Carlo Margottini

Carlo Margottini (born January 19, 1899 in Rome , † October 12, 1940 at Cape Passero, Sicily ) was an Italian naval officer.

Military career

Margottini was trained from 1913 to 1916 at the Naval Academy in Livorno and then served on various warships, including the battleship Conte di Cavour . In November 1918 he became adjutant to the Italian governor in Dalmatia , Admiral Enrico Millo .

Between the two world wars, he commanded a submarine and a torpedo boat squadron . In 1936 he took part in a fleet conference in London on behalf of the Italian government . During the Spanish Civil War he was involved in the occupation of Ibiza and then organized the Italian military administration there. He then went to Paris as a naval attaché .

During the Second World War he commanded a destroyer squadron , with which he took part in the naval battle at Punta Stilo on July 9, 1940 . In the course of the battle he repeatedly attacked strong British forces with his flagship RN Artigliere and the other ships of his squadron .

On October 11, 1940, Margottini received the order to carry out a night reconnaissance mission south of Sicily with the RN Artigliere and his 11th destroyer squadron together with the 1st torpedo boat squadron . He came across the radar- equipped British cruiser HMS Ajax on October 12 at 1:40 a.m. , which Margottini immediately attacked. Although the destroyer Artigliere had been set on fire by British fire, the seriously wounded Margottini and his crew still managed to damage the British cruiser with four volleys. Margottini died shortly after the battle on the bridge of the RN Artigliere , which was sunk by the British cruiser HMS York on the morning of October 12 after an unsuccessful attempt at towing at Cape Passero . The York was destroyed a few months later in Suda Bay ( Crete ) by a special unit led by Luigi Faggioni .

After the war, the Italian Navy named a frigate (F 595; 1960–1988) of the Bergamini class after Carlo Margottini. The second Italian ship of the new FREMM frigates (F 592), which entered service in 2013, also bears his name.

The name of Margottinis destroyer Artigliere currently carries a frigate of the Lupo class .