Slightly Off Topic "The Italian Navy of World War II: The definitive history" - Coming February 2027

[Edward]

The Italian Navy of World War II: The definitive history of its rise and fall
(Osprey Publishing - February 9, 2027)
by Enrico Cernuschi
320 pages - hardcover

"Drawing on a lifetime's scholarship, and featuring hundreds of rare photos, this is a revelatory history of the wartime Regia Marina, the least-known of the major World War II navies.

In 1940, Italy's Regia Marina had risen to become the world's fourth-largest navy. Despite financial, strategic, and political challenges in the 1920s and 30s, and despite losing the struggle for its own air power, it had a powerful battle fleet, one of the world's biggest submarine forces, and an ambitious strategic role.

Yet until now, few books have attempted a comprehensive study of the Italian Navy of World War II, and many of those relied on limited or biased sources. In this book, Dr Enrico Cernuschi, one of Italy's pre-eminent naval historians, presents a definitive, superbly illustrated and myth-busting history of Italian seapower from Mussolini's ascent until 1945, drawing upon Italian, British, German, French, and US primary sources, and on high-level papers unique to Dr Cernuschi's collection, including the recently unearthed 1947 Italian Navy Staff's technical history of the war. Ranging widely from grand strategy to steel production, it is packed with historical revelations, definitive new information, and little-known episodes of naval history.

Illustrated with hundreds of rare and unpublished photos, this is the essential guide to Italy's great fleet of World War II, and its actions from the Mediterranean to the Pacific."

Table of Contents
Prologue

Chapter 1: The Inheritance
New doctrines with old warships
Development on a shoestring
Political considerations in the Mussolini era
Gunnery and doctrine between the wars
Aeronautical battles
The core of the battle fleet

Chapter 2: Innovations and Revolutions
Submarines: the equalizer
The Breakthrough Fleet
The Spanish Civil War
The tipping of the balance: Italy and Britain
On the other side
Dead end

Chapter 3: At The Outbreak of War
Grand strategy
Supermarina
The intelligence war
The German ally
Logistics and order of battle
Allied fleets in the Mediterranean Sea

Chapter 4: Italy's Naval War
Seeking a battle: June 1940-November 1940
Italy on a razor's edge: December 1940-April 1941
Britain wrong-footed: April 1941-June 1941
The build-up: July 1941-October 1941
Attack and parry, Operation Crusader and the Axis reply: November 1941-February 1942
The only real chance: February 1942-August 1942
Storm warning: September 1942-November 1942
Enter the Americans: November 1942-May 1943
Cracking the nut: May 1943-September 1943
The Armistice Crisis: September 194f
Old friends and foes: October 1943-May 1945

In Retrospect
Conclusion
Author's Note
Endnotes
Bibliography
Index

About the Author
"Enrico Cernuschi is a naval historian based at Pavia, Italy. He has written dozens of books and monographs and more than 500 articles in Italian, English, and French. He has contributed to USNI books and has published extensively with Italy's professional naval organizations. His major works include “Ultra” La fine di un mito (2014) and Sea Power the Italian Way (2016). He is a regular contributor to Warship."

https://www.ospreypublishing.com/uk/...9781472874474/

[Jim Oxley]

Definitely a must have for me.

It'll be interesting to see what new information has come to light, and/or interpretation of events since the publication of Marc Antonio Bragadin's excellent 'The Italian Navy In World War II; as well as J.J. Sadkovich detailed 'The Italian Navy in World War II' .

[AndreasB]

It should be an interesting read. I know Enrico quite well and he has deep connections with the Marina Militare. I expect that he is going to put a very different angle on this, and one that in particular readers who have grown up with the Royal Navy perspective on the war in the Med will find very challenging.

All the best

Andreas