Dipartimento militare marittimo
Dipartimento militare marittimo was the name for a coastal section command of the Italian Navy . These organizations, commanded by three-star admirals , took on primarily territorial support tasks. The dipartimenti were in particular subordinate to the naval bases and other logistical facilities as well as smaller sea vessels. As a rule, they also took on operational tasks in the field of coastal defense, at various times also on the high seas, unless this was taken over by the organizationally independent high seas fleet ( Squadra navale ) . At the end of 2013, the traditional dipartimenti were replaced by divisional commands of the new naval logistics command for reasons of rationalization.
history
In the Navy of Sardinia-Piedmont , the direct predecessor of today's Italian Navy, coastal section commands were set up in Villefranche , Genoa and Cagliari in 1815 . After the unification of Italy under the House of Savoy in 1861, it was decided to subdivide it into three section commands: "North", from the French border to Terracina including Sardinia , with headquarters in Genoa and then La Spezia ; "South", from Terracina to Capo di Santa Maria di Leuca including Sicily , with headquarters in Naples ; "Adria", from Capo di Santa Maria di Leuca to the border of the then Austrian Empire , based in Ancona and then in Venice . Within these organizations, the base commands in La Maddalena and Taranto became independent under one-star admirals in 1889 . In 1911 the command in Taranto became its own dipartimento marittimo . In addition to La Maddalena, other independent base commandos in Brindisi , Messina and Gaeta were established during the First World War .
After the war, the command in Venice was transferred to Pola . In 1922 there was a comprehensive rationalization of the territorial organization. There remained three coastal section commands in La Spezia (Dipartimento militare marittimo dell'Alto Tirreno) , Naples (DMM Basso Tirreno) and Taranto (DMM Ionio e Adriatico) .
During the Second World War , there was again an increase in coastal section commands (now under the name circoscrizione or comando navale) . The headquarters were in La Spezia, Naples, La Maddalena, Messina, Taranto and Venice, as well as in Rhodes , Durrës , Benghazi , Massaua and Tianjin .
During the Cold War , the Marina Militare maintained section commands in La Spezia, Naples, Taranto and Ancona as well as autonomous commands in La Maddalena (later Cagliari) for Sardinia, in Messina (later Augusta) for Sicily and in Rome (in the latter case only the city, without Coastline). After Malta's independence , the NATO command of the Allied naval forces in southern Europe was transferred to Naples and entrusted to an Italian admiral, who also commanded the section command in Naples.
In 1998, as part of a first rationalization measure, the Naples section command was downgraded to a base command and its coastal section was divided between the commandos in La Spezia and Messina. As of December 31, 2013, the coastal section commands were abolished in their previous form. From the command in La Spezia, the division command north emerged, which is also responsible for Sardinia and the northern Adriatic. The area command in Taranto takes over southern Italy without Sicily, whose command remains in Augusta, as does the command in Rome for tasks in the capital. On the basis of the former section command in Naples, the new logistics command of the Navy, to which the new, named area commands are also subordinate, was formed from the former section command in Ancona into the new training command of the Navy.
The navy's new logistical divisional commands (comandi marittimi) no longer have any floating units, all of which are now subordinate to the naval command.
Subordinate units and departments
By 2013, the could Dipartimenti militari Marittimi subject to: naval bases, naval aviation bases , rods, telecommunications equipment, administrative and logistics services, marine courts , arsenals , material depots, ammunition depots, fuel depots, naval hospitals , barracks , research institutes, training facilities, coastal defenses, mine sweepers , fast patrol boats , torpedo boats , U- Boats , patrol ships , possibly frigates and destroyers , in rare cases also cruisers and other larger units, utilities , tankers , tugs and various types of support and training vehicles .