Regia Marina

The Regia Marina (Royal Navy) was the Navy of the Royaume of Italy until in 1946.

It became the Marina Militare Italiana (Italian Navy) at the time of the proclamation of the Italian République.

History

Origins

Regia Marina was born the March 17th 1861, at the time of the proclamation of the Royaume of Italy by the Parliament of Turin. The unification of the Navy which constituted it - Sardinian, bourbonne, pontifical Toscane and - goes up, on the other hand, with the November 17th 1860. Fleet, which had also included the men and the ships of the Navy of Giuseppe Garibaldi and had inherited the naval tradition of the two principal navy which composed it - that of the Royaume of Sardinia and that of the Royaume of Naples, had many Navire S with veil and vapor. However, the lack of cohesion of its various components limited its effectiveness to its beginnings.

The battle of Smoothed

The " baptism of the feu" new Army took place with the Bataille of Smoothed, which took place close to the homonymous island in the Adriatic Sea, within the framework of the Third war of Independence in 1866, during which the Italy was opposed to the Empire Austro-Hungarian. During this battle, the large last battles where the spur was used, the Austrian fleet inflicted a severe defeat with the transalpine fleet, thanks especially to incomprehension and the errors made by the latter. Regia Marina lost the Cuirassé S Re of Italia and Palestro like 640 men. The black handkerchief with the double knot that the marine S Italian carry still today on their Uniforme mark the mourning caused by this defeat.

Of Smoothed with the First World War

In the years which followed the tragedy of Smoothed, the Armed forces developed considerably. Regia Marina was equipped, indeed, of new modern battleships and launched out in the modernization of its fleet.

Among the events which implied Regia Marina during the 2 last decades of the 19th century and the first years of the 20th century until the release of the First World War, most outstanding are:

• the participation, in 1885 with the catch of Massaua and the foundation of the Colony of Érythrée;
• the Circumnavigation of the world by the Magenta corvette (first Italian ship to make a success of the exploit) in 1896;
• experiments carried out in 1897 by Guglielmo Marconi for the development of the communications radio on board ships of Regia Marina;
• the intervention to come to assistance of the troops defending Western Legations of Beijing during the Revolt of the Boxers in 1900 (of the men and the Italian ships remained in China in the Italian Concession of Tianjin like to Shanghai and in other ports until in 1947);
• assistance brought by the ships of Regia Marina to the Metz-native population of and Reggio Calabria following the Earthquake (and to the Tidal wave) consecutive in 1908;
• obtaining by the Lieutenant Mario Calderara in 1909 of the first patent of Pilot of plane in Italy;
• operations led by Regia Marina between 1911 and 1912 within the framework of the italo-Turkish War with the first naval victories of the Marina and the use by this one, for the first time in the world, of the Plane like weapon of war.

The Marina during the Great War

When Italy enters in war the May 24th 1915 against the Central Empires (German Empire, Empire Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empire), she entrusts to Regia Marina of the Adriatique and blocking surveillance missions of the maritime provisioning of the Austro-Hungarian Empire via the blocking of the Canal of Otranto.

During the conflict, a large effort was devoted to the development of the air composate of the Marina. In addition to the planes based with ground, the Marina used embarked Hydravion S on board. New weapons of attack and fast units were conceived and carried out:

• among the first, the Torpedine Semovente Rossetti (Mignatta): a Torpedo guided by a crew and equipped with two explosive loads of 175 kg each one;
• among the fast units of attack, the FARMHOUSE (Motoscafo Anti Sommergibile), a unit light, fast, armed with Machine-gun, torpedes and of bends S anti-submarines, developed with an aim of carrying out missions of sabotage of the port S enemies of High the Adriatique and of countering the Submersible S.

Italy moreover built and maintained in various service Cuirassé S, but the latter took part in no naval battle of scale. Indeed, the Italian and Austrian navy was satisfied during most of the conflict to rather passively supervise the enemy. The two nations undertook some operations however:

• the Austrians sabotaged and ran the battleships Benedetto Brin with Brindisi the September 27th 1915 and Leonardo da Vinci with Taranto the August 2nd 1916;
• Regia Marina made use of the FARMHOUSE 21 and FARMHOUSE 15 to send by the funds the Hungarian battleship Szent István ( " Stéphane" saint; ) the June 10th 1918 at the time of the mission ordered by the Lieutenant commander Luigi Rizzo, entered the history under the name of " Impresa di Premuda ". It also used a first type of mignatta which entered the port of Pola and ran the flagship Austro-Hungarian Viribus Unitis on November 1st 1918.

Between the two Wars

The Conference of Washington on naval disarmament after the war, concluded in February 1922 with the naval Traité from Washington, establishes the parity of the total Tonnage between the Italian and French navy, as well for the warships (175 thousand ton S each one) as for the Porte-avions (60 thousand tons each one). This decision influenced the development of the Italian fleet between the two wars by imposing the maintenance of balance with France

The fascistic government decided to modernize Regia Marina, in order to be able to compete with the Fleet of the Mediterranean of the Royal Navy British. Between end of the year 20 and beginning of the year 30 was launched the construction of the heavy cruisers of 10 thousand tons, after that of the Destroyer S, the Submersible S (the effort of construction of the latter was particularly constant - the total tonnage reaching in June 1940, with 113 submarines, the second place right behind the United States) and of the battleships of the class '' Littorio ''.

In order to minimize, in theory, the impact of a meeting between the Italian ships and the vessels technically higher British, Regia Marina based her development strategy on fast ships armed with long-range guns. Accordingly, it developed guns of lower gauge but with longer range than the British guns. Moreover, in order to gain of speed, the new Italian ships were equipped with a lighter armor (such as for example the Croiseur Giovanni paves Bande Nere ). In 1923, following the birth of the Regia Aeronautica, the material, the bases and the personnel of the air component of the marine passed, at the same time as manpower, the material and the structures of the Regio Esercito, under the command and the control of the new Armed force. Consequently, coordination between the components air and naval lost of its effectiveness. What, joined to a development policy of the armaments directed towards the construction of large warships which completely forsook the air and sea aircraft carriers and mainly means, negatively influenced the course of the naval battles of the Italian armed forces in the the Mediterranean during the Second world war.

Following the support that Mussolini brought to the beam fascite of Francisco Franco, Regia Marina taken share, between 1936 and 1939, with the Spanish Civil war by ensuring the protection of the convoys of troops and weapons and by blocking the Iberian coasts .

The Second world war

When Italy entered in war the June 10th 1940, Regia Marina was the 4th fleet of the world and had new or modernized battleships with which it defied British supremacy in the the Mediterranean. In the night of the 11 to the November 12th 1940, the attack of the British planes destroyers Fairey Swordfish of the Aircraft carrier Illustrious against the fleet italiane in the naval base of Taring (" the Night of Taring " , a great blow carried to the Navy whereas the attacker underwent only light losses: the warships Tale di Cavour , Caio Duilio and Littorio were torpedoed whereas only two of twenty Swordfish were cut down. Months of repair were necessary for the battleships Littorio and Caio Duilio and the Conte di Cavour never took again the active service. This historical attack was one of the sources of inspiration of the Japanese for their attack against the American fleet with Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

The November 27th, Regia Marina faced the British fleet at the time of the Bataille of the course Teulada. Between the 27 and the March 29th 1941, the British fleet inflicted another large blow in Regia Marina at the time of the Bataille of the course Matapan. Three Cruiser S and 2 Italian Destroyer S were sent by the funds, Royal Navy losing only a Avion destroyer. The greatest success of Regia Marina during the war was the installation of mine S on the Cuirassé S British wet in the port of Alexandria the December 19th 1941.

The little of commercial traffic in the Mediterranean compared to many convoys sent by the the United States between two banks of Atlantic to supply their European allies involved the implication of some Italian submarines in the battles of the convoys .

Other Italian naval forces (among which FARMHOUSES, mini sinkable as well as men and material of the X FARMHOUSE) operated in the Black Sea, at the sides of the Germans, in order to block the naval traffic Soviet, as well soldier as commercial.

During the war, the Italian ships, although having the reputation to be well conceived, fished by their weak anti-aircraft armament and, especially, by the absence of Radar. This device had the British fleet, as well as the Décryptage of the Italian messages encrypted by the German cryptor Enigma (made possible thanks to the work of Alan Turing) and the absolute supremacy of the sky of the British and thus the lack of aerial cover Italian, had an enormous influence on the exit of many battles in favor of the British fleet. At the end of the war, Regia Marina had lost almost 700 thousand tons whereas it had run only 470 thousand of them and that it lost nearly 36 thousand men.

According to the orders received after the armistice signed with the Allied in September 1943, the ships, men and material of Regia Marina were consigned, almost for totality, with the British and American forces. A cooperation agreement with the ex-enemies made it possible to the Italian sailors to continue to fight at the sides of those to release the country of the occupation Nazi.

Float

Main missions

Third War of Independence

• Bataille of Smoothed (1866)

First World War

Second world war

• Battle of Punta Stilo (July 9th 1940), also known under the name of Battle of Calabria .
• Battle of the course Spada (July 19th 1940), Bartolomeo Colleoni torpedoed.
• Night of Taranto (November 11th 1940), also known under the name of Operation Judgment .
• Battle of the course Teulada (November 27th 1940), also known under the name of Battle of Capo Spartivento .
• Attack of the British base of the Bay of Suda, Creta: HMS (His Majesty' S Ship) cast York and two tankers (March 26th 1941).
• Battle of the course Matapan, Pola , Zara , Fiume , Vittorio Alfieri and Giosuè Carducci cast (March 27th 1941).
• Battle of Syrte (1941).
• Affondamento beyond HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant in the port of Alexandria, AD operated di sommozzatori italiani (December 19th 1941).
• Second battle of Syrte (March 22nd 1942).
• Battle of mid-June (1942), also known under the name of Operation Harpoon .
• Battle of mid-August (1942), also known under the name of Operation Pedestal .

External bonds (in Italian)

• naval historical Almanac
• Regia Marina Italiana - Plancia di Comando Regia Marina attraverso the storia
• Trento in Cina - Database of the Italian ships at the time of the Second world war
• Regia Marina Italiana Regia Marina at the time of the Second world war
• Regia Marina Italian Navy in WWII
• Italian Navy 10 pages of photographs
• Italy the 1935-45 Italian army of 1935 to 1945;

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