By 1914, Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina Italiana) was ranked seventh in the world. When Italy entered into the First World War, against Austria-Hungary on the 24th of May 1915, the Regia Marina was already operating in the eastern Mediterranean. From the beginning of 1912, Italian ships were deployed towards the elimination of the Turkish fleet at the Middle East and the Red Sea and then towards the Aegean in coordination with the Greeks, and occupied the Dodecanese islands. Italy agreed to return the Dodecanese to the Ottoman Empire in the Treaty of Ouchy in 1912. However, the vagueness of the text allowed for a provisional Italian administration of the islands, and Turkey eventually renounced all claims on these islands in Article 15 of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne.
Poster presenting the Regia Marina fleet before the Great War (Source: https://www.naval-encyclopedia.com)
During WWI 642 Italian ships sank (899,112 tons) and 32 were damaged (106,780 tons): 15 ships sank in 1915, 123 in 1916, 139 in 1917 and 69 in 1918.
Total losses of Italian ships during WWI and names of ships wrecked in the Greek seas.
In the Greek seas 16 Italian ships (a total of 22.896 tons) were lost during the Great War: Antonio Sciesa SS; Carroccio SS; Caterina SV; Cirene SS; Flora SV; Marigo SV; Polcevera SS; Portaritissa SV; San Nicola SV; San Nicola SV; Scilla SS; Sofia SV; Stampalia SS; Termini SS; Tobia SV; Vicenza SS.
List of Italian wrecks in the Greek seas (Name, year Wrecked, Tonnage and Casualties)
# |
Name |
Wrecked |
Tonnage |
Casualties |
1 |
1915 |
3236 |
2 |
|
2 |
1915 |
1220 |
– |
|
3 |
1915 |
185 |
– |
|
4 |
1916 |
2239 |
0 |
|
5 |
1916 |
8999 |
≥100 |
|
6 |
1917 |
1905 |
0 |
|
7 |
1917 |
1657 |
4 |
|
8 |
Flora SV |
1917 |
122 |
– |
9 |
1917 |
24 |
– |
|
10 |
1917 |
30 |
– |
|
11 |
1918 |
1523 |
2 |
|
12 |
1918 |
1833 |
– |
|
13 |
1918 |
16 |
0 |
|
14 |
1918 |
29 |
0 |
|
15 |
1918 |
– |
0 |
|
16 |
Sofia SV |
1918 |
6 |
– |
Sources
[*] Issabella Orlando is a graduate of King’s College London, writer, diver and aspiring maritime archaeologist. Inspired by new discovery and the colourful world around us at present and in the ancient past, she aims to apply her interdisciplinary interests and background in Classical Studies to innovative archaeological research and cultural heritage management.
[**] Elpidia Katopodi is a graduate of the Department of Conservation of Antiquities and Artworks with a Masters in Naval and Underwater Archeology (Universidad de Cádiz, CEI. MAR). She is a scuba diver and has been involved in the research activities of the U.S.T. since 2019.