Paolo Thaon di Revel

Admiral Thaon di Revel around 1919

Paolo Thaon di Revel , Duca del Mare since 1923 (born June 10, 1859 in Turin , † March 24, 1948 in Rome ), was an Italian Grand Admiral and Senator . He came from the noble family Thaon di Revel , which over the years produced numerous high-ranking officers.

Life

Paolo Thaon di Revel, son of the politician Ottavio Thaon di Revel, attended the naval officer schools in Naples and Genoa and became a lieutenant at sea in 1877 . From 1879 to 1882 he circled the world on board the frigate Garibaldi . From 1896 to 1900 he was a corvette captain and frigate captain adjutant to King Umberto I. In 1911 he commanded a naval unit that bombarded Tripoli , Beirut and the Dardanelles in the Italo -Turkish War . From 1913 to 1915, as Chief of Staff of the Admiralty, he strengthened torpedo boats and submarine weapons and built up the naval aviation force . In October 1915 he resigned from the position of Admiral's Chief of Staff due to differences of opinion about naval warfare and became the commander of the naval forces and the coastal section command in Venice . In February 1917 he was again Chief of Staff of the Admiralty and also Chief of the Fleet, replacing Luigi Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta, duca degli Abruzzi . In the same month Thaon di Revel was nominated Senator.

During the First World War , Thaon di Revel only wanted to seek decisions with the battle fleet if there was a clear superiority. Since the Austrians behaved similarly, there were no major sea battles in the Adriatic . Thaon di Revel thought a lot of small torpedo and submarines, which is why he preferred these units in use. With these and similar means, officers like Luigi Rizzo et al. a. three battleships . The rest of the fleet, together with the allied French and British, participated in the blockade in the southern Adriatic. In November 1918, Thaon di Revel initiated a large-scale amphibious operation with which several strategically important ports and islands in Dalmatia were temporarily occupied in order to secure control of the Adriatic Sea against its allied rivals. He adamantly defended Italian interests against France and the United Kingdom . He was also tough and demanding on his subordinate officers.

In November 1919 Thaon di Revel gave up his post as Chief of the Admiralty's Staff and the Fleet and took over the post of Inspector General of the Navy until May 1920. He then headed the so-called Admiral Committee, an advisory body. In 1921, Thaon di Revel represented the Italian Navy at the Washington Naval Conference . In October 1922 he became Minister of the Navy in the Mussolini cabinet . In May 1925, Thaon di Revel resigned from his ministerial post because he was against the establishment of the new General Staff of the Armed Forces, which Pietro Badoglio and other army officers should take over.

Paolo Thaon di Revel received from King Victor Emanuel III for military service. on May 24, 1923 the title of Duca del Mare ("Duke of the Sea"), on November 4, 1924 he was promoted to Grand Admiral. The necklace of the Order of Annunciations was one of his awards .

Thaon di Revel had been a member of the Società Geografica Italiana since 1897 , which he chaired from 1921 to 1923. Since 1919 he was also an honorary member of the Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei . As a Freemason, he was a member (33rd degree) of the Gran Loggia d'Italia degli Alam , which had left the Grande Oriente d'Italia in 1908 . In 1936 Thaon di Revel largely withdrew from politics and only worked as an advisor at the king's court. From there, the Grand Admiral contributed to the removal of Mussolini on July 25, 1943. From July 28, 1943 to July 20, 1944, Thaon di Revel was President of the Senate.

Thaon di Revel died in Rome in 1948. His tomb is in the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in Rome, next to it is the marshal of Italy Armando Diaz .

A ship class (and its type ship) of the Italian Navy was named after Paolo Thaon di Revel in 2019 .

Web links

• Biographical summary on the website of the Italian Senate
• Presentation on the website of the Italian Navy