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The Royal Navy of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies (Real Marina del Regno delle Due Sicilie or Armata di Mare di S.M. il Re del Regno delle Due Sicilie) was the official term in documents of the era for the naval forces of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies - it and the Royal Army together formed the Kingdom's armed forces. The modern use of the term Regio for royal was only introduced into the force's title after the annexation of the Kingdom of Sardinia.[citation needed] It was the most important of the pre-unification Italian navies and Cavour made it the model of the new Italian Regia Marina after the annexation of the Two Sicilies.[1]
The Sea Army of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
editIn June 1815 King Ferdinand returned to Naples from Palermo together with the Bourbon Navy. With the simultaneous defeat of Joachim Murat, two vessels were handed over to the British, but a corvette, two schooners, 24 gunboats, and the two frigates were ceded to Ferdinand, who thus found himself with a modern fleet. The navy's structure in this period was based on that of the Spanish Navy.
In December 1816 the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies was formed, unifying the Kingdom of Naples with the Kingdom of Sicily, and the king took the name Ferdinand I. In 1818 the General Ordinances of the Royal Navy of the Two Sicilies were promulgated relating to the entire composition and organization of the Navy: this was the first regulation made by the new kingdom in the maritime field; they constituted various bodies of officers, a nautical observatory, an Accademia di Marina ("Naval academy") and three naval bases, at Naples, Palermo, and Messina. In the same year, the new Marine Regulation was issued.
In 1820 the Navy was considerably strengthened, aligning three divisions with about seventy warships of all types, with a clear prevalence of light woods.[cleanup needed]
In July 1820 the frigate Amalia (formerly Carolina), together with other ships, escorted to Sicily a convoy of merchant ships bearing the Expeditionary Corps of Lieutenant General Florestano Pepe, sent to repress an insurrection on the island. On September 2, 1820, a fleet consisting of the Amalia, the vessel Capri, the corvette Leone, the polacca Sant'Antonio e Italia, and 14 brigantines, reinforced the following day by six gunboats and a bomb ketch, left Naples and was sent to Sicily with a landing force to repress revolutionary movements.
Between 1827 and 1828 the 44-gun frigate Regina Isabella, the 32-gun corvette Cristina, and the brigantines Prince Charles and Francis I entered service.[2]
References
edit- ^ Lamberto Radogna, Storia della Marina Militare delle Due Sicilie (1734-1860), Mursia 1978
- ^ Ordinanze generali della real Marina del regno delle Due Sicilie del 1818: Servizio di terra dal titolo X. al XVIII. ed ultimo. 2 (in Italian). Reale tipografia militare. 1856.