Mussolini’s Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regia Marina 1930-1945

240 pages

RAdm R G Melly

Dr Maurizio Brescia, who died in 2022, was a renowned author who wrote a number of books on Italian warships and provided illustrations for many more. This particular book was first published in 2012 but has now been re-issued as a large paperback, comprehensively illustrated with more than 400 images and line drawings.

The book starts by setting out the origins of the Regia Marina from Italian unification in 1861 to the start of World War II; at this point, it was the fifth largest navy in the world and boasted the most submarines. There is then a chapter outlining the naval bases, shipyards and coastal defences, the provision of which necessarily expanded as the fleet grew and war approached.

A brief chronology of the Regina Marina at war (1940-45), encompassing all the significant actions in which the navy was involved, sets the scene for the largest section of the book which contains a description of the ships and submarines in service between 1940 and 1945. For the larger classes of warship, the key aspects of the design are outlined, and the service careers of individual ships are set out. For the more numerous classes of vessels (for instance, there were 1,100 minesweepers), the narrative necessarily groups them together. Nevertheless, an impressive amount of detail is provided.

The book finishes with some smaller chapters covering: surface and underwater assault craft; naval aviation; camouflage schemes; flags; uniforms and ranks; and, finally, a ‘Who’s Who’ of the most important figures of the Regia Marina over this period.

The Regia Marina started the war with a balanced group of well-built ships, albeit it was constrained by a lack of resources, inadequate radar and sonar provision, and scarce aviation assets (the two carriers envisaged never materialised). It nevertheless achieved tactical success in a number of areas, including the great majority of stores and personnel shipped to Libya and Tunisia arriving safely, and the clandestine attacks on Alexandria and Gibraltar.

This is a truly comprehensive reference book, with a wide-ranging descriptive analysis of the Italian Navy, its modern origins, its ships and its organisation as constituted during World War II. There is no doubt that the Italians built handsome warships!