"The only successful operation of the Italian General Staff", - B. Mussolini commented on his arrest.
"The Italians are much better at building ships than they know how to fight on them."
Old British aphorism.
… The submarine "Evangelista Torricelli" was patrolling the Gulf of Aden when it faced strong enemy opposition. Due to the damage received, they had to return to the surface. At the entrance to the Red Sea, the boat met the English sloop Shoreham, which urgently called for help.
“Torricelli” was the first to open fire from her only 120-mm cannon, hitting the sloop with the second round, which was forced to retreat and go to Aden for repairs.
Meanwhile, an Indian sloop, and then a battalion of British destroyers, approached the site of the ensuing battle. Nineteen 120-mm and four 102-mm guns, plus many machine guns, were against the boat's only cannon.
The boat commander Salvatore Pelosi took the fight. He fired all torpedoes at the destroyers Kingston, Kandahar and Khartoum, while continuing to maneuver and conduct an artillery duel. The British dodged the torpedoes, but one of the shells hit the Khartoum. Half an hour after the start of the battle, the boat received a shell in the stern, which damaged the steering gear and wounded Pelosi.
Some time later, the gun "Evangelista Torricelli" was smashed by a direct hit. Having exhausted all possibilities for resistance, the commander ordered the ship to be flooded. The survivors were taken aboard the destroyer Kandahar, with Pelosi being greeted by British officers with a military salute.
From aboard the "Kandahar", the Italians watched a fire break out on the "Khartoum". Then the ammunition detonated, and the destroyer sank to the bottom.
"Khartoum" (built in 1939, displacement of 1690 tons) was considered the newest ship. The case when a submarine sinks a destroyer in an artillery battle has no analogues in naval history. The British highly appreciated the valor of the Italian submariners. Commander Pelosi was received by the senior naval officer in the Red Sea, Rear Admiral Murray.
In addition to the losses suffered by the British ships, the British fired 700 rounds and five hundred machine-gun magazines to sink one submarine. "Torricelli" went under the water with a waving battle flag, which can only be raised in sight of the enemy. Captain 3rd Rank Salvatore Pelosi was awarded Italy's highest military award, the D'Or Al Valor Militari Medal (Gold Medal for Military Valor).
The aforementioned “Kandahar” did not sail the seas for long. In December 1941, the destroyer was blown up by mines near the Libyan coast. The light cruiser Neptune sank with him. Two other cruisers of the British strike force (Aurora and Penelope) were also blown up by mines, but were able to return to base.
The light cruisers Duca d'Aosta and Eugenio di Savoia plant a minefield off the coast of Libya. In total, during the period of hostilities, the warships of the Italian Navy put up 54,457 mines on communications in the Mediterranean.
The descendants of the great Marco Polo fought all over the world. From the icy blue of Lake Ladoga to the warm latitudes of the Indian Ocean.
Two sunken battleships (“Valiant” and “Queen Elizabeth”) are the result of the attack of the combat swimmers “Dechima MAS”.
The sunken cruisers of His Majesty "York", "Manchester", "Neptune", "Cairo", "Calypso", "Bonaventure".
The first fell victim to sabotage (a boat with explosives). "Neptune" was blown up by mines. "Manchester" became the largest warship ever sunk by torpedo boats. The Cairo, Calypso and Bonaventure were torpedoed by Italian submarines.
400,000 gross register tons - this is the total “catch” of the ten best divers in Regia Marina. In first place is the Italian “Marinesco”, Carlo Fezia di Cossato with 16 wins. Another ace of submarine warfare, Gianfranco Gazzana Prioroja, sank 11 transports with a total displacement of 90 thousand brt.
The Italians fought in the Mediterranean and Black Seas, off the coast of China, in the North and South Atlantic.
43 207 outlets to the sea. 11 million miles of combat path.
According to official figures, the sailors of Regia Marina provided escort of dozens of convoys that delivered 1, 1 million troops and 60 thousand Italian and German trucks and tanks to North Africa, the Balkans and the Mediterranean Islands. The return route was carrying precious oil. Frequently, cargo and personnel were placed directly on the decks of warships.
And, of course, a golden page in the history of the Italian navy. Tenth flotilla of assault vehicles. Fighting swimmers of the "black prince" Valerio Borghese - the world's first naval special forces, terrifying opponents.
The British joke about “Italians who do not know how to fight” is true only from the point of view of the British themselves. It is obvious that the Italian Navy, both quantitatively and qualitatively, was inferior to the “sea wolves” of Foggy Albion. But this did not prevent Italy from becoming one of the strongest naval powers and leaving its unique imprint in the history of naval battles.
Anyone familiar with this story will notice an obvious paradox. The main share of the victories of the Italian Navy fell on small ships - submarines, torpedo boats, man-torpedoes. While large combat units did not achieve much success.
The paradox has several explanations.
First, the cruisers and battleships of Italy can be counted on one hand.
Three new Littorio-class LCs, four modernized battleships of the First World War, four TKRs of the Zara, Bolzano-class and a couple of the first-borns - Washingtonians (Trento).
Of these, only "Zary" and "Littorio" + a dozen light cruisers, the size of a destroyer leader, were really combat-ready.
However, even here there is no need to talk about the lack of success and complete uselessness.
None of the listed ships were moored. The battleship "Vittorio Veneto" completed 56 combat missions during the war years, having covered 17,970 miles in battles. And this is on a limited "patch" of the Mediterranean theater of operations, in the presence of a constant threat from under the water and from the air. Regularly getting hit by the enemy and receiving damage of varying severity (the battleship spent 199 days on repairs). Moreover, he still managed to live to the end of the war.
It is enough to trace the combat path of any of the Italian ships: in each line there corresponds an epic event or a famous battle.
“Shot at Calabria”, the battle with Espero's convoy, the shootout at Spartivento, the battle at Gavdos and the battle at Cape Matapan, the first and second battles in the Gulf of Sidra … Salt, blood, sea foam, shooting, attacks, combat damage!
Name more of those who managed to take part in so many vicissitudes of this magnitude! The question is rhetorical, does not require an answer.
The Italians' adversary was a tough nut to crack. Royal Navy of Great Britain. White Ensign. There is nowhere steeper.
In fact, the forces of the opponents turned out to be approximately equal! The Italians did without Tsushima. The main part of the battles ended with an equal score.
The tragedy at Cape Matapan was caused by one single circumstance - the absence of radars on Italian ships. Unseen in the night, British battleships approached and shot at point-blank three Italian cruisers.
This is the irony of fate. In the homeland of Gulemo Marconi, little attention was paid to radio engineering.
Another example. In the 30s. Italy held the world speed record in aviation. That did not prevent the Italian air force from being the most backward air force among the Western European countries. During the war years, the situation did not improve at all. Italy did not have a decent air force or naval aviation.
So is it any wonder that the German Luftwaffe have achieved greater success than the Italian sailors?
You can still remember the shame in Taranto, when low-speed "whatnots" in one night put out of action three battleships. The blame lies entirely with the command of the Italian naval base, which was too lazy to pull up the anti-torpedo net.
But the Italians were not alone! Episodes of criminal negligence occurred throughout the war, both at sea and on land. The Americans have Pearl Harbor. Even the iron "Kriegsmarine" fell into the mud with its Aryan face (battle for Norway).
There were completely unpredictable cases. Blind luck. Record hit of “Worspite” in “Giulio Cesare” from a distance of 24 kilometers. Four battleships, seven minutes of firing - one hit! "The hit can be called a pure accident" (Admiral Cunningham).
Well, the Italians were a little unlucky in that battle. Just as the British "Hood" was unlucky in the battle with the LK "Bismarck". But this does not give reason to consider the British as worthless sailors!
As for the epigraph to this article, one can doubt its first part. Italians know how to fight, but at some point they forgot how to build ships.
Not the worst on paper, the Italian Littorio became one of the worst ships in its class. Second from the bottom in the rating of fast battle ships, ahead of the notoriously discounted King George V. Although even a British battleship with its own shortcomings, perhaps, outperform the Italian. There are no radars. Fire control systems at the level of Perova World. The overpowered guns hit at random.
The first of the Italian “Washingtonians”, the cruiser “Trento” - a terrible end or an endless horror?
Destroyer "Maestrale" - which became a series of Soviet destroyers of project 7. Our fleet had enough grief with them. Designed for “greenhouse” Mediterranean conditions, the “sevens” simply fell apart in the midst of northern storms (the destruction of the destroyer “Crushing”). Not to mention the very flawed concept of “everything in exchange for speed”.
Zara-class heavy cruiser. They say the best of the "Washington cruisers". How is it that the Italians for once got a normal ship?
The solution to the problem is simple. "Makaronniki" did not care at all about the cruising range of their ships, rightly believing that Italy is located in the center of the Mediterranean Sea. Which means - all the bases are nearby. As a result, the cruising range of Italian ships of the selected class, in comparison with ships of other countries, was 3-5 times less! This is where the best security and other useful qualities come from.
In general, the Italians' ships were below average. But the Italians really knew how to fight on them.
