The "Foreign Legion" 
of the Regia Marina
(Foreign-built)

by Pierluigi Malvezzi

Introduction

1. During World War II the Regia Marina utilized a number of foreign warships, generally captured from the enemy following victorious war campaigns. These ships were usually small and obsolete, but there were also a few which, due to their features and relative short age, were considered suitable for frontline service.

   For the purpose of this analysis, we shall group the Regia Marina's "foreigners" into three main categories:

   1. Ships already in service with the Regia Marina at the time of Italy's entrance into the war.
   2. Ships acquired from war operations: captured, salvaged after sinking in port or low waters, and so on.
   3. Ships built on behalf of foreign navies, requisitioned and placed into service by the Regia Marina.

Ships already in service at the time of Italy's entrance in the war

This category comprises only two ships, the old light cruisers Taranto (ex German Strassburg) and Bari (ex German Pillau). They were two light cruisers delivered from Germany to Italy as part of war reparations at the end of World War I. We will not talk at length about these ships, but we shall mention that a third unit also existed, the Ancona, ex German Graudenz, but this unit was withdrawn from active service in 1937. These ships are widely dealt with in another section of this site.

Ships acquired following war operations

This quite large category includes mainly former Yugoslavian ships, captured in April 1941, following occupation of Yugoslavia by the Axis forces, and former French ships, captured following the November 1942 French Vichy's surrender and the scuttling of the French fleet in Toulon.

The ex Yugoslavian ships were the following:

• Destroyers Dubrovnik, Beograd and Ljubljana, which became the Italian Premuda, Sebenico and Lubiana.
• The six old torpedo-boats T 1, T 3, T 5, T 6, T 7 and T 8, which entered into Italian service with their old Yugoslavian names.
• The three submarines Smeli, Ostvenik and Hrabri, of which only the first two entered into service with the Regia Marina with the names Antonio Baiamonti and Francesco Rismondo, while the third one, due to her poor condition, was immediately sold for scrap.
• The two small MTBs Uskok and Cetnik, which became the Italian MAS 1D and MAS 2D (then MS 47), and the six larger and more modern Orjen, Velebit, Dinara, Triglav, Suvobor and Rudnik, placed into service as the MS 41 – MS 46;
• The minelayers Galeb, Kobac, Orao, Iastreb, Labud and Sokol, renamed by the Regia Marina as Selve, Unie, Vergada, Zirona, Zuri, Eso;
• The minesweepers D 2, Maljnska, Mljet, Mosor, Melijne, Marjan, which became the Italian D 10, Arbe, Meleda, Pasman, Solta, Ugliano.

Among these ships, the most interesting for the Regia Marina were undoubtedly the three destroyers, as they augmented a category of ship which was being quickly exhausted by numerous war losses. Also important was the acquisition of the Orjen class MTB, which gave the Regia Marina an optimal solution to the problem of building a new type of MTB with fighting and seafaring qualities far superior to the existing MAS. The Italian MAS had shown to be too light and too sensitive to sea conditions in order to be an effective weapon. From these MTB, the Monfalcone CRDA shipyard derived the project of the so-called "CRDA 60 Ton.", from which another project, the VAS anti-submarine motor boat later derived. To this end, one of the six ex Yugoslavian boat was dispatched to Monfalcone. There, the CRDA prepared a project based on the ex Yugoslavian boats which, incidentally, were of German design slightly older than the famous S-Boot, with the only differences being smaller dimensions and gasoline instead of diesel engine.

Regarding the remaining ships, the submarines were quite modern and in good condition, with the exception of the Hrabri which was immediately sold and scrapped, but their limited trial depth (only 80 meters, with a security factor of 1.6) prevented them from being placed into operational service. These submarines were sent to the Pola Submarine School where they were utilized for training purposes. The old T 1 class torpedo boats (originally from the old Austro-Hungarian Navy), were ships of slightly more than 300 tons dating back to World War I and were mainly employed in escorting coastal traffic. The other former Yugoslavian ships (the two small MTBs, minesweepers and minelayers) were all obsolete and of little use; they were mainly employed in second line duties, not having the qualities necessary to be employed in more demanding activities. After Italy's armistice all former Yugoslavian ships still afloat were returned to the Yugoslavian Navy.

It should also be noted that a fourth destroyer was captured while under construction in the Cattaro shipyard, the Split, but the Regia Marina was not able to finish her before the armistice (probably she would have been renamed Spalato). Eventually, she was recovered after the war by the Yugoslavians and completed under the original name.

Regarding the former French ships captured after the events of November 1942, it should be said that they were quite a few, specifically:

• Two light cruisers: Jean de Vienne and La Galissoniere, which were to be renamed FR 11 and FR 12.
• Eleven destroyers Lion, Panthere, Tigre, Valmy, Trombe, Siroco, L'Adroit, Lansquenet, Bison, Le Foudroyant, Le Hardi, which, in Italian service, would have been renamed FR 21-FR 24 and FR 31-FR 37 in this order;
• Five torpedo boats: Bombarde, La Pomone, L'Iphigenie, La Bayonnaise and Baliste that were initially allocated to the Regia Marina as FR 41 – FR 45, but were later transferred to the German Navy as TA 9-TA 13;
• Six corvettes: La Batailleuse, Cdt. Riviere, Chamois, L'Impetueuse, La Curieuse, Dedaigneuse, which were to be renamed FR 51-FR 56;
• Eight submarines Phoque, Saphir, Requin, Espadon, Dauphin, Turquoise, Circé, Henry Poincare, which were to be renamed FR 111-FR 118. A further unit, the Calypso, was captured but none entered service into the Regia Marina, and many other ex French ships did not receive an FR number. Also the FR 118 number, assigned to the Poincare, is an unofficial one, although it appears to be very likely.
• Two minelayers, Castore La Coubre, would became the Italian FR 60 and FR 70;
• Eight minesweepers, Petrel III, Georgette, Chasseur 81, Madonna di Pompei, Meduse, Ravignan, Heron, Pen Men, which were to become Italian FR 71 and FR 73 – FR 79.

We must also mention a few minor and auxiliary ships, tankers, transports, service units and so on. As we just said, many ships were acquired from the French (two light cruisers, eleven destroyers, eleven escort ships, nine submarines and ten minesweepers/minelayers). However only a small portion of this fleet was able to see service in the Regia Marina: four destroyers, two corvettes, one submarine, one minelayer and one minesweeper.

As in the case of the Yugoslavian ships, the French destroyers could have been the most useful units, remedying the lack of escort ships for the main fleet. Anyway, not a single French destroyer was ready for operational service before March/April 1943, so their contribution to the Italian naval effort was minimal. The escort ships, torpedo boats and corvettes were almost never used, and the torpedo boats were transferred to the German Navy, which utilized the one repaired in convoy escort duties in the Mediterranean. The Regia Marina placed into service only two corvettes out of six, but they were in such poor condition that they spent more time at the shipyards than navigating the Mediterranean. The submarines, with the solitary exception of FR 111, saw no service in the Regia Marina and were scuttled at Italy's armistice in the same North African or French port where they had been captured by the Axis forces, or in some Italian shipyards where they were being repaired.

Unfortunately, the French ships did cost a lot of resources, both in terms of manpower and materials, but they did not give the results that the Italians had hoped for, and only a small portion of the captured ships were eventually placed into service. Time had simply run out by the time of the armistice. The Italians set up a group called "Ente Recuperi Italiani a Tolone" (Italian Board for Salvaging in Toulon) which took care of salvaging and restoring as many French ships as possible. These units were either restored back to service or scrapped in order to re-use precious raw materials. By June 1943 three cruisers, an auxiliary aircraft transport and eleven destroyers had been salvaged (just to name only the larger ships), but a larger part of them was sent directly to demolition, due to their very poor state. In regard to the ships worth repairing, the majority of them were captured by the Germans at Italy's surrender in the shipyards where they were being repaired, or on their way from Toulon to Italy. This had been a huge effort for very little results.

Ships built on behalf of foreign navies

The only ships belonging to this category were the two anti-aircraft cruisers Etna and Vesuvio. They were ordered, before the war, by the Siamese Navy with the names of Taksin and Naresuan as a scaled down version of the Italian Montecuccoli class. Laid down in 1938, their construction went on under Siamese control until 1941. At the end of that year, the Regia Marina requisitioned the two ships for its own use (one of the two, in the meantime, had been launched). They were to be completed as anti-aircraft cruisers for escorting convoys; they were also to be provided with 400 m3 of stowage for loading troops and materials, to be used as fast small transport for strategic materials. Shortage of raw material and manpower prevented their completion in a reasonable time, despite the fact that this type of ship could have been a strong contribution to the African convoys' battle. At Italy's armistice, they were only 65% complete and were captured by the Germans who did not ever try to complete them.

The hulls of the Etna and Vesuvio in Trieste - 1947
(Photo AMPA)

Conclusions

During World War II, the Regia Marina captured quite a large number of enemy ships (only the Germans captured a greater number of ships, but the Allies did not), unfortunately only a very small portion of them could be used for operational tasks. The majority was not repaired in time for participating in naval operations

However, we must consider that these ships were generally captured after having been scuttled or heavily damaged in order to prevent their use by the Italians or the Germans. A large number of resources (scarce resources, considering the worsening Italian situation by the end of 1942) were spent in trying to put into service as many ships as possible, but the final result wasn't worth the effort made, a further confirmation, if we ever needed one, of the dramatic lack of preparation of the Italian industrial infrastructure at the beginning of the War. This lack of preparation should have suggested plenty of caution before entering the War.

Technical Data