Carlo Fecia di Cossato

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Edward L. Hsiao
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Carlo Fecia di Cossato

#1

Post by Edward L. Hsiao » 14 Nov 2018, 00:05

Gentlemen,

What did Carlo Fecia di Cossato did during the Spanish Civil War?

Edward L. Hsiao

LColombo
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Re: Carlo Fecia di Cossato

#2

Post by LColombo » 14 Nov 2018, 10:56

According to the Dizionario Biografico Uomini della Marina 1861-1946 (available online), Fecia di Cossato participated in the naval operations related to the Spanish Civil War, from 1936 to 1938, as executive officer on the destroyer Strale.

Strangely enough, however, his page on the website of the Marina Militare instead states that he participated in two "special" missions in Spanish waters on submarines.

In August-September 1937, Strale was part of the Italian naval blockade in the Sicilian Channel against ships carrying supplies for the Spanish Republican forces. As many as 40 warships participated in this blockade (cruisers Da Barbiano, Di Giussano, Colleoni and Cadorna, flotilla leader Aquila, colonial sloop Eritrea, 10 destroyers including Strale, 24 torpedo boats), in co-operation with reconnaissance floatplanes based in Augusta as well as submarines and the “auxiliary cruisers” Adriatico and Barletta, which were disguised as Spanish Nationalist auxiliary cruisers (cover names Lago and Rio) and had the task of stopping and inspecting suspicious merchant ships. Warships like Strale patrolled the Sicilian Channel and the waters of French North Africa; if they met a Spanish Republican merchant ship, they reported it to the nearest submarine, which was then tasked with sinking it. If no submarines were in the vicinity, the warships themselves were to follow the ship at high distance until nightfall, then sink it under the cover of darkness (so as not to be recognized). Few actual sinkings occurred, but this system had the effect of deterring many ships from trying to carry supplies to Republican ports, and resulted in a considerable reduction of the influx of supplies for the Republican side. It would seem Strale was sent to join her sistership Saetta when the latter sank the Spanish Republican tanker Campeador on 11 August 1937, but did not participate herself in the sinking.


Edward L. Hsiao
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Re: Carlo Fecia di Cossato

#3

Post by Edward L. Hsiao » 23 Nov 2018, 10:45

What Italian submarine did Carlo Fecia di Cossato commanded during World War II?

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Re: Carlo Fecia di Cossato

#4

Post by Ironmachine » 23 Nov 2018, 21:01

He commanded first the Ciro Menotti and then the Enrico Tazzoli.

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