Bombardment of Ancona
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Bombardment of Ancona | |||||||
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Part of World War I | |||||||
Bombarding of Ancona by August von Ramberg | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Austria-Hungary | Italy | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
3 dreadnought battleships 8 pre-dreadnought battleships 2 scout cruisers 9+ destroyers 8+ torpedo boats |
1 destroyer 2 airships 1 flying boat | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
Unknown killed |
63 killed 1 destroyer damaged 1 airship damaged |
The Bombardment of Ancona was a naval engagement of the
When Italy declared war against Austria-Hungary on 23 May 1915, the Austrian fleet was quick to react; the navy launched several attacks on the Marche region of Italy. That day, the destroyer SMS Dinara and torpedo boat Tb 53T bombarded the port of Ancona. The destroyer SMS Lika, on a reconnaissance mission between Palagruža and Cape Gargano, shelled the semaphore and radio station at Vieste. Defending those waters at the time was the Italian destroyer Turbine. A small duel commenced with Lika coming out as the victor, damaging the enemy destroyer.
The next day, 24 May, the majority of the Austrian fleet at
SMS Tegetthoff and the destroyer
Austrian scout cruiser SMS Admiral Spaun bombarded the Italian signal station at Cretaccio Island, while SMS Sankt Georg—with two torpedo boats—shelled Rimini, damaging a freight train. The destroyer SMS Streiter attacked the signal station near Torre di Mileto. The light cruiser SMS Novara, a destroyer and two torpedo boats entered Corsini Channel and shelled an Italian torpedo boat station, another semaphore station, and few batteries of coastal artillery.
The scout cruiser
Heavy damage was inflicted by the Austrian navy, and 63 people, both Italian military and civilian personnel, died in Ancona alone.[1] The dome of Ancona Cathedral was damaged, too. Austrian casualties were light. The war in the Adriatic Sea continued, culminating in a large Allied blockade to prevent the Austro-Hungarian fleet from leaving the Adriatic. The "Otranto Barrage" would be raided by the Austro-Hungarians several times throughout the war, but major Austro-Hungarian warships rarely left the bases after this raid.
Notes
- ^ Grga Novak, Jadransko more u sukobima i borbama kroz stoljeća, book 2, Split, 2004 (in Croatian)
43°41′9″N 13°33′9″E / 43.68583°N 13.55250°E
Bibliography
- Gardiner, Robert, ed. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921. OCLC 12119866.
- Tarrant, V. E. (1989). The U-Boat Offensive: 1914–1945. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. OCLC 20338385.
- Baumgartner, Lothar; Erwin Sieche (1999). Die Schiffe der k.(u.)k. Kriegsmarine im Bild=Austro-Hungarian warships in photographs (in German). OCLC 43596931.
- ISBN 0-88033-293-X.
- Montgomery, John Flournoy (1947). The Unwilling Satellite. New York: The Devin-Adair Company. ISBN 1-931313-57-1.
- Rutter, Owen (1938). Regent of Hungary: The Authorized Life of Admiral Nicholas Horthy. London: Rich and Cowan.