Regia Marina

Missing image
Regia_Marina_Ensign.png
Regia Marina ensign. The Merchant Navy ships had a similar ensign, with the crown removed.

The Royal Italian Navy, Regia Marina, was created after the Italian unification. With the birth of the Italian Republic (1946), it changed its name to Marina Militare Italiana.

Contents
1 History

1.1 Pre-World War I
1.2 World War I
1.3 After World War I
1.4 World War II

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 Battleships
2.3.3 Heavy cruisers
2.3.4 Light cruisers
2.3.5 Destroyers
2.3.6 Submarines

3 Major events

3.1 World War II

4 External links

History

Pre-World War I

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

World War I

About 4 Dreadnought battleships were built, but were not involved in major naval actions. For most of the war the Italian and Austrian navy kept a passive watch on their counter-parts. However, some actions were taken, by both parts. The Austrian successfully sabotaged and sank battleships Benedetto Brin (Brindisi, 27 September 1915) and Leonardo da Vinci (Taranto, 2 August 1916). Regia Marina attacked with insidious weapons: MAS 21 and MAS 15 sank Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István in Adriatic sea on 10 June 1918; an early type of human torpedo (Mignatta) entered the harbour of Pola, sinking the Austro-Ungarian flagship Viribus Unitis, on 1 November 1918.

After World War I

The fascist government decided to enpower the Regia Marina, in the foreseeable struggle against British Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet. It was decided to base the strategy on fast, long shooting ships, in order to minimize contact with better experienced British fleet. Therefore, new guns were developed, which had smaller caliber but longer range than British counterparts; furthermore, in order to allow higher speeds, Italian new ships were designed with thinner protections (see, for example, Giovanni dalle Bande Nere).

World War II

The navy had, at this time, a mix of modernised and new battleships. It challenged the British Royal Navy for supremacy of the Mediterranean. Morally the Royal Navy gained the upper hand after several clashes. The British attack at the naval base of Taranto (Battle of Taranto) was a very successful attack by carrier-borne aircrafts carrying torpedoes against Italian battleships in harbor. This is considered to be one of the inspirations for the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor. The most successful attack performed by the Italian navy was by divers planting mines on British battleships in harbor at Alexandria. Italian ships were generally regarded as well-designed and good-looking, but proved to be rather deficient in anti-aircraft armament and radar.

Ships

Pre-World War I

Battleships

World War I

Battleships

Duilio class:

Re Umberto class:

Saint Bon class:

Regina Margherita class:

Regina Elena class:

Dante Alighieri class:

Cavour class:

Cruisers

Garibaldi class:

Vettror Pisani class:

Pisa class:

San Giorigio class:

Piemonte class:

Lombardia class:

Libia class:

Destroyers

Lampo class:

Nembo class:

Soldati Artigliere class:

Soldati Alpino class:

Indomito class:

Ardito class:

Audace class:

Pilo class:

World War II

Aircraft carriers

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

Battleships

Cavour class: Conte di Cavour, Giulio Cesare (extensively modernised WWI battleships) - guns 10 x 320 mm, 27 knots, 25000 t

Duilio class: Andrea Doria, Caio Duilio (extensively modernised WWI battleships) - guns 10 x 320 mm, 27 knots, 25000 t

Vittorio Veneto class: Littorio/Italia, Vittorio Veneto, Roma, Impero (not completed) - guns 9 x 381 mm, 30 knots, 45000 t

Heavy cruisers

Trento class: Trento, Trieste, Bolzano - guns 8 x 230 mm, 36 knots, 10000 t

Zara class: Zara, Fiume, Goriza, Goriza - guns 8 x 230 mm, 36 knots, 10000 t

Light cruisers

Condottieri (or 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, San Giorgio, Bari

Destroyers

Leone class: 3 vessels - 2283 t

Navigatori class: 12 vessels - 2010 t, among which Leone Pancaldo

Oriani or Poeti class: 4 vessels - 1950 t, among which Vittorio Alfieri and Giosué Carducci

Soldati class: 12 vessels (divided into First Soldati or Camicia Nera and Second soldati class) - 1620 t, among which Artigliere and Lanciere

Grecale class: 4 vessels - 1449 t, among which Grecale and Scirocco

Dardo class: 4 vessels - 1450 t, among which Strale

Mirabello class: 2 vessels - 1383 t

Folgore class: 4 vessels - 1220 t

Borea class: 8 vessels - 1092 t

Sauro class: 4 vessels - 1058 t

Sella class: 2 vessels - 935 t

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, Dessič, 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 Gugliemo Marconi

Micca class: 1 vessel - 1570 t

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

Settembrini class: 2 vessels - 953 t

Squalo class: 4 vessels - 933 t

Major events

Battle of Lissa (1866)

World War II

External links

See also: Regia Marina, 10 June, 11 November, 1866, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1940, 1941, 1942