Ship:Resolute and Rapid Collection
"Resolute and Rapid" (Italian: "Con risolutezza, con rapidità") was the motto of the light cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli. Indeed, high speed was a hallmark feature of ships of the Regia Marina, while Italian sailors were recognized by their opponents as having outstanding determination and devotion to duty.
The overall collection is comprised of four sub-collections. Each sub-collection grants 24-hours Premium Account. There is a separate reward for obtaining all 16 items. Items may be bought for 4 duplicates.
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Ships
Resolute and Rapid Collection - Ships
For most of its history, the Kingdom of Italy was a colonial power. By the mid-1930s, it possessed a vast swathe of the African continent, and one of the prerequisites of retaining its position was the kingdom's own naval forces. One of the ships specifically designed for service in tropical waters away from the homeland was Eritrea, named after the oldest Italian colony in Eastern Africa.
Eritrea was outfitted with unconventional diesel and diesel-electric power plants, providing the 2,200-ton sloop with quite a solid operational range for her size. Her four 120 mm quick-firing guns enabled her to provide gunfire support while operating in coastal areas. Her good anti-aircraft complement for the mid-1930s theoretically made it possible to also repel any threats from the air. Owing to her well-fitted workshops and extensive living spaces on board, Eritrea could serve as a floating base for submarines. The original design of the ship allowed her to be used as a mine layer and carry a multi-purpose reconnaissance aircraft on board.
At the beginning of 1911, Italy had four dreadnought battleships at various stages of construction, with preparations being made for two more to be laid down. However, at that time, the Italian Navy did not have a single cruiser with a sufficiently high speed to serve as a reconnaissance ship for the new capital ships, except for Quarto, which was still on the stocks. In February 1911, two more cruisers were laid down, officially classified as "scouts" (Italian, "Esploratori")—Nino Bixio and Marsala.
The lead ship was named Nino Gerolamo Bixio, after the recipient of the gold medal "For Military Valor" (1821–1873)—the glorious hero of Italian unification and a companion-in-arms of Giuseppe Garibaldi. Another important reason for the cruiser to be named as such was that Bixio, who eventually became a general and senator towards the end of his life, began his career by joining the Kingdom of Sardinia's Navy.
After summing up the results of World War I, most of the surviving ships of the German and former Austro-Hungarian Navies were divided between the victorious powers. From these, Italy received five relatively modern light cruisers. The "oldest" of them, Strassburg, had been in service for less than eight years at the time of her transfer in July 1920.
The cruiser, which was commissioned into the Royal Italian Navy, was renamed "Taranto" in honor of the port city—a naval base in the south of the Apennine Peninsula. The "trophy" ship impressed her new owners. She had more powerful weapons and better armor protection than Italian reconnaissance cruisers, while not being in any way inferior to them in speed. Having outlasted many of her contemporaries, Taranto was decommissioned only at the end of 1942, at the height of World War II.
The cruiser which was destined to bear the name of Luigi Amedeo, Duke of Abruzzi, was still on the stocks at the time when a ship named after his elder brother (Emanuele Filiberto Duca d’Aosta) entered service in July 1935. The "brother" cruisers—both the younger and the older ones—belonged to the so-called Condottieri class, each being the lead ships in their fifth and fourth series, respectively.
Duca degli Abruzzi, which joined the Royal Italian Navy at the end of 1937, ranks among the best light cruisers of the pre-war period. Equipped with ten 152 mm guns that were able to fire a shell with an initial velocity of 910 m/s, side armor of 130 mm in total thickness, and a speed of 34 knots, she was, along with her sistership Giuseppe Garibaldi, the most powerful cruiser among Condottieri-class warships. Having sailed through the entirety of World War II and taken part in military operations both for and against the Axis powers, Duca degli Abruzzi continued to serve in the Italian Navy right up until the 1960s.
Reward
Completing this sub-collection provides the following rewards:
+24 hours Warships Premium time
Tour of Duty
Resolute and Rapid Collection - Tour of Duty
Northern Africa was the main theater of operations for the Italian army during the initial period of World War II. The task to supply the masses of troops with everything they needed fell on the shoulders of the Navy. Between the ports of the Apennine Peninsula and Libya, convoys of transport ships went one by one, carrying troops, supplies, equipment, and fuel. Protecting that flow of people and resources was one of the main tasks of the ships of the Regia Marina.
The cruisers of the first two series of Condottieri-class ships were hardly suitable for operating within a squadron due to their poor armor protection. But their speed and weaponry made them irreplaceable when it came to providing cover for military convoys, which often consisted of high-speed liners mobilized for the needs of the war. If troops in Africa urgently needed some sort of cargo, cruisers of the di Giussano and Cadorna classes were there to assist in this being relayed. Such intensive use in the most dangerous of areas entailed a logical outcome: five of the six ships of these two series perished during the first two years of the war.
Convoys of exceptional importance carrying troops and cargo for the Italian army in Northern Africa were covered by the main forces of the Regia Marina. In some cases, this led to clashes with the British Mediterranean Fleet, which, in turn, were escorting convoys bound for Malta.
On July 9, 1940, a battle took place off the coast of Calabria. It was the first major encounter between British and Italian ships at sea. Ultimately, the opposing fleets parted in a "draw", each having completed their main objective: both the convoys, Maltese and Libyan, arrived safely at their destinations. However, the command of the Italian Navy had every reason to draw disappointing conclusions from the clash. Unlike the British, the Italian Navy did not have its own aircraft, and had to request support from the Army Air Force, which was not under their control. It was with great reluctance and belatedly that the Air Force responded to any requests coming from the Navy. As a result, when a wave of British deck torpedo bombers hit the 1st Cruiser Division (comprising Zara and her two sister ships) during the battle, the Regia Marina sailors were forced to rely on the maneuverability of their ships and the strength of their AA defenses.
During the Battle of Greece, at the end of March 1941, another naval engagement between the Italian and British forces took place, this time in the Eastern Mediterranean, south of Cape Matapan. The battle was preceded by an encounter off the island of Gavdos, between the 3rd Cruiser Squadron commanded by Admiral Sansonetti (Trento, Trieste, and Bolzano) and a squadron of British light cruisers (HMS Gloucester, HMAS Perth, and two ships of the Leander class).
Italian cruisers outmatched their opponents both by the firing range of their main batteries and their speed. Not tempting fate, the British squadron immediately fell back and retreated, in the hope of entrapping Sansonetti's division with the assistance of their main forces. However, adroit maneuvering allowed the Italian ships to lure the British squadron into the range of the guns of battleship Vittorio Veneto, which had just arrived at the battle area. It was only a timely attack from British aircraft carrier Formidable that helped the Brits to seize the initiative from the Italian forces in the battle.
Supplying equipment and provisions to Malta was of paramount importance to Great Britain. By the summer of 1942, the struggle on the approaches to the island had been ongoing for two years. On June 12, Italian aerial reconnaissance discovered another allied convoy. After waiting for it to approach the coast of Sicily, the 7th Cruiser Division, consisting of Raimondo Montecuccoli and Eugenio di Savoia, set out from Palermo on a mission to intercept it.
The appearance on the horizon of the Italian cruisers approaching at full steam early in the morning of June 15, 1942, came as a complete surprise to the British ships. The escort ships frantically planted smoke screens and maneuvered, yet they were soon forced into battle. German aircraft struck the remaining transport ships that had been left without cover. Towards evening that day, the remains of the convoy ran into a minefield... As a result, only two of the six transport ships carrying cargo that was invaluable to the island's defenders reached Malta. Raimondo Montecuccoli and Eugenio di Savoia returned to base adorned with the laurels of victory.
Reward
Completing this sub-collection provides the following rewards:
+24 hours Warships Premium time
Service Medals I
Resolute and Rapid Collection - Service Medals I
In the 1930s, the Royal Italian Navy was strengthened with several series of light cruisers, each being a further development of the preceding one. The first four ships, laid down in 1928, received names in honor of condottieri—military leaders of mercenary formations that had participated in the countless wars that plagued Italy in the Middle Ages. The name "Condottieri-class cruisers" was adopted both for this series of ships and for the four series that followed.
The first in this series of ships was Alberto di Giussano, which was commissioned in February 1931. The cruiser was named in honor of Alberto from Giussano—the legendary participant in the struggle of Italian cities against the authority of the German emperor, and a hero of the Battle of Legnano (1176). The commemorative medal worn by the servicemen of this ship depicted the figure of the "Legnano warrior" from a monument erected in the city of the same name. It also bore a quote from the Song of Legnano, composed by the famous Italian poet, Giosuè Carducci, in 1879.
One of the Alberto di Giussano-class cruisers was named in honor of Bartolomeo Colleoni, a famous Italian commander of the 15th century. Keeping with the trend of his time and serving as a mercenary, Colleoni and his detachment first served the Queen of Naples, and then alternately in the armies of Milan and Venice during the time when they were at war. In 1467, once again at the command of the armed forces of the Republic of San Marco, Colleoni defeated his former employers from Milan at the Battle of Molinella by using—for the first time in history—light field artillery.
Declaring the victor as the "Savior of the Republic," the Venetians erected a monument in Colleoni's honor. The silhouette of the monument dedicated to the famous condottiero which still decorates the Santi Giovanni e Paolo square in Venice, was depicted on a commemorative medal worn by those who served on the cruiser that bore his name. The other side of the medal depicted the motto of the ship: "Fast and vehement" (Italian: "Veloce e veemente").
The military commanders of the past that gave their names to cruisers of the Regia Marina did not necessarily have to have stood in command of Italian armies. The main thing was that they themselves had to be born Italian. For example, Count Raimondo Montecuccoli (1609–1680) fought for most of his life in the forces of the Holy Roman Empire (future Austria-Hungary), which included his native Duchy of Modena.
Throughout his entire military career, Count Montecuccoli has risen from the rank of being an ordinary soldier to being generalissimo of all Imperial armies. Among his rivals were the French Marshal, Henri de Turenne, the Swedish, Saxon and Turkish armies, the papal forces of the Pope, and the Prince of Transylvania. Montecuccoli's "Memoires" emerged as sort of a teaching guide for many commanders of the epochs that followed his own. In choosing the name for the next light cruiser, laid down in 1931, the command of the Royal Italian Navy could not ignore such an outstanding personality. The commemorative badge minted for the ship's servicemen depicts an image of the glorious commander's coat of arms with two-headed imperial eagles, and an anagram of his family name: "A hundred eyes" (Latin: "Centum oculi"), which became the unofficial motto of the cruiser.
The second cruiser belonging to the Raimondo Montecuccoli class was Muzio Attendolo, laid down in 1931 and launched in 1934 from the city of Trieste. The ship was named after a mercenary condottiero who lived at the turn of the 15th century, serving with his squad for the rulers of Milan, Florence, Ferrara, and Naples. Renowned for his enormous physical strength, at the dawn of his career, Muzio Attendolo received the nickname "Strong" (Italian: "Sforza"). It was this nickname that gave its name to the famous dynasty he founded, which ruled in Milan during the times of the High Renaissance.
The commemorative badge issued to those who served on the cruiser depicts the ship’s silhouette and motto: "Persistent and invincible" (Latin: "Constans [et] indomitus"). On the reverse side was a profile of Muzio Attendolo himself with one of the frescoes by Bernardino Luini, an Italian artist of the 16th century, as well as his nickname—"Sforza".
Reward
Completing this sub-collection provides the following rewards:
+24 hours Warships Premium time
Service Medals II
Resolute and Rapid Collection - Service Medals II
Not all light cruisers of the Italian Royal Navy received names in honor of military commanders ("condottieri") who had commanded mercenary formations during the Middle Ages. For example, the lead ship in the fourth series of the Condottieri-class ships, launched in 1934, was named after the king's cousin and Marshal of Italy, the Duke of Aosta—Emanuele Filiberto (1869–1931).
During World War I, the Duke of Aosta commanded the Third Army, which operated to the north of Venice. One of the heroes of the victorious Battle of Vittorio Veneto who did not suffer a single serious defeat, Emanuele Filiberto was nicknamed "Invincible Duke" (Italian: "Duca Invitto"). The motto of the cruiser named after him was the Latin dictum "Victory gives us life". The commemorative medal for the crew members of the ship depicted an image of the cross, which, in turn, was awarded to those serving in the Duke's army.
The year 1861 saw the establishment of the unified Kingdom of Italy. However, a number of cities and regions with a predominantly Italian population continued to remain as part of Austria-Hungary. Among them was the city of Trento, one of the centers of the movement for unification with Italy, which only occurred in 1919 following the results of World War I.
Such a significant event had to be reflected in the naming of the Italian Royal Navy ships: the first in a series of cruisers to be laid down after the war ended was named Trento. The ship entered service in 1929 as a conventional "Washington Treaty" cruiser—a fast warship with powerful artillery but poor armor protection. Trento saw extensive action in the Mediterranean Sea during many World War II encounters. In June 1942, she perished during one of the operations against the British who were steaming to Malta.
The accession of Trieste, one of the largest ports and shipbuilding centers in the Mediterranean, was a precondition for Italy to enter World War I on the side of the Entente. The transition of the city in 1918, under the rule of the Italian Crown, was of great importance for the development of the Regia Marina. The very first warship laid down after the war at the shipyard in Trieste—a 10,000-ton cruiser with 203 mm main battery guns—was named Trieste.
The commemorative medal minted for those who served on this ship depicts a symbolic image of the city of Tergestum, the earliest recorded mention of which was attributed to Julius Caesar, as well as the cruiser's motto: "Brought back liberated" (Latin: "Redente redimo"). Following Trieste, a number of other ships were built at the shipyards of the city, including cruisers Muzio Attendolo and Giuseppe Garibaldi, as well as battleships Vittorio Veneto and Roma.
For centuries, the city of Zara on the Dalmatian coast had been the subject of claims from the Republic of Venice. After the unification of Italy in 1861, the desire to claim this significant port passed "by inheritance" to the Kingdom of Italy. That desire was brought to life only following the results of World War I. By designating the newest heavy cruiser launched in 1930, the lead ship in a series of four, as Zara, the Kingdom of Italy made it clear to the whole world who the city belonged to. The symbol of Venice—the Lion of Saint Mark—depicted on a commemorative medal granted to the ship's servicemen, was reminiscent of the times when the city was under Venetian rule. On the same side of the coin the cruiser's motto: "Persistent" (Italian: "Tenacemente") could be found.
After Italy entered World War II in June 1940, cruiser Zara did not even last a year. In March 1941, she was sunk by a British squadron in the Battle of Cape Matapan. In 1947, the city of Zara was handed over to Yugoslavia to be re-named the Croatian way—Zadar—which is when the "Italian" page in the city's history came to an end.
Reward
Completing this sub-collection provides the following rewards:
+24 hours Warships Premium time
Overall Reward
Completing the entire collection provides the following rewards:
| Nation | Name | Unique Traits | |
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   Luigi Sansonetti Eritrea with 10 skill points |
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Signal Flare A signal flare over the ship with the activation of a Commander's talent. |
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Colored Shell Tracers Main gun tracers change to a different color. | ||
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Broad Pennant Mount a broad pennant on the ship. | ||
| Icon | Name |
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Italian Navy |
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