Alfredo Acton

Alfredo Acton

Alfredo Acton (born September 12, 1867 in Castellammare di Stabia , Italy , † March 26, 1934 in Naples ) was an Italian admiral , from 1919 to 1921 and from 1925 to 1927 chief of the admiral's staff of the Regia Marina and from 1927 senator of the kingdom .

Life

Acton came from a noble family with a long naval tradition in the Navy of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies and later in the Regia Marina. His ancestor John Acton had reorganized the Navy of the Kingdom of Naples in 1779. The grandfather Carlo Acton was naval brigadier general of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, the father Ferdinando Acton chief of the admiralty staff of the Regia Marina and between 1879 and 1883 war and naval minister . The two uncles on his father's side, Emmerik and Gugliemo Acton , were also highly decorated officers in the Italian Navy, Guglielmo even Minister of the Navy under the Lanza government , while his aunt Laura Acton was married to Marco Minghetti .

Alfredo Acton followed in his father's footsteps and entered the Marina Regia. In 1879 he acquired the degree of guardian at the Naval Academy in Naples.

In 1885 he took part with his naval association in the occupation of Massauas , in 1897 in the international Crete intervention in the Turkish-Greek war . In 1900, under the command of Admiral Camilo Candiani , he accompanied the transport of the Italian expeditionary force to China during the Boxer Rebellion . In 1912 he was awarded the gold medal for bravery in the Italian-Turkish war for his work in the landing of Italian troops during the occupation of Tripolitania and Cyrenaica in October 1911 .

During the First World War , as Rear Admiral , he commanded a reconnaissance unit and the British-Italian naval units during the naval battle in the Strait of Otranto on May 15, 1917, during which a unit of the Austro-Hungarian Navy tried to break through the Otranto barrier . For this action he was awarded the inter-allied victory medal after the war .

After the First World War, he was Chief of the Admiralty's Staff of the Regia Marina from 1919 to 1921 and from 1925 to 1927, and in his second term also Commander-in-Chief of the Italian Navy. In 1922 he took part in the Washington Naval Conference , in 1930 in the follow-up conference in London and in 1932 in the Geneva Conference on Disarmament .

In 1927 Alfred Acton was appointed Senator of the Kingdom and shortly before his death in February 1934, Minister of State.

literature

• Romeo Bernotti:  Acton, Alfredo. In: Alberto M. Ghisalberti (Ed.): Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani (DBI). Volume 1:  Aaron – Albertucci. Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, Rome 1960.
• "Acton, Alfredo". In: Enciclopedia Biografica Universale , Rome: Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana, Vol. I, 2006, p. 66.

Web links

• Entry in the Senatori d'Italia database of the Italian Senate

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c} biography of Alfredo Acton in Italian (PDF; 316 kB), accessed on July 7, 2017.