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Naval art of Italy
Naval Art  Countries  Italian Navy |
[UP] - Royal Navy - US Navy - German Navy - French Navy - Australian Navy - Japanese Navy - Italian Navy - Spanish Navy - Russian Navy - Danish Navy - Dutch Navy - Turkish Navy - Civilian Ships |
Ciao Duilio - Vittorio Veneto - Alfredo Oriani - Ambra - Bartolomeo Colleoni - Littorio - Roma - Scire - Tazzoli |
| Italy Naval Art Prints, Paintings and Drawings |
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| Text for the above items : |
Raid on Taranto by Anthony Saunders The balance of maritime power in the Mediterranean was transformed at a stroke by the British air attack which disabled three Italian battleships in a few minutes. The target was the core of Mussolinis fleet, tucked away in Taranto Harbour, in southern Italy. The attack, codenamed Operation Judgement, took place in bright moonlight by twenty-one Swordfish from the British carrier HMS Illustrious. In the confined space of the harbour, their torpedoes had a devastating impact, at least nine torpedoes struck their targets. In all, seven ships were severely damaged, including the battleship Caio Duilio (left), Littorio (right) and Conte Di Cavour. |
Return to Taranto by Ivan Berryman. The Italian destroyer Alfredo Oriani slips quietly through the open span of the swing bridge at Taranto after a long Mediterranean mission. This ship was present at the Battle of Matapan in March 1941 and was successful against Allied shipping during Operation Harpoon the following year. After the armistice, she was laid up at Malta and was eventually presented to the French navy at the end of the war as reparation, whereupon the Oriani was renamed D'Estaing and served under the French flag until 1954. |
Roma by Randall Wilson. (GL) No text for this item |
Assault from the Deep by Ivan Berryman. Sitting menacingly at a depth of 15 metres below the surface, just 2 km outside the heavily defended harbour of Alexandria, the Italian submarine Scire is shown releasing her three manned torpedoes, or Maiali, at the outset of their daring raid in which the British battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant and a tanker, were severely damaged on 3rd December 1941. All six crew members of the three Maiali survived the mission, but all were captured and taken prisoner. Luigi Durand de la Penne and Emilio Bianchi can be seen moving away aboard 221, whilst Vincenzo Martellotta and Mario Marino (222) carry out systems checks. Antonio Marceglia and Spartaco Schergat, on 223, are heading away at the top of the picture. |
Invisible Enemy by Ivan Berryman. Perhaps among the bravest of those serving within the Regia Marina in WW2, the crews of the Italian SLCs (Siluro a Lavita Corsa, or Slow-Running Torpedoes) carried out some of the most daring submarine raids of the war. At 23ft in length and with a maximum speed of just 4 knots, the Maiali (or Pigs, as they were known, due to their lack of maneuverability) frequently delivered their 300kg warheads direct to their targets with devastating results, as when three Italian SLCs sank the British battleships HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth as well as a tanker in Alexandria Harbour on 19th December 1941. Here an SLC has cut its way through the torpedo netting, just one of the many hazards encountered on these highly dangerous covert operations. |
Exchange of Fire by Ivan Berryman. A veteran of the Spanish Civil War, Lieutenant Commander Carlo Fecia Conte di Cossato was one of the most successful and formidable Italian submarine commanders of WWII. In charge of the Tazzoli , he destroyed almost 18,000 tons of shipping on his first mission, steadily adding to this total as they prowled the Atlantic. The Tazzoli is depicted as its tenacious crew retaliate with machine gun fire against a marauding Bristol Beaufort of 217 Sqn on 23rd May 1941, an encounter that left both protagonists with some damage. |
Scourge of the Deep - Leonardo da Vinci by Ivan Berryman. Under the command of Gianfranco Gazzana-Priaroggia, the Regia Marina submarine Leonardo da Vinci was to become the most successful non-German submarine of World War Two. On 21st April 1943, she encountered the liberty ship SS John Drayton which was returning, unladen, to Capetown from Bahrain and put two torpedoes into her before surfacing to finish her off with shells. The deadly reign of terror wrought by the combination of Gazzana-Priaroggia and his submarine came to an end just one month later when the Leonardo da Vinci was sunk by HMS Active and HMS Ness off Cape Finistere. |
Hunter's Dusk by Ivan Berryman. In January 1941, the young Mario Arillo was appointed the rank of Lieutenant Commander, placed in charge of the Regia Marina's submarine Ambra and was dispatched to the Mediterranean to help disrupt supplies to the Allied forces. In May of that same year, Arillo attacked the British Dido Class Cruiser HMS Bonaventure, and Destroyers HMS Hereward and HMS Stuart, south of Crete, en route from Alexandria, the cruiser Bonaventure being sunk with great loss of life. The Ambra is depicted here in a calmer moment, two of her crew scanning the horizon for 'business'. |
One Way Trip by Ivan Berryman. Having strung their deadly payload from the bilge keels of another victim, the two man crew of an Italian SLC, or Maiale, prepare to make their getaway in the murky waters of an Allied harbour in the early part of WW2. Having set clamps on the bilge keels, the nose of the manned torpedo was detached and suspended on a steel cable strung between the clamps. A timer was set in motion and, a little over two hours later, the resulting explosion would rip through the ship's hull. Such was the fate of the British battleships HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant as they lay in the harbour at Alexandria on 3rd December 1941. The fate of the frogmen was rarely a good one, most attacks resulting in almost certain capture - and often death - as there was no way back to the 'mother' submarine and they were forced to make their own way to whatever sanctuary they could find, having completed their audacious mission. |
HMAS Sydney By Randall Wilson. Sydney engages Italian ships off Cape Busa, Crete. |
Prelude to Taranto by Ivan Berryman. Prior to the British attack on the Italian battle fleet moored in Taranto Harbour in November 1940, the job of obtaining the very latest photo reconnaissance fell to the maverick pilot Adrian 'Warby' Warburton. Flying a requisitioned Martin Maryland, Warburton undertook a series of breathtakingly low level passes across the ships moored in the harbour, cheating a hail of anti aircraft fire and flak to bring home the vital information to Rear Admiral Lumley Lyster, the flag officer aboard HMS Illustrious. Ships shown moored in the Mar Grande here are Vittorio Veneto (nearest) and Littorio with Duilio and Giulio Cesare in the background. |
Vittorio Veneto at Anchor in Naples, 1941 by Randall Wilson. (GL) No text for this item |
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