Regia Marina

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Regia Marina (RM)
Regia Marina Ensign. The Merchant Navy ships had a similar ensign, with the crown removed
Active	1861-1946
Country	Kingdom of Italy
Allegiance	Kingdom of Italy
Type	Navy
Battles/wars	Third Italian War of Independence Seven Weeks War World War I World War II
Commanders
Notable commanders	Luigi Amedeo Paolo Thaon di Revel Inigo Campioni Arturo Riccardi

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 1 History 1.1 Origins 1.2 Battle of Lissa 1.3 Before World War 1 1.4 World War I 1.5 After World War I 1.5.1 Spanish Civil War 1.6 World War II 1.6.1 With the Axis 1.6.2 The Armistice 1.6.3 Far East 2 Ships 2.1 Pre-World War I 2.1.1 Battleships 2.2 World War I 2.2.1 Battleships 2.2.2 Cruisers 2.2.3 Destroyers 2.3 World War II 2.3.1 Aircraft carriers 2.3.2 Seaplane carriers 2.3.3 Battleships 2.3.4 Heavy cruisers 2.3.5 Light cruisers 2.3.6 Aviation & Transport Cruisers 2.3.7 Destroyers 2.3.8 Torpedo boats 2.3.9 Corvettes 2.3.10 Submarines 3 Major events 3.1 World War II 4 See Also 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Origins

The Regia Marina was born on 17th March 1861 following the proclamation of the formation of the Kingdom of Italy. Just as the Kingdom was a unification of various states in the Italian peninsula, so the Regia Marina was formed from the navies of those states, though the main constituents were the navies of the former kingdoms of Sardinia and Naples. The Regia Marina inherited a substantial number of ships, both sail- and steam-powered, and the long naval traditions of its constituents, especially those of Sardinia and Naples, but also suffered from some major handicaps.

Firstly, it suffered from a lack of uniformity and cohesion; the Regia Marina was a heterogenous mix of equipment, standards and practice, and even saw hostility between the officers from the various navies. These problems were compounded by the continuation of separate officer schools at Genoa and Naples, and not fully addressed until the opening of a unified Naval Academy at Livorno in 1881. Secondly, unification occurred during a period of rapid advances in naval technology and tactics, as typified by the launch of La Gloire by France in 1858, and later by the appearance of, and battle between, the USS Monitor and CSS Virginia in 1862. These innovations quickly made older warships obsolete. Italy did not possess the shipyards or infrastructure to build the modern ships required, but the then Minister for the Navy, Admiral carlo di Persano, launched a substantial programme to purchase warships from foreign yards.

[edit] Battle of Lissa

The new navy's baptism of fire came on July 20, 1866 at the Battle of Lissa during the Seven Weeks War (also known as the Third Italian War of Independence}. The battle was fought against Austria and occurred near the island of Vis in the Adriatic sea. This was one of the few fleet actions of the nineteenth century, and as a major sea battle that involved ramming, it had a profound, though with hindsight a detrimental, effect on warship design and tactics. The Italian fleet, commanded by Admiral Persano mustered 12 ironclad and 17 wooden-walled ships, though only one, the Affondatore was of the most modern turret ship design. Despite a marked advantage in numbers and equipment, superior handling by the Austrians under Admiral Tegetthoff resulted in a severe defeat for the Italians who lost 2 armoured ships and 640 men.

[edit] Before World War 1

Following the defeat at Lissa the Regia Marina made significant advances towards recovery.

• 1881, 1882 battleships Duilio and Dandolo commissioned, in their time the most powerful warships in the world.
• 1896 Circumnavigation of the globe by the corvette Magenta
• 1897 Experiments with Guglielmo Marconi in the use of radio communications
• 1909 First use of aircraft with the fleet

[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] Spanish Civil War

Outside of assisting with deployments and patrols in support of Corpo Truppe Volontarie approximately fifty-eight La Marina submarines took part in hunting operations against Republican forces off Spain. These submarines were organized as Sottomarini Legionari and complimented German Uboat operations as part of Operation Ursula.

[edit] World War II

[edit] With the Axis

When Italy entered World War II on 10 June 1940, the Regia Marina was the fourth largest navy in the world and had a mix of modernised and new battleships. It challenged the Allies, mostly the British Royal Navy, for supremacy of the Mediterranean. The 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 the Allies.

Air support was provided by Aviazione Ausiliara per la Marina,the Italian naval air service during wartime. It was in charge of all land-based aircraft, shore-based hydroplanes amongst of vessel-based aircraft and hydroplanes of Italian Navy.

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 Allied 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 Regia Marina resources were limited.

The Allies gained the upper hand after several actions. The British attack on the naval base of Taranto (Battle of Taranto) in 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.

A major defeat was inflicted on the Regia Marina at Cape Matapan, where the Royal Navy and Royal Australian 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 Allies had Ultra intercepts, which predicted the Italian movements, and radar, which enabled them to locate the 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 were other major causes of the Italian debacle.

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 were 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 in 1941, became stranded in an Italian minefield off Tripoli. A cruiser, HMS Neptune and a destroyer, HMS Kandahar were lost, three other ships were seriously damaged, and 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 Allied 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 Allied 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 Italian success was the attack on the Harpoon convoy, which sank several Allied warships and damaged others. Only two transports of the original six reached Malta. This was the only undisputed squadron-size victory for 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. The Italian ships relied on a speed advantage, but could easily be damaged by shell or torpedo, due to their relatively thin armour. The fatal and final blow to the Italian Navy was a 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 motorboats), 6 CD class submarines, 5 torpedo motorboats, 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 transferred 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

[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
• Dante Alighieri class: Dante Alighieri
• Cavour class: Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare, Leonardo Da Vinci

[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)
• Sparviero (modification of the liner Augustus, never completed)

[edit] Seaplane carriers

• Giuseppe Miraglia (extensively converted merchant ship Citta de Messina for the seaplane carrier role, commissioned as a seaplane transport by 1940)

[edit] Battleships

• Cavour class: Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare (modernised WWI battleships)
• Andrea Doria class: Andrea Doria, Caio Duilio (modernised WWI battleships)
• Vittorio Veneto class: Littorio/Italia, Vittorio Veneto, Roma, Impero (not completed)

[edit] Heavy cruisers

• Trento class: Trento, Trieste, Bolzano
• Zara class: Zara, Fiume, Pola, Gorizia
• San Giorgio class: San Giorgio

[edit] Light cruisers

• Condottieri classes
  • Di Giussano class: Alberto di Giussano, Alberico da Barbiano, Bartolomeo Colleoni, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere
  • Cadorna class: Luigi Cadorna, Armando Diaz
  • Duca d'Aosta class: Emanuele Filiberto Duca d'Aosta, Eugenio di Savoia
  • Duca degli Abruzzi class: Luigi Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi, Giuseppe Garibaldi
  • Montecuccoli class: Raimondo Montecuccoli, Muzio Attendolo
• Capitani Romani class: Attilio Regolo, Giulio Germanico, Pompeo Magno, Scipione Africano, Ulpio Traiano
• Taranto class: Taranto, Bari

[edit] Aviation & Transport Cruisers

• Bolzano class: Bolzano aviation & transport cruiser (as regular heavy cruiser, extensively damaged by submarine torpedoes and proposed for reconstruction to a hybrid carrier/transport design)

[edit] Destroyers

[edit] Torpedo boats

• Spica class: 30 vessels
• R. Pilo class: 7 vessels
• Audace class: 1 vessel
• G. Sirtori class: 4 vessels
• G. La Masa class: 7 vessels
• Palestro class: 4 vessels
• Generali class: 6 vessels
• Curtatone Class: 4 vessels
• Orsa class: 4 vessels
• Ciclone class 16 vessels
• Ariete class 16 vessels

[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, among which Mocenigo, Dandolo, Veniero, Provana, Marcello, Nani, Barbarigo, Emo, Morosini, Cappellini, Faà di Bruno
• Marconi class: 6 vessels - 1195 t, among which Guglielmo Marconi, Leonardo da Vinci

• 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

• Battle of Punta Stilo (9 July 1940), also known as the Battle of Calabria.
• Battle of Cape Spada (19 July 1940) - Bartolomeo Colleoni sunk by torpedoes.
• The Night of Taranto (11 November 1940), also known as Operation Judgement.
• Battle of Cape Teulada (27 November 1940), also known as Battle of Cape Spartivento.
• Attack on the British base at Suda Bay, Crete by destroyers Crispi and Sella, both transporting explosive motor boats: HMS York beached and abandoned and one oil tanker sunk (26 March 1941).
• Battle of Cape Matapan, Pola, Zara, Fiume, Vittorio Alfieri and Giosué Carducci sunk (27 March 1941)
• First Battle of Sirte (1941)
• Sinking of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant in Alexandria Harbor, by Italian frogmen (19 December 1941)
• Second Battle of Sirte (22 March 1942)
• Battle of Mid-June (1942), also known as Operation Harpoon.
• Battle of Mid-August (1942), also known as Operation Pedestal.

[edit] See Also

• Aviazione Ausiliara per la Marina WWII Italian Navy Air Service.

[edit] External links

• Regia Marina Italiana from www.regiamarina.net - the Regia Marina in World War II.
• Almanacco Storico Navale official site of the Italian Navy on the Regia Marina ships (Italian)
• Regia Marina Italiana - Plancia di Comando La Regia Marina attraverso la storia (Italian)
• Trento in Cina - Database of Italian warships in World War II
• La Regia Marina Italian Navy in World War II
• Italian Navy from www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk - 10 pages of photos;
• Operation Hats