At June, 10th, 1940 (at the very beginning of war) the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) was composed by
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6 battleships, two of them of modern 35,000 ton.. type (Littorio type)
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7 cruisers of 10,000 ton..
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12 light cruisers between 5.000 and 8.000 ton..
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12 flotilla leader destroyers
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28 modern destroyers
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19 old model destroyers
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69 torpedo boats
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117 submarines of varied type and tonnage |
The British were slightly numerically inferior and were based in Alexandria (Mediterranean Fleet) and Gibraltar (Force H), two of the advantages the British had, were the availability of aircraft carriers and tactics based on the use of aircraft in reconnaissance and strike roles. Italians lacked totally from this point of view, all their airplanes were controlled by th Air Force which imposed to not build any carrier. Mussolini thought that all Italian peninsula was a huge aircraft carrier: this though will be tragically wrong.During the tragedy of Second World War 33.000 Italian Seamen lost their lives and were lost 270.000 tons of warships. 412.000 tons of enemy warships were sunk (with the ones sunk by Air Force and by German U Boats) .The Italian merchant Navy lost 2.513 ships (522.120 tons).Finally the latest battleship, Roma, was ready to combat but the Italian lack of fuel grew more and more. The British took advantage of this and organized a massive series of convoys the Italians could not intercept with their heavy units because of fuel lack. Malta once again had offensive capability, and failure in taking Malta was now heavily felt. Sending anything in Africa was almost a suicide in that situation, the Italian Navy managed anyway to send in Africa 86% of material and 92% of men.Between the end of 1942 and the beginning of 1943, were sunk destroyer Folgore, Aviere, Pancaldo, Lampo, Malocello, Ascari, Corsaro, Bombardiere, Saetta; same fate for torpedo boats Animoso, Perseo, Climene, Ciclone, Cigno, Uragano and Procellaria. While Italian torpedo boats sunk British submarine Sahib and Thunderbolt.
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Ships of the Italian Navy:
Battleships:
Andrea Doria class battleship, 2 were built
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Superficially, it is not easy to see any sign that this pair of ships was completed in 1915-1916.Between 1933 and 1940 both ships were taken in hand for a modernisation that was as radical as any given to capital ships. The hull was lengthened by nearly eleven meters and a new centre turret inplaced. The entire secondary armerment was also re-vamped.Both units survived the war. |
Littorio class battleship, 4 were built
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In appearance they were unmistakely Italian, although the later American South Dakota's bore more than a passing resemblance. A most unusual feature was the high exposed barbette of the after turret, which set all three turrets at different heights above the waterline.Two further units, Impero and Roma, were laid down in 1938. Her only accomplishment of note was to be the first warship to be destroyed by air-to-surface missiles. |
Cruisers:
Zara class cruiser, 4 were built
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Italian cruisers were organised in homogenous groups, the four Zaras forming the 1st division. In March 1941 they formed part of the force engaged in what become known as the Battle of Matapan. All three were destroyed. the lone Gorizia was seized by the Germans at the Italian armistice in September 1943 and finally sunk, ironically by a joint British-Italian 'human torpedo' attack in june 1944. |
Condottieri class cruiser,12 were built
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The Italian navy possessed a dozen modern light cruisers in 1940. All were termed 'Condottieri', being named after what may best be described as 'Soldiers of fortune'. Laid down between 1928 and1933, they fall into five distinct groups, showing a clear line of development. |
Capitani Romani class cruiser, 12 were built
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Classed officially as 'ocean scouts', this class of twelve was a response to the big french super-destroyers. Splendidly-named, they were modernised diminutives of the first Condottieri design. |
Destroyers:
Soldati class destroyer, 19 were built
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Nineteen Soldati, belonging to two groups, provided the bulk of Italy's modern destroyers. Although the first unit was completed in 1938, the design was effectively that of the Maestrale class of 1934. The four 4.7-in main battery was similar to British practice but further topweight was saved by grouping it into two paired mountings. Their shortcomings were apparent when, foolowing the second Battle of Sirte in March 1942, the Italian fleet ran into near huuricane force winds. Two destroyers were overwhelmed. |
Corvettes:
Gabbiano class corvette , 40 were built
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In contrast to the British flower class the Italian corvettes were longer and leaner, of markedely lower displacement. An advanded feature for the day was the provision of an auxiliary drive motor on each shaft to facilitate the quiet hunting of submarines. Forty units were completed |
Torpedo boats:
Spica class torpedo boat , 30 were built
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No less than 30 of these usefull little ships were completed in 1936-38. In the bitterly-contested convoy war between Italy and North Africa, several, particularly Lupo and Vega, acquitted themselves well. They also proved useful in anti-submarine duties and they were the cause of many British submarine losses. |
Submarines:
Brin class submarine:
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During the period between 1925 and 1940, the Regia Marina dedicated large resources to the strengthening of its submarine forces, which resulted in the deployment of 50 large, 89 medium, 2 cargo and 50 small units. At the beginning of the hostilities, Italy had a total of 117 units of which only 7 could be categorized as obsolete. |
More to come!
 This page couldn't have been possible without the help of Arnaldo Borsa and his fantastic italian navy site.
Sources :
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bravenet.com
