|
Post by aiolife on May 10, 2020 8:26:12 GMT -6
5 July 1925:
I just returned, together with the staff officer of the Ufficio Progetti, from a visit to a German company. The Wagner Werke is a famous manufacturer for Naval Boilers, and they just introduced a new research breakthrough in boiler design. They can now reach even higher temperature and steam pressure, by forcing the steam circulation with pumps. They offered us to sell their licence for this project to an Italian company, and after some negotiation we reached an agreement on the price for 4'050'000 Lire. It seems pretty reasonable, we need the best engines on our ships.
On the way back home, I discussed with the Ufficio Progetti guys about a certain design they were working on in the past few months, for a purpose built Porta Aeromobili (Aircraft Carrier Vessel). I told them that I liked that ship a lot, and that I would like to built at least a prototype ship, its name will be RN Falco.
My past experience aboard the RN Giulio Cesare Carrier Converted Battleship, taught me that naval aviation will be a critical factor in future naval warfare. Some older Officers and Admirals in the Regia Marina Staff, are still fixed on the line of battle concept, where capital ships pound each other with heavy gun shells... but the lethality of torpedoes, and the range and the cost/effectiveness factor of airplanes is growing huge.
Just as I'm thinking about these things, I'm getting-off the train in Rome. A courier arrives and hands me an evelope... Some highly confidential information from our secret service in France: the battleship MN Libertè of the Marine Nationale has left her drydock in Brest after 2 months of hasty repairs. We thought to have sunk all the French Battleships, but unfortunately it appears that they were able to bring home at least one of them, and they made some upgrades in the meantime as well! Damn!
As I arrived in my office of Piazza della Marina I wrote a request to the Secret Service office, requiring the most details they can get on the French battleship and other Capital Ships eventually present in Brest Dockyards. Even though we are speaking about a single Battleship, that cannot make a real big difference on an operational level, it will have a huge impact on morale and change the strategic situation of this war, by simply being there, even if it won't fire a single shot.
Other bad news await me as I come back from this trip to Germany: RN Brindisi, one of our old Nino Bixio class cruisers, has struck a mine while out on patrol duties off the French Riviera, near Niece, fortunately no one was killed, but the propeller shafts were completely bent. The trailing destroyer managed to tow it back to Genoa, but it will need to be brought to La Spezia docks for repairs...
12 July 1925: Following my request, the Secret Service have come up with some information of the MN Libertè Batleship, and while in Brest Dockyards, they managed to take pictures of the MN Gueydon Battlecruiser as well. While the Battleship itself does not worry me too much, apart from the Anti-Air Armament they installed during the repairs, MN Gueydon and the other 2 ships of the Amiral Charner Class makes a formidable foe with massive speed, and powerful guns, though in limited numbers.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 11, 2020 8:12:47 GMT -6
01 August 1925:
In the middle of the night I'm awakened by a tragic phone call. Someone of the staff on night duty, informs me that Admiral Pighini has fallen with RN Terni, a Bologna Class modern light cruiser, flagship of the Cruiser Division in Genoa, after striking 3 mines in less than 1 hour.
I immediately put my uniform on and drive to the office, asking as I arrive for a detailed report of the operation. This is the telegram reports we received during the night:
31-7-1925 h2000 local time - leaving Genoa port for night raiding mission between Marseille and Toulon OOB: Cruiser division consisting of 2 Bologna class cruisers (RN Terni and RN Cagliari) escorted by 5 borea class destroyers; 2327-Sighting of enemy merchantmen just off Toulon, begin fire with small calibers from estimated 1000 meters range; 2349-We leave the sinking merchantmen behind and steam 25knots towards Marseille (note: torpedo salvo missed, maybe warhead not armed);
01-08-1925 0121-Explosion under RN Terni, we suppose a submarine torpedo attack, damage assessment ongoing, power still available; 0131-Spotters on the RN Terni sight a mine just starboard, hard port turn, but speed is still too high. Second explosion. Flagship detached and proceeding at 10knots, rest of the division makes hard port turn and lower to cruise speed, all spotters on the deck, searchlights on looking for mines; 0210-RN Terni left without power and taking in water, we are carried away by the currents and cannot avoid the third mine, pumps not working, ship is listing heavily and sinking; 0225-Rest of the squadron sights a line of fast enemy vessel approaching from Marseille, est distance 5000 meters, they must have heard the explosions and seen the searchlights; 0231-4 enemy destroyers identified, torpedo salvo launched by our destroyers to cover hard port turn at full speed; 0234-enemy torpedo hits RN La Farina destroyer, bad damage to the aft torpedo tubes, fortunately they were already empty; 0235-enemy destroyers torpedoed by our salvo, heavy exchange of small calibers at point blank range; 0238-enemy flottilla leader (light protected cruiser) in sight, RN Cagliari opens fire with 152mm main guns, enemy formation disengages under heavy shelling; 0303- RN la Farina and RN Francesco Stocco detached due to damage, remain to cover the sinking RN Terni, rest of the division return home at reduced speed; 0505- 2 more enemy Merchantmen torpedoed during the return to home port; detached destroyers cannot reach the sinking flagship RN Terni due to minefield and begin to return home before daylight; 0551- Just after Toulon, RN Cagliari sights smoke and funnells ahead, 1 merchant escorted by 2 light escort vessels; 0604- RN Cagliari opens main battery fire on the merchant, the 2 escorting corvettes quickly turn away and steam home, leaving the merchantman alone to surrender to our formation; 1222- RN Francesco Stocco fends off a submarine attack by trying to ram, to cover the rear of the main formation;
Somewhat the raid has been succesful, with 2 enemy destroyers sunk and 4 big merchant ships at the bottom of the sea, but the loss of one modern Cruiser and the death of Admiral Pighini, turns this into a Pyrrhic victory.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 12, 2020 5:01:07 GMT -6
03 August 1925:
Still thinking about the loss of the old friend and valiant sailor Admiral Pighini, I was travelling again with the Chief of the Ufficio Progetti, Giuseppe Rota, to visit this time the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino. After the victory in the war with the Austro-Hungarian Empire, we were able to acquire Trieste and the Dalmatian Coastline. Between Monfalcone and Trieste stands the Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, which has been one of the finest ship building companies of the empire, launching off the slipways most of the Austrian Battleships.
Launch of an Austrian Battleship off the slipway in Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, former AustriaWerft.
We visited the shipyard, and met with the company owner and his managers. While examining the hulls of the new Bolzano class cruisers, all already laid down, we could see that the building of the engines now is progressing fast, the licence-built Parsons turbines have arrived from Milano, while the oil fired boilers are being built in Monfalcone workshop.
Anyway when we asked for the estimated delivery date for the 4 new cruisers, we had quite a surprise to hear that they will need still almost a year until completion. We have been told that the workers in the yard, are not very happy to build warships for the Regia Marina, most of them are hardened Austrian Nationalists, and in the last months they even have organized strikes and protests before the gates of the shipyard. This is a major problem, since we cannot wait so much for the new cruisers, given the latest war losses.
I suggest the owner of Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino (STT from now on) that he may "convince" some of the nationalists' leaders by giving them some extra money, in exchange Regia Marina may order some more ships from STT in the near future if those cruisers will be delivered in a more reasonable time. They seemed quite convinced by this idea and promised me that they'll give it a try. We left Trieste by evening, and Mr.Rota from Ufficio Progetti, made me notice that we didn't have any spare budget for the current year to spend on another ship. We already had the 2 new Vittorio Veneto class battleships being built in Cantieri Navali di La Spezia, and the 4 Bolzano class Cruisers here in Trieste, plus the RN Falco prototype Aircraft Carrier built in Castellammare di Stabia. Unfortunately he was perfectly right, but we were at war, and we needed those cruisers as soon as possible, and the treasury was not empty at all, we could take away some million Lire for an extra-budget ship, and we'll be perfectly fine. We argued a little more on the train to Rome, before going to our bunks for some sleep.
I didn't know that the following day, another bad news was awaiting me in the office.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 12, 2020 15:57:51 GMT -6
04 August 1925:
As I drop off the train from Trieste, after a few hours sleep in the train bunk, I immediately ask for breakfast coffee as I arrive in the office in Piazza della Marina. As usual my desk with filled with mail and envelops. But one stood at my attention, the Memorandum from the Defence Minister, the Duce himself, inviting me and my staff to the War Council... probably he had some more French territories to invade, or some other strange idea for a new prototype aircraft.
04 August 1925 (continued):
After spending the whole day in a frantic run to prepare all the reports needed for the war council, I head to Palazzo Chigi, as the sun is nearly touching the horizon over the Tirrenian Sea.
The war council in August 1925
During the Council, I understand that the Army is not going anywhere nor in the Alps, after the initial push towards Nice, neither in North Africa, where the enemy is heavily entrenched around the city of Tunis. Our German ally is not going anywere neither, they gained some territories but they are now stuck in a deadly and slow trench warfare since the beginning of the summer. As far as the Navy is concerned, we are in a slightly better position, the enemy has lost all of his battleships except one, but its being blockaded both by Regia Marina and by the Kriegsmarine in the Atlantic. Since April a long and weary battle of attrition has begun even on the seas, and under them. French submarines have constantly demanded their toll to the Italian convoys, bringing troops and supplies to North Africa, and coming back from our allies with oil and raw materials. Another important topic I presented to the Duce attention is my view on the use of aircrafts in warfare. I suggested that this machine will change the future of how we wage war, and thus I asked that a separate branch of the armed forces is created just to manage aircraft warfare. In fact, Regia Marina, left without any aircraft carrying ship, is no longer able to sustain the training and organization of land based aircraft crews anymore. This idea made the Duce and other Admirals and Generals think and discuss a lot... in fact that much that we went on well after midnight. In the end I went home with the promise from the Duce to create the new Regia Aeronautica and that within next year it will begin its activities and take care of land based Aircraft operations.
We also agreed on the next big operation in the war, the Army needs to put up a feint attack on the French border near Nice, to divert enemy resources from North Africa, which is the main focus of the whole war. To make it really convincing so that the French will take the bait, we are asked to perform a preparatory shore bombardment on strategic targets within range from the coastline.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 13, 2020 9:28:13 GMT -6
13 August 1925:
After some days of bad weather, we receive communication from the Army Command to proceed with the shore bombardment operation south of Nice. The objective is Fort Carrè near Antibes, here the French army has set up a stronghold with heavy artillery and a communication post with a telegraphic antenna. They can control the information flow back and forth from the frontline and rain fire down on the railway and road leading to Nice along the coast.
Fort Carrè as seen from Antibes Beach
I order to the whole battlefleet to steam out of La Spezia port, and join with the Battlecruiser squadron coming back from convoy escort mission off the North African coast. Randez-voux estimated at h16:30 just south of Nice, and then proceed westward towards the objective.
MISSION: Shore Bombardment OOB: Italian Battle fleet (Admiral G.Fioravanzo): 7BB, 6CL (4Italian + 2German), 1 CVL, 16 Fleet Destroyers; Battle Cruiser Division (Admiral A.Riccardi): 4BC, 2CL, 6 Destroyers
h1654 local time - Contact between Battlefleet and Battle Cruiser division, Adm.Riccardi aknowledges contact and orders scouting formation and steams ahead 25knots speed. Weather overcast, with moderate breeze, visibility reduced to 20000 meters; 1724 - Spotters signal back to Riccardi on the Battlecruiser RN Lombardia, sighting of smoke and enemy capital ships, must be a scouting French Battlecruiser formation; 1736 - Begin Firing 15 inch guns on enemy leading Battlecruiser; 1749 - First Hit, on the second salvo, a 15-Inch shells from RN Cornelio Silla hits the mark; 1750 - As some of the clouds open to a clearer sky, we can see smoke and funnels from a second enemy battle line, behind the 2 scouting Battlecruisers; 1805 - French scouting Battlecruisers try to close the gap with our scout division. Screening destroyers launch a torpedo salvo to disperse the attack; 1820 - RN Francesco Ferruccio fire control system is disabled by a heavy shell from an enemy Nantes class BC; 1838 - After a one hour skirmish between the two scout fleets of Battlecruisers, the sun sets, visibility is greatly reduced; 1847 - RN Francesco Ferruccio takes a second heavy hit, the shell has penetrated after grazing the lower belt edge. The ship is taking water; 1909 - As dark comes, we lost sight of enemy formation; 1932 - Battlefleet comes in range of land target 4000 meters off the coast, cruisers start firing illuminating shells on the coastal position; 1951 - Big calibers from the battleships join in from 3500 meters range; 1957 - After only 6 minutes of main battery broadsides, the fort is a burning hell, fire illuminating the harbour downhill, not a single returning shot was fired from the fort artillery, enemy was cought by surprise; 2000 - Battlefleet raise steam and head back to La Spezia, counting nearly 400 main caliber shells and several thousands medium caliber shots fired into the target; 2033 - RN Marcantonio Colonna, after losing contact with division in the dark, stumbles across a French Merchantman escorted by an escort torpedo boat, taken by surprise the French are obliterated in seconds by broadsides of secondary armament at close range; 0600 - After main fleet has disengaged, as daylight comes, air operations begin, assessing the damage accurately is not yet possible due to the immense clouds of smoke raising from the burning wrecks of the Fort;
Telegraph Antenna outside Fort Carrè, photograph taken by Italian Spies just some days before the bombardment.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 13, 2020 10:22:45 GMT -6
15 August 1925: I received reports of Battlecruiser RN Lepanto having returned to Naples with some damage to the hull and rudder after hitting a mine during the night bombardment of Fort Carrè. A couple of months in Drydock will be needed to assess and repair the damage. Damn, those mines are really taking a high toll out of every mission we perform on the French Riviera.
As I was receiving those news, some guys knock at my office door. The aircraft design team (Ufficio progetti aeromobili) is ready to show me the new prototypes of torpedo bombers. They received 3 offers and 3 different planes from Savoia Marchetti, Officine Mecc. Reggiane and Caproni Officine Aeronautiche. They tested the different prototypes, and examined the technical specifications of all of them and come here with their conclusions for me to choose one of those planes as our new torpedo bomber, for both land based and carrier based squadrons.
The Savoia Marchetti prototype is a two seater biplane, with a 6 cylinder linear engine capable of really high top speed, and it's a solid design too, but it really lacks range, just some miles more than the actual CANT Z.73B Model in service. It can mount a light machinegun in the front and one in the back-seat.
The Reggiane prototype is based on a newly re-designed improved radial engine, that can extend the range up to 140 miles thanks to the low fuel consumption. However is not as fast as the Savoia Marchetti prototype, but has similar defensive armament (2 Breda light machine guns at the front, since is a one seater biplane), the load capacity is the same as well, with 1000 kg of payload available.
I immediately discard the Caproni prototype, as it has a huge range, up to 180 miles, but it lacks any defensive armament, and is too lightly built.
So in the end i decide to go for the Reggiane prototype, giving it the name of Re.84, I ask the guys of the Ufficio progetti aeromobili to go on with the development of this design.
Furthermore I ask them to start thinking about the idea of a larger plane, maybe with more than one engine, that can carry bombs and other ordinance and deliver them to longer ranges, since we have lot of airbases in the peninsula, and we can improve the ones on the island like Sicily, Sardinia, Rhodes, with such plane we can cover a lot of the Mediterranean, harassing enemy shipping, without having to use large aircraft carrying ships. They liked my way of thinking, and promised that they will come back in a few months with the best that they can develop together with all our Aircraft manufacturers.
Before leaving, they inform me about some news leaked from French aviation enthusiasts, that a new plane has entered service within the French Armeè de l'air, they call them "Dive bombers", which is able to plunge from the sky towards a ship and launch a bomb that will hit directly perpendicular on the ship's deck... It sounds frightening. I shall dispatch the order to begin placing more anti-air guns on every ship that hits the dockyard.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 13, 2020 11:04:16 GMT -6
02 September 1925:
I woke up in this late summer morning with a bad feeling in my bones... somehow I knew that something terrible happened during that night. In fact my forecast for the day was right. As I arrive in my office in Piazza della Marina a message directly written from the Duce himself was waiting for me... I wonder if that men even sleeps at all.
It was an invitation to La Spezia port for that very day, since reports arrived in the night of an ambush to our last and only Carrier Converted Cruiser RN Marco Polo, by French Battlecruisers, near Isola d'Elba.
On the train to La Spezia I was finally able to read the full reports. Somehow a Battlecruiser squadron coming from Corsica, managed to intercept in the middle of the night our RN Marco Polo that was returning to La Spezia after an Anti-Submarine patrol mission. Our Battlecruiser division, led by Admiral Riccardini immediately steamed to the rescue, but managed only to fend off the attacking French formation that was able to disengage in the darkness, leaving the RN Marco Polo in flames.
Getting of the train I can already see a tall column of smoke in the middle of the harbour... the ship was left some hundred meters out of port, still burning. Some firefighting ships were trying to at least contain the fire, but the carrier was sinking more and more into the shallow waters. After some hours it eventually stopped burning, and sat quite comfortably at the bottom of the harbour. I already know that this black lump of burned metal could only be good for the scrapyard at this point. We were lucky that it didn't explode as my poor old RN Giulio Cesare back then that terrible day.
Needless to say that the Duce was furious, and started yelling at my incompetence, that he had better stayed with those son of a monarchic xxxxx, and a lot of other insults I won't report here. In fact I was also surprised by the share numbers of lucky coincidence that those French had since the beginning of the war. It seems like they know the location and routes of our convoys and squadrons. So, on the train back to Rome, I started wondering if they were somehow able to intercept our messages, and decode them... I should speak with the head of the navy intelligence as soon as possible.
06 September 1925: To reinforce my thoughts about probable leaks of information, just yesterday I received reports of a night submarine raid in Genoa. A French Submarine was able to force somehow the port defensive perimeter, avoiding the torpedo nets, and score a direct hit on the Battleship RN Francesco Caracciolo. The ship took a lot of water and sat very low on the water, now operation to re-float it and bring it into the dockyard for repairs will take at least 3 months...
12 September 1925: Finally I managed to speak with Col. Vigevano, head of the SIM (Servizio Informazione Militare - Military Information Service) about my fear of the French intercepting our communications. He told me that his capabilities are still limited, since SIM is a newly born office, but that he already is working on this, unfortunately he cannot speak much about the on-going activities, but he reassured me about this topic. I am surely a man of action... and his words did not fully convince me. I will not sleep quiet nights until we will be sure that the French are not spying on us.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 14, 2020 8:03:10 GMT -6
10 October 1925: Reggiane Re.84 new torpedo bomber finally enter service, replacing the aging CANT biplane. The development phase has taken less than expected and the Reggiane factory is already running at full speed, producing 12 bombers a week, in a couple of months we'll be able to completely replace our squadrons.
Training of crews on the new machine has already been starting using land airstrips to simulate the take off and landing from a hypothetic carrier deck. Pilots seem to like the qualities of the new aircraft.
22 October 1925: I am again very disappointed after reading last night raid's report.
Mission: Night Raid on French Riviera OOB: Rear Admiral G.Facchinetti leads Destroyer Division 25 and 26 (total 8 ships)
21-October-1925 h1620 local time - During the approach to the objective, just south of Nice, an enemy minelayer corvette is sighted, French crew surrenders without firing a single shot. 34 sailors and 1 officer are taken prisoners and transfered to RN Giacomo Medici, leader of Destroyer Division 26; 2009 - RN Palestro is hit by a submarine just off Toulon, the torpedo damages the destroyer bow but the ship is fully operational, order is given to continue the mission by following the formation at reduced speed; 2219 - Formation arrive near Marseille, 2 merchantman sighted, after the first one is torpedoed, the second one surrenders - 12 sailors are taken prisoner; 2314 - On the way back, in the darkness, flagship of division 25 RN Borea strikes a mine off Toulon, water enters the engine room, and the engines are shut down; 2335 - RN Giacomo Medici manages to reach the RN Borea, left without power. With the help of the other crew they manage to repair the engines and restore power aboard the RN Borea, but the ship is not combat ready anymore, so the Rear Admiral Facchinetti transfer the Flag to the RN Giacomo Medici; 22-October-1925 0109 - RN Borea is still taking water in the engine compartment and slowly sinking, all the crew is transferred on the other ships. 0115 - An enemy vessel is approaching the formation as they are rescuing the crew from the RN Borea, some broadside from the destroyers and a hail of small arms fire, quickly pin the enemy corvette into submission.
In the end we managet to sink or capture 2 merchant ships and 2 small warships that were laying down mines in the night, but at the cost of one modern Borea Class fleet destroyer.
24 October 1925: I receive another report of a destroyer sunk and one Nino Bixio class protected cruiser RN Brindisi damaged from French submarines' ambush during a mine sweeping mission on the French Riviera.
Enough!
I won't allow any sortie in that area before we'll have the resources and ships to completely clean it up from those mines! Up to now I have to manage the minesweeping operations in the whole Mediterranean Sea with seven 30 years old corvettes and 5 re-fitted 500tons destroyers. For sure part of next year's budget will be dedicated to build better vessel, dedicated to this kind of mission.
27 October 1925: As discussed this summer during my visit to Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, I have received an interesting offer for a modern type of submarine, which is right on-spot, since we are slowly falling behind in the convoy warfare with the enemy, whom can rely on a more modern and effective submarine fleet.
In 1925 the Regia Marina can count mostly on 10yr old small coastal vessels.
So I say to my Ufficio Progetti to order 2 minelaying submarines (5'000'000 Lire each) and 3 medium range attack submarine (3'500'000 Lire each), and tell them to make sure that they'll be equipped with the new model of torpedo from Silurificio Whitehead di Fiume. They call it "wet heater engine 450mm torpedo". I really don't want to know how exactly it works (they won't tell me anyway since it's still classified!) I just want to know that it goes 1 knot faster and has 1000 meter more range than the old ones!
Attachment Deleted Engineers pose alongside the new model of 450mm torpedo in Silurificio Whitehead workshop.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 14, 2020 10:09:28 GMT -6
17 November 1925:
Finally the newspapers are showing good news: the main pages of todays magazine are in fact all the same.
As I walk along the streets of Rome this morning I can see groups of young boys outside bars and coffees, despite the cold wind and snowy weather, talking out loud about how our brave soldiers walked into Tunis, crushing the weak and feeble French enemy...
Unfortunately I don't think this is what really happened, the fight in North Africa has been bloody and gruesome. The only thing I'm happy about, is that this victory can be a strong lever to hurry the coming of an end to this damn war. The fight is going on for more than 1 year.
French prisoners are brought to a prisoner camp out of Tunis. An Italian soldier gives cigarettes to a French.
Finally the main objective of the war, the main reason in fact this war has started in the beginning, has been reached. Now we have access to oil! From now on, we can set our strategy to a defensive stance, in order to keep what we have conquered so far.
Col.Vigevano from SIM (Military Intelligence Service) asks for me when I arrive in the office. He tells me that finally we were able to steal French secret codes before they managed to destroy them in Tunis French HQ. From now on we'll be able to crack their coded messages. Unfortunately he also tells me that my fears were confirmed, the French had in fact cracked our code and were listening to all our communications.
28 November 1925: This month is a completely different story about trade warfare in the Mediterranean! Now that we can intercept French messages, we know exactly when their submarines will leave and which route they will take.
I have asked to prepare a big board with a map before my office, we will receive the informations from Col.Vigevano's guys in the SIM, and immediately they will report the info to my staff, and the position of the French submarine, or raider cruiser, or any ship trying to force the blockade, will be tracked on the board.
This is leading to a succesful campaign of convoy protection. Our cruisers are hunting down any raider or blockade runner. The escort formation can be optimized according to the effective danger. At the end of last week we managed to sink 2 French modern submarines, without losing any cargo ship.
|
|
Warspite
Full Member
Sky of blue/And sea of green
Posts: 230
|
Post by Warspite on May 14, 2020 21:14:21 GMT -6
Thanks for the AAR.
I'm enjoying it.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 15, 2020 6:42:34 GMT -6
Thanks for the AAR. I'm enjoying it. Thank you very much! I am aware that the pacing of my posts is not exactly the easiest to follow! But I'm happy you like it! I'm really open to any comment or suggestion on how to improve the AAR... please feel free to reply!
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 17, 2020 7:50:25 GMT -6
14 December 1925: I decided to spend some days off, I was almost reaching a breakdown... working too much everyday, someday even without sleeping, and always thinking about those young men sent to die beneath the waves. The sea is always hungry of young souls... And the scar undeneath my eye-patch was starting to hurt again... I hope it's only the cold winter. I went back to my family house in Sicily, I always loved sailing, but this is definitely not the right season for a trip in my little dinghy, so I sat on my veranda, looking at the waves breaking off on the rocky beach. A nice book, my daughter and my grandchildren, having lunch together...
But this morning a FIAT Zero of the local Carabinieri Military Police, stopped to my house. The Carabinieri officer asked for me, he had an important letter from Rome.
I had to leave immediately and return to my office in Rome. Terrible news... Again!
During the travel, I spent almost a whole day on the train, reading the full report of the huge engagement happened in the afternoon of the 12 December. I will not repeat the whole report, it will be too long, but I had time to collect the useful information and extrapolate some interesting data from it.
12 December 1925 Cruiser Engagement south of Crete
Battlecruiser Divisions 28 (RN Cornelio Silla + RN Lepanto) and 33(RN Lombardia + RN Francesco Ferruccio) led by admiral Riccardi, along with 5 protected cruisers and escorting fleet Destroyers are returning to Tobruk for re-supplying to prepare for the next blockade enforcing mission. In the late morning they sight some French Shipping heading east at high speed. Intel reports from the previous days said that some French heavy warship had left port and was trying to force the blockade in order to reach the Suez Channel and then proceed to the Red Sea. Admiral Riccardi ordered to pursue at full speed.
RN Francesco Ferruccio opening fire with 15-Inch main battery, picture taken by the RN Lombardia in the first minutes of the gunnery duel with French Battlecruisers.
The enemy formation consisted of at least 2 modern battlecruisers of Condè class and 3 older Nantes class, plus their escorting protected cruisers and fast destroyers. In the first 10 minutes of the engagement, the higher speed of the Italian formation allow Admiral Riccardi to dictate the rules of the fight. In fact MN Duquesne of Nantes class, is sunk even before firing its first shots, after three 15-Inch hits from RN Francesco Ferruccio penetrate in the engine room and magazines. RN Cornelio Silla in the front, is fighting with 3 enemy Battlecruisers together with the RN Lepanto, they are outgunned in number 24 to 16 but not in caliber, since the flagship of Admiral Riccardi has the advantage of eight 15-Inch British guns against the sixteen 13-Inch of the French Condè Class. While receiving 22 heavy hits from the 3 enemies without showing any major trouble, the RN Cornelio Silla manages to land 12 heavy hits on the enemy capital ships, showing an amazing gunnery skill and barrell accuracy of 14% hit-ratio even at higher ranges. Eventually the gun duel ends when a French destroyer formation releases a dedly salvo of torpedoes against RN Cornelio Silla and RN Lepanto. The first takes 2 of them, both in the engine room, the latter is reached by no less than 4 torpedoes all along the starboard side. Without power and listing heavily to starboard, RN Cornelio Silla continues to return fire to the remaining French Battlecruisers until the gun elevation is no longer able to compensate for the rolling of the ship... only at that point Admiral Riccardi gives order to Abandon Ship! RN Lepanto meanwhile is sinking as well, and while survivors are trying to reach the water before the ship rolls over, a French destroyers launches another salvo of torpedoes, of which 2 connects with the hull of the dying ship, the explosions slaughtering the poor sailors on the deck and side nets of the sinking Lepanto. The Division 33 now is left alone in the fight, and has to fight double its number in heavy guns. RN Francesco Ferruccio scores a number of main battery hits on MN Condè, on the first salvo a 15-inch shell destroys the aft turret and another penetrates the belt near the engine room. In the following 15 minutes, both Italian Battlecruisers unleash 20 main battery hits on the French Flagship. Left without power and unable to man the turrets, the French Battlecruiser surrenders. It will sink more than 1 hour after, needing 4 torpedo hits (1 hit in fact from the submerged tubes of the Ferruccio!) RN Lombardia following the RN Francesco Ferruccio will receive 40 heavy hits, and it's left with only one turret operational, but it will manage to reach the port of Tobruk.
So the final results of the 3 hours engagement were: Italian Losses: 2 BC sunk (1 Modern Cornelio Silla and 1 older Lepanto class), 1 BC heavily damaged will need 3 months of repair at least. French Losses: 2 BC sunk (1 Condè class and 1 older Nantes Class), 2 BC heavily damaged, 1 Seaplane tender and 2 destroyers sunk. But in the end the enemy was forced to turn back to French North African ports, and did not manage to break the blockade.
So, at least on a strategic level, we can say that the victory was on our side... from every other point of view losses were not in our favour, we had lost half of our Battlecruiser force, while the French still had at least 12 of them.
We can at least bring back some lessons learned from it. In a 3 hours gunnery duel between capital ships, the most deadly weapon were torpedoes fired from 1000 tons destroyers.
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 22, 2020 7:08:31 GMT -6
23 Dicember 1925:
It's almost Christmas, even though this year it won't be a happy and merry time. I'm still bound to my office's armchair, by the continuous and absurd requests by the Duce and the Defence Ministry.
He is definitely not satisfied by my behaviour as Chief of the Navy. Duke Amedeo was a far more suited person to manage the 4th biggest navy of the World, that's for sure, but the war with France is not going that bad, we had reached the main goal in fact, even if at such a high price. Fighting has been going on for more than 14 months now, and the first page of both Le Temps and Le Figaro, were reporting widespread protests in the streets of Paris, against the government and the lack of food due to the blockade enforced both by us and the Germans.
The reaction of French police was really hard, and crushed the protests by firing on the crowd, killing 15 and wounding hundreds of civilians.
By the way, the long war was taking its toll on our ships' machinery as well. The navy engineers corps was still performing deep maintenance on boilers and condenser aboard the RN Francesco Ferruccio Battleship in Genoa's Arsenal.
Furthermore we already lost the edge on the convoy defence missions, those French intelligence brains must be working really hard, since they already managed to come up with yet another code to cypher their messages. In fact last week we lost 5000 tons of Merchant shipping in a single convoy ambush, and sunk only 1 single enemy submarine!
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 22, 2020 15:26:18 GMT -6
1926 -------------------------------------------------------- 2 January 1926
A new year is coming, and as always it's time to sum up the past and make plans for the future. I've been in charge of Regia Marina since 8 months now, and I needed to settle down and accept my new role in the navy myself, and try to make other accept the position that I've now acquired. Since the raging war with France I've been a man of action, so I had to focus on managing the resources I had and re-distribute them from places where they weren't needed, to where they rewarded the most, but in fact I did not make any big change at all. I was thrown back and forth by the events, and re-acted to the situation, in the best way I could have done, but I was not exactly ahead of the enemy in this sense. So maybe this is the perfect time to start planning ahead.
Tomorrow the first thing I will do, I will issue the order to scrap the old Armoured cruisers of Marco Polo Class... they are legacy of the past century, and do not serve any purpose in a modern navy anymore... a few mototorpedo boat squadrons will do the job of protecting our ports from raiding destroyers. I know the Duce will not be happy of this, since those ships have a long history and a huge collection of victories against the Austrians in the past war of 1911... but I have a plan! I will donate RN Amalfi the most awarded of the cruisers, to him personally as a gift... It will become a museum ship so he could put all his memorabilia aboard it, he also will be able to have feasts and dinners with the head of states visiting Italy on the deck.
RN Amalfi armoured cruiser in an old picture from 1911, the ship in the background is the battleship Dante Alighieri of Regina Elena Class.
By scrapping these 4 old cruisers, I will free resources and manpower to start building a serious Aircraft Carrier program. We already have RN Falco prototype Carrier building in Castellammare Dockyards, so Mr.Rota from Ufficio Progetti, shows me 2 possible ways:
- Build a sister ship to RN Falco, following the same design; - Ask Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino to provide an alternative design for a new purpose built Porta Aeromobili (Aircraft Carrier);
This is a decision too hard to be taken lightly, so I told him I want to see the second design, and only then make my final choice!
The economic warfare with France has shown how old-school Regia Marina was. We were ready in fact to score the final blow in the classic age-of-sail-era line of battle gunnery duel. And in a certain way we managed to deliver this blow... but it was neither decisive, nor fatal to France! They went on fighting a battle of attrition with our convoys, even if they were left with a handful of minor capital ships in the Mediterranean. And we were not prepared for this new style of trade warfare!
Our escort vessels? Old 19th century, 500tons torpedo boats, patched up with some ASW equipment... Our minesweeper force? A bunch of fishing boats loaded up with mines too! Unable to really fulfill neither of the 2 opposite jobs!
The long war has left us with few fleet destroyers as well... we lost half of our force, 13 destroyers sunk between Borea class 1100tons and Antonino Cascino Class 1500 tons.
The 2 Vittorio Veneto Super Battleships will be ready in a couple of years... I hope they'll never see this war!
While in the spring of this year the 4 Bolzano class general purpose cruisers will be delivered by Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino... I have really high expectations from this design! They are such good looking ships as well. They should be fast, armed with the newest OTO Ansaldo 152/53 guns in 4 double turrets, with 6 torpedo tubes in swivel mounts, with catapult for scout planes, and they can be fitted with mine rails as well!
|
|
|
Post by aiolife on May 23, 2020 15:45:19 GMT -6
10 January 1926:
Me and Mr.Rota have been studying and discussing with the entire Ufficio Progetti staff about the sketch design and specifications received from Stabilimento Tecnico Triestino, together with an offer for a new Aircraft Carrier for the Regia Marina. We called it Progetto Sparviero and seems really well thought and well built. The cost in the offer will be of just over 30 Millions Lire and the forecast of 21 Months of construction time, plus 1,2 Millions and 2 Months of R&D investment and tooling beforehand. They thought about a very small hull, just over 9500 tons, with a slender shape, able to reach 27Knots and to carry 20 airplanes, though lightly armed with only 4 of the Ansaldo 102mm/45.S guns with increased elevation up to +85° and new ammunition to allow use both for anti-surface and anti-air.
The other option would be to ask Castellammare di Stabia Shipyards to lay down a second Falco Class Carrier. Being just more than 1000 tons heavier than the Sparviero Project, it can carry 4 more airplanes, meaning 1 full squadron of 12 new Reggiane torpedo bombers and 2 6-fighter escort groups and 2 more of the Ansaldo 102mm dual purpose guns. This will take 22 Months and 1'540'000 Lire per Month. Totalling up to 33,5 Millions.
Due to the fact that it will be ready 1 month earlier, and that it will have a lot of common parts with the sister ship, thus simplifying maintenance and repair, I choose to spend a little more, but to build another Falco Class Carrier, the name chosen is RN Folaga.
|
|