Alfredo Cappellini

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Alfredo Cappellini

Alfredo Cappellini (born December 31, 1828 in Livorno , † July 20, 1866 near Lissa ) was a Piedmontese and Italian naval officer.

Life

Cappellini was trained at the Naval School in Genoa from 1842 to 1848 , a. a. also on the training ship Aurora . During the first Italian War of Independence he was in service in the Adriatic in 1848 , during the Crimean War on the Corvette Governolo in the Black Sea , where he a. a. Also at the bombardment of the fortress of Sevastopol was involved.

In the Second Italian War of Independence , he commanded gunboats and took part in the siege of Gaeta in 1861 , where he distinguished himself in the bombardment of a French battery off Monte Orlando.

In 1866 he took part in the third Italian war of independence as commander of the ironclad Palestro . From July 18, 1866, he fired at the Austrian fortifications on the island of Lissa with his ship . In the course of the naval battle of Lissa , in which on July 20, 1866 only one of three of the Italian squadrons cruising near Lissa intervened due to blatant leadership errors, he was isolated with the Palestro , the Re d'Italia and the San Martino with seven Austrian ships of the line in action. A severe fire broke out on Cappellini's ship, which the crew could no longer control despite several hours of efforts, and which ultimately led to the explosion of the ammunition chamber. Cappellini and his crew, who fought to the last, went down with the Palestro .

The Italian Navy later named a submarine after Cappellini , which was used during World War II a . a. operated in the Atlantic .