Mussolini's Navy: A Reference Guide to the Regia Marina, 1930-1945 Hardcover – October 15, 2012

I would like to echo the positive comments of other readers who have purchased this book.It is organized into ten chapters, which include: Chapter 1 - The Regia Marina from 1861 to 1939 (eight pages); Chapter 2 - Dockyards, Naval Bases, Ports, Shipyards, and Coast Defenses (eleven pages); Chapter 3 - Fleet Organization and Operations (sixteen pages); Chapter 4 - Ships in Service (118 pages divided into sections covering each type of vessel, e.g. battleships, cruisers, destroyers, war prizes, torpedo boats, etc.); Chapter 5 - Surface and underwater assault craft (six pages); Chapter 6 - Naval Aviation (six pages); Chapter 7 Italian Naval Camouflage in the Second World War (thirteen pages); Chapter 8 - Flags (one page); Chapter 9 - Uniforms, Ranks, Insignia and Decorations (three pages) and Chapter 10 - Who's Who of the Italian Navy in the Second World War (three pages).There is also a selected bibliography (two pages), Notes on photographic sources (one page) and the index (beginning on Page 236).Its only major shortcoming, in my opinion, is that a complete list of Italian naval vessels, with their commissioning dates and eventual fate, is not provided in a single accessible appendix.I have only been able to discern one factual error, in which the author states that the light cruiser Ulpio Traiano was sunk by British commandos in the Palermo shipyard on 1 March 1943 (p. 102). The wartime German Naval Staff War Diary notes the attack taking place on 3 January 1943. The explosion that fatally damaged the Ulpio Traiano also damaged three German R-boats (R-13, R-15 and RA-10).Despite the minor issues that I have highlighted, this book remains an outstanding and exceedingly useful reference source. The numerous pages of color plates (between pp. 208 - 209) showing the various camouflage schemes/ship profiles are particularly impressive. Highly recommended.

I pulled the book out of the box last night, and was completely impressed. Photos I've never seen before, and a lot of wealth of information. Even though I have not read the book, I am very satisfied with the book and would highly recomend it to anyone interested in this subject. U.S. Naval Institute continues to live up to its reputation of top quality books. They recently released (last year) a hard cover book on the Italian Littorio class battleships, which goes way beyond "Outstanding!", filled with tons of great information and pictures.Just one comment from the Peanut Gallery: Is it my imagination, or am I witnessing more and more books, paintings, ship models, and other materials starting to make its way into the world and markets? Finally, the world is realizing that Italy had a very powerful navy in World War II. Definitely a force to be reconed with, and one that tied up the British fleet in knots during the first 3 years of the war. Finally, historians are starting to go around and bypass all the earlier writings from biased Britished authors and historians, who always seem to sum up the war in the Mediterranean with the phrase: "we had those bloody i-tise all the way!" For a second rate navy, and a nation completely isolated from the outside world, with no resources to replace its losses, the Italian Navy stood its ground with the British Navy until the day Italy surrendered. In fact, historians state that the British sank 3 Italian battleships in Taranto, which is false. All 3 were resurrected, 2 of which came back to haunt the British, while the third (Conte Di Cavour) was tied up in dry dock with no resources to fix her, or else she too, would have come back and joined the fight. In Cape Matapan, the HMS Warspite, Valliant, and Barham all joined on a point blank range masacre of 3 Italian Cruisers engaged in a rescue operation. The only Italian battleship that completely sank during the entire war came on the day of surrender, when the Germans dropped a guided bomb right into the B turret magazine of the Roma.This book looks very promising. Very well organized. A time chart of all events and activities. Photos I've never seen before, despite the fact that I have an extensive library on this subject. I give 5 stars.