Domenico Cavagnari

Domenico Cavagnari (20 July 1876, Genoa – 2 November 1966, Rome) was an Italian admiral and the Chief of Staff of the Regia Marina from 1934 until 1940.

Domenico Cavagnari
Cavagnari (right) with Benito Mussolini
Nickname(s)Mingo
Born20 July 1876
Genoa, Italy
Died2 November 1966 (aged 90)
Rome, Italy
Allegiance Italy
Service/branchRegia Marina
Years of service1895-1941
RankAmmiraglio d'Armata
Commands heldChief of Staff, Regia Marina
Battles/warsWorld War I
World War II

Early life and career

Born to a pharmacist, he enrolled in the Accademia Navale di Livorno in 1889, at an unusually young age of 13; he graduated from it in 1895. He participated in a Far East cruise on the armored cruiser Vettor Pisani from April to December 1903, after which he was named adjutant to the Minister of the Navy Carlo Mirabello. In 1914 he was promoted Capitano di Corvetta. During World War I, he commanded the coastal torpedo-boat 9 PN, and then the 6th Torpedo-Boat Flotilla; in 1917 he was under the command of Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, then commanding the naval station of Venice, until April 1918, when he was given command of the destroyer Felice Orsini. During the war he was promoted Capitano di Fregata and gained three Silver Medals of Military Valor.[1]

After the war, Cavagnari was promoted Capitano di Vascello in 1922 and given command of the "esploratore" Pantera and its flotilla, which he led in a goodwill cruise to the North Sea and the Baltic Sea in 1925. Promoted Contrammiraglio in 1927, he was named commander of the Accademia Navale in 1929, and remained as such till 1932; afterwards, he commanded the 2a Divisione (with the heavy cruiser Trento as his flagship.[2]

Chief of Staff

On 7 November 1933 Benito Mussolini fired the Minister of the Navy, Admiral Giuseppe Sirianni, took up the role of Minister himself and named Cavagnari Chief of Staff of the Regia Marina.

As Chief of Staff, he was largely responsible for the expansion and preparation of the Italian Navy in the years before World War II. Cavagnari was a proponent of a large fleet based on battleships (in his tenure, four new Littorio-class battleships were laid down and four older battleships were modernized) and submarines (by 1940, Italy possessed one of the largest submarine fleets of the world); he instead showed little interest in aircraft carriers and new technologies such as radar.

After Italy joined the war on 10 June 1940, the Italian Navy's unpreparedness (highlighted in the indecisive engagement of Punta Stilo and on the Battle of Taranto, in which three battleships were heavily damaged by British torpedo-bombers) led to his dismissal. He was succeeded by Admiral Arturo Riccardi.

Honours

From the Italian Wikipedia

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References
  1. Cernuschi, p. 12-25
  2. cit., p. 28-37

Bibliography
  • Cernuschi, Enrico (2001). Domenico Cavagnari - Storia di un'ammiraglio. Rivista Marittima.
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