere
  • Soldati Alpino class: Alpino, Fuciliere, Pontiere, Ascaro
  • Indomito class: Impetuoso, Impavido, Insidioso, Irrequieto
  • Ardito class: Ardito, Ardente
  • Audace class: Audace, Animoso
  • Pilo class: Francesco Nullo

[edit] World War II

[edit] Aircraft carriers

  • Aquila (modification of the liner Roma, built but never used) and Sparviero (modification of the liner Augustus, never completed)

[edit] Battleships

[edit] Heavy cruisers

[edit] Light cruisers

[edit] Destroyers

For more details on this topic, see List of Italian destroyers.

[edit] Torpedo boats

[edit] Corvettes

'Gabbiano' class: ? vessels - 672 t, including Chimera

[edit] Submarines

600-Serie Acciaio class: 13 vessels - 715 t, among which Bronzo and Cobalto

600-Serie Adua class: 17 vessels - 698 t, coastal submarines, among which Alagi, Ascianghi, Axum, Dagabur, Dessiè, and Sciré

600-Serie Argonauta class: 7 vessels - 665 t, among which Salpa

600-Serie Perla class: 10 vessels - 700 t, among which Iride and Ambra

600-Serie Sirena class: 12 vessels - 701 t

Archimede class: 2 vessels - 985 t

Argo class: 2 vessels - 794 t

Balilla class: 4 vessels - 1450 t, among which Enrico Toti

Bandiera class: 4 vessels - 941 t

Bragadin class: 2 vessels - 981 t

Brin class: 5 vessels - 1016 t

Cagni class: 4 vessels - 1708 t

Calvi class: 5 vessels - 1550 t

Classe R class: 2 vessels - 2210 t

Fieramosca class: 1 vessel - 1556 t

Flutto - 1st series class: 8 vessels - 958 t

Flutto - 2nd series class: 8 vessels - 958 t

Foca class: 3 vessels - 1333 t

Glauco class: 2 vessels - 1055 t

Liuzzi class: 4 vessels - 1187 t, among which Bagnolini

Mameli class: 3 vessels - 830 t

Marcello class: 11 vessels - 1063 t

Marconi class: 6 vessels - 1195 t, among which Guglielmo Marconi

Micca class: 1 vessel - 1570 t

Pisani class: 4 vessels - 880 t, among which Vettor Pisani

Settembrini class: 2 vessels - 953 t

Squalo class: 4 vessels - 933 t

[edit] Major events

Battle of Lissa (1866)

[edit] World War II

[edit] External links

fr:Regia Marina it:Regia Marina nl:Regia Marina sr:Италијанска краљевска ратна морнарица

Retrieved from "http://en.wikivisual.com/index.php/Regia_Marina"
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