Interview with
Commander
Salvatore Romano

by Cristiano D'Adamo

part IV

 Part III
 

Variations:  Wednesdays (Thursdays according to the course) and Sundays, after the break in the afternoon, we would go to the study until 1545 with the choice, alternatively, to write our families.  During this time the “purser” non-commissioned officer distributed to those on short leave a small purse with 25 liras.  During this period of study discipline was never relented.  A classic case was the inspection officer saying, “You two down there who were talking.  Stand up!” (An innocuous whisper between two desks).  The two “under incrimination” would stand up.  “Are you on short leave?” , “Yes, sir!” , “You were!”.  Good-bye, short leave, until next week, if nothing else happened along the journey in the meantime.

At 1545 “short leave; change up!”  We would go to the dorms where on our small beds the one on leave and only those on leave would find all the necessary wardrobe. Everything, and I mean everything, shined shoes, socks, shirt, starched collar, tie, etc.

1600 “Those on leave: line up!”, and then a very rigorous inspection.  All it took was for the hair not to be super short and, good-bye leave.  After the inspection, finally, we were free to swarm into Leghorn until 1945.  Once back, we checked in and returned the purse with whatever was left of the 25 liras we had received before going on short leave.  Without changing we would go to the evening assembly for dinner, and the cycle started again.

I must open a parenthesis about the financial management. Each family, as I have already mentioned, was required to send to the academy every three months a certain amount of money which included tuition, co-payment for uniforms, funds for the “purse”, money for drugs, books, refunds for damages caused (broken plates or glasses, altered hats, etc). Tuition and only tuition was reduced for particular family circumstances or for merit.  The “purse” was managed independently by non-commissioned officers “pursers” and if by bad luck due to problems with the postal system the check from home was late in arriving and the balance for the purse was below 25 liras, the “purse” was not delivered and automatically one was confined.

In reference to “my” academy, I must include another topic which cannot be overseen: disciplinary sanctions, both individual and collective.  Let’s start with the individual ones.  The simplest were the “runaround” and the “go around”.  They consisted of running loops like the bersaglieri light infantry around the courtyard (about 400 meters), or going up the mast of the brigantine from the right side, past the crow’s nest, continuing up to the bar just under the trunk, and then coming down the opposite side across the deck of the brigantine in time to go up again from the right side if the “go arounds” were more than one.  These punishments were given verbally, meaning without going to report, and in number ranging from one to five, sometimes even ten, and had to be completed during the breaks. Thereafter, one would present himself to the officer who had assigned the penalty, of course standing at attention, saying “I completed …go arounds” to which followed the inevitable scolding.  There were no controls but I believe that “reductions” (cheating) never took place.  Self-discipline and fairness were an integral part of our professional formation, thus it was not conceivable to declare completed a punishment, which had not been fully done.  More severe punishments consisted of confinement, arrest, and close arrest.  These disciplinary sanctions were inflicted after having been called to report, as I’ve already narrated, and were read during the general assembly with the three courses lined up in the courtyard before going to lunch.  The third in command, who was usually in charge of the general assembly, would say, “Attention to the reading of the compensations and punishments.”  Compensations, in reality very rare, consisted of permission to extend short leave until 2100, dining out instead of returning at

1930.   Thus they had most of all a moral value and were given generally when one had obtained the highest score during an exam or by winning an athletic competition.  Arrests, like the confinements, were generally given out for reasons that today would really make us laugh.  More than everything else, they were aimed at reciditivity in poor performances in studying and some minor disciplinary infractions.  Close arrests, as already said, were a very different affair and were rarely inflicted due to the heavy weight they had.  Confinements consisted of spending free time in the study. Arrest or close arrest were paid for in prison, “Villa Miniati”. The guests of this little villa had at their disposal a small room which included a small desk for study, and a fairly hard folding bed, but where, due to the power of the organization, the attendants would place the pajama for the night, blankets, and toiletries for each guest.  No linen, though!  In prison one spent the hours usually dedicated to meals, to free study and recreation.  One did not miss lessons, nor training, nor class assignments.  The difference between arrest and close arrest was practically none. It was the bearing on the scoring card which mattered. It did matter!

Collective disciplinary sanctions generally involved an entire section and consisted of a certain number of “go arounds” to be completed lined up, or even worse in 15 minutes or more on guard. What it meant was that the whole section had to stand still in the courtyard, “on guard” for the duration of the punishment. A real torture! I’ll skip what would cause disciplinary sanctions so harsh… Before wrapping up my answer, I must talk about some of the typical characters at the academy. First of all the non-commissioned officers; some served as instructors in professional activities and also athletic ones, others were simply in charge of the classes in regards to maintaining the discipline. I don’t know how they were selected, but all, and I repeat all of them, I remember with the greatest affection. Despite the fact that they had an ungrateful assignment (being in charge of discipline and prison), they always behaved toward us with extreme distinction and toughness. I shall say that they always considered us their sons, without considering that in a little time we could have met them again aboard but in reversed roles.

Another character typical of the academy were the “attendants”. The ones with whom we had the greatest contacts were the ones in charge of uniforms and those who served at the tables. To them, we were the “masters” and even if some parents were former cadets and had become admirals, for the attendants who had known them as cadets, they were “the master your father”. The attendant barbers? Inflexible. They did not let themselves be softened by any begging (girlfriend or parent visiting Leghorn) into being more indulgent with the cutting. Maximum length of the hair: 2 centimeters; freedom of choice for shorter lengths.

A special discussion should be dedicated to the officers. The hierarchy was quite extensive. The commanding admiral (nicknamed “the old bag”), the second in command and the third in command had very precise assignments and were unapproachable. With the commander of the class (one for each of the three courses), Commander or Captain (nicknamed the principal) and his assistants, Lieutenants or Sublieutenants, contacts were very numerous. They followed us in every activity; they were instructors for professional training. They watched us when we were in the study, but what to say about them? They came from one or more sinkings, a few days in a lifeboat, or recovering from wounds received in battle. Therefore, with wrecked nerves, impatient to return aboard, even if they had received multiple war decorations for military valor, none of them ever talked about their war actions.
 

...how to avoid "go up and arounds" or worst punishments!
click on the booklet to view the content (in Italian)

I dwelled over so many details of the daily life, punishments included, to underline that although outside war, as we well know, ravaged, in the academy life continued in the most normal way. Thus arises the question; why?

The answer is simple: there could not be disruptions from what was the primary objective of our professional formation: discipline and honesty. Questionable educational methodologies, and today’s psychologists would have much to argue about it, but life test demonstrated that these methods were not completely erroneous.   Much has been said about the strategic abilities of our military leadership. I don’t want to touch this topic, but keeping my comments restricted to the Navy, I can, without doubts, assert that never, and I repeat never, did officers, non-commissioned officers, or sailors tremble facing orders received and which often called for their, or their ships’ ultimate sacrifice.

This is the result of the constant hammering, education, discipline, and honesty taught to the future officers, and in the required proportions to non-commissioned officers and sailors.

In the academy we were not fed special speeches or doctrines. They “got us to work” studying and with discipline. We complainted but the mark which was imposed upon us demonstrated itself valid not only during the war, but also after, in our private lives. Distractions aside, back to “my academy”.

I told you, perhaps with too many details but in general terms, about my memories, my emotions, and part of my life as a cadet. Three topics are still missing: examinations, summer naval campaign, and the affairs of September 8th, 1943. Let’s begin with the examinations. As already mentioned, two rounds of exams for each academic year. Phase one in February, named the “chat”, but exams nevertheless. They covered the first half of each subject matter. Another round in June, but this differed from the previous one because the scope of each exam included what had been studied since the beginning of the year. Each session included ten to thirteen exams, some of which were both oral and written. The gap between each exam was at the most three days, thus the whole session lasted about a month. During the examinations some of the daily routine changed, but disciplinary rules did not change at all.

As everywhere, there were professors (for university level subject matters) and instructors (for professional subject matters); some very demanding, others more lenient.  Failures rained frequently. I will not dwell on the misfortunes of those who were failed; anyway they were not the best. Failure meant passing a “catch up” exam; final failure meant repetition of the school year, just like in high school, or resignations to then continue the 5-year draft as a simple sailor.

At the end of each examining session, we left for the longed for vacation. Base program: sleep. Unfortunately, this was also time to come to grips with the reality of war. Cities bombed, homes destroyed, relatives or acquaintances missing, homeless families, shortage of food. We were 20 and wounds healed quickly.

Before talking about the summer naval campaign (the cruise), I must say that the war had caused a change to the three-year program. At the end of the second course, the summer cruise of three months aboard the training ships Vespucci or Colombo was no longer conducted. Instead, the cadets were sent for 20 days up to the mountains and at the beginning of August we would come back to Leghorn to begin classes for the third year. Therefore, we spared the time for the summer cruise and completed the third year in February, ready to be embarked.

Before covering the misfortunes of my course, which remain unique in the 120 years of history of the Naval Academy, I’ll tell you something about our training cruises aboard training ships. The cruise, we are in July-September 1942, for obvious security reasons took place in the Upper Adriatic; Fiume, the Dalmatian Islands, Zara, Pola. Navigation, was usually short and characterized by continuous turning in narrow waters, thus for us in charge of the sails it was very stressing. Aboard, life was quite Spartan and was made even worse by the very limited space assigned to each of us. A sailors’ life, a simple one, even if we were still served at the table in white gloves.
 

The Training Ships "Colombo" e "Vespucci".

Part V