The Regia Marina (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic, the Regia Marina changed its name to Marina Militare.
The Battle of the Mediterranean was the name given to the naval campaign fought in the Mediterranean Sea during World War II, from 10 June 1940 to 2 May 1945.
The Capitani Romani class was a class of light cruisers acting as flotilla leaders for the Regia Marina. They were built to outrun and outgun the large new French destroyers of the Le Fantasque and Mogador classes. Twelve hulls were ordered in late 1939, but only four were completed, just three of these before the Italian armistice in 1943. The ships were named after prominent ancient Romans.
The Spica class was a class of torpedo boats of the Regia Marina during World War II. These ships were built as a result of a clause in the Washington Naval Treaty, which stated that ships with a tonnage of less than 600 could be built in unlimited numbers. Thirty-two ships were built between 1934 and 1937, thirty of which entered service with Italy and two of which were sold to the Swedish Navy in 1940. The two units in Swedish service were classified as destroyers until 1953, then re-classified as corvettes. Although commonly referred to as torpedo boats due to their smaller displacement, the Spica class armament was similar to destroyers and were intended for anti-submarine operations but had to fight aircraft and surface forces. Twenty-three vessels were lost during the war.
The Soldati class were a group of destroyers built for the Regia Marina during World War II. The ships were named after military professions. There were two batches; twelve ships were built in 1938–1939, and a second batch of seven ships were ordered in 1940, although only five were completed.
The Torpedoboot Ausland were small destroyers or large torpedo boats captured by Nazi Germany and incorporated into the Kriegsmarine. They were assigned a number beginning with TA.
Carlo Fecia di Cossato was an officer in the Regia Marina, in command of submarines and torpedo boats during World War II. He was credited with the confirmed sinking of 23 enemy ships. He was also a recipient of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross and of the Gold Medal of Military Valor, the highest decoration of the Italian Armed Forces.
The Battle of the Espero Convoy on 28 June 1940, was the first surface engagement between Italian and Allied warships of the Second World War. Three 36 kn Italian destroyers made a dash from Taranto for Tobruk in Libya to transport Blackshirt anti-tank units, in case of an armoured attack from Egypt by the British.
The Italian destroyers of World War II comprised a mix of old warship designs dating from World War I and some of the most modern of their type in the world. These destroyers also varied in size from enlarged torpedo-boats to esploratori.
The Adriatic campaign of World War II was a minor naval campaign fought during World War II between the Greek, Yugoslavian and Italian navies, the Kriegsmarine, and the Mediterranean squadrons of the United Kingdom, France, and the Yugoslav Partisan naval forces. Considered a somewhat insignificant part of the naval warfare in World War II, it nonetheless saw interesting developments, given the specificity of the Dalmatian coastline.
The Comandanti Medaglie d'Oro class were a group of 20 destroyers ordered for the Regia Marina during World War II. Nine had been laid down by the time of the Italian armistice in September 1943 and all but one of those ships which had not yet been laid down were cancelled. Of those that had been laid down, none had been launched by that time and all were subsequently scrapped.
The Italian occupation of Corsica refers to the military occupation by the Kingdom of Italy of the French island of Corsica during the Second World War, from November 1942 to September 1943. After an initial period of increased control over the island, by early spring 1943 the Maquis had begun to occupy the hinterland. In the aftermath of the Armistice of Cassibile, the Italian capitulation to the Allies, some Italian units sided with German troops sent to replace the Italian garrison and some defected to the Maquis and Free French Forces.
The Rosolino Pilo class was a class of eight destroyers of the Italian Regia Marina constructed before and during the First World War. Like other obsolete Italian destroyers, they were reclassified as torpedo boats in 1929, and seven ships served throughout the Second World War. Two ships were sunk by mines while under Italian service during the Second World War, with two more being seized by Nazi Germany following the Italian Armistice in 1943. The remaining three ships survived the war and continued in use with the post-war Italian Navy, with the last two of the class being decommissioned in 1958.
Leone Pancaldo was one of twelve Navigatori-class destroyers built for the Regia Marina between the late 1920s. Shortly after Italy's entry into World War II in June 1940, she was sunk by British torpedo bombers in Augusta, Sicily, but was later refloated and repaired. She was briefly used in fast troop transport missions to Tunisia until her second and final sinking by Allied aircraft in April 1943.
The action off Bastia was a naval battle fought on 9 September 1943 off Corsica's principal port of Bastia in the Tyrrhenian Sea, part of the Mediterranean Sea. It was one of the few successful Italian reactions to Operation Achse, and one of the first acts of resistance by the Italian armed forces against Nazi Germany after the armistice of Cassibile.
Tifone was a Ciclone-class torpedo boat that served with the Italian Navy during the Second World War. The vessel entered service on 11 July 1942 and was scuttled on 7 May 1943 at Korbous, Tunisia. She escorted the last Axis convoy to reach Africa in World War II.
Primo Longobardo was an Italian naval officer and submariner during World War II.
Giacinto Carini was an Italian La Masa-class destroyer. Commissioned into service in the Italian Regia Marina in 1917, she served in World War I, participating in the Adriatic campaign. During the interwar period, she took part in operations during the Corfu incident in 1923 and was reclassified as a torpedo boat in 1929. She took part in the Mediterranean campaign of World War II. After the fall of Fascist Italy and the Italian armistice with the Allies in 1943, she switched to the Allied side and operated as a unit of the Italian Co-belligerent Navy until 1945. A part of the Italian Navy after the Italian Republic replaced the Kingdom of Italy in 1946, she remained in service during the Cold War and was reclassified as a coastal minesweeper in 1953. Stricken in 1958, she subsequently served as the training hulk GM 517 until scrapped in 1963.
The Quarta Flottiglia MAS was an Italian flotilla of the Regia Marina created during the Fascist regime.
