By Vincenzo Giacomo Toccafondi I recently acquired in my collection a nice picture of the destroyer Francesco Crispi. The ship took part in some successful war actions .. I will try to tell her story. The Sella class, of which Crispi was a part, was the first group of destroyers designed after the First World War […]
By Vincenzo Giacomo Toccafondi While writing the book “Le Navi Ospedale Italiane dopo l’Armistizio” I bought a certain number of photographs on ebay Germany. One of these portrayed the hospital ship Gradisca, the torpedo boat Lupo and what I believed to be the destroyer Carducci photographed from the stern, showing the two letters CD on the […]
From the presentation of the book by Amm Isp. Capo (c.a.) Vincenzo Martines Vincenzo Giacomo Toccafondi has already explored the world of Italian hospital ships with the recent valuable publication of the “Story of a white ship: Wandilla-Fort St.George- Cesarea- Arno 1912-1942” which ended with the sinking of the latter by of a British torpedo […]
By Vincenzo Giacomo Toccafondi The performances of the Italian Royal Navy during World War II were modest overall and were marred by painful defeats, such as the air raid in Taranto and the disaster of Cape Matapan. The story of the torpedo boat Calatafimi and its commander T.V. (Tenente di Vascello) Giuseppe Brignole is a […]
By Vincenzo Giacomo Toccafondi I recently found on a well-known online auction website a very interesting image of the port of Thessaloniki 1. It shows the French ocean liner Theophile Gautier in the background, and two units that were directly involved in Operation Merkur: The small hospital ship Brigitte and the Regia Marina Torpedo Boat Lira. Photos of Brigitte are quite rare […]
By Vincenzo Giacomo Toccafondi A couple of years ago, knowing my passion for naval history, a dear friend asked me to collect some information related to a small tanker on which his grandfather had sailed in the thirties. I found some information together with a fantastic article by Enrico Cernuschi, an excellent naval history writer, dedicated […]
Text and photos by Vincenzo Giacomo Toccafondi, submitted to www.ww2wrecks.com and used by permission. Hospital Ship Aris/Graz and Captain Carlo Benedetti Having recently read the article written by Pierre Kosmidis, in relation to the Aris / Graz Hospital Ship, and finding it very precise and detailed, I would like to add a couple of news and images […]
By Vincenzo Giacomo Toccafondi, author of the book “Storia di una Nave Bianca” (“Story of a White Ship”). All photos are owned by their respective owners, as credited and were kindly submitted by Mr. Toccafondi to www.ww2wrecks.com for publication in this feature article. A relatively unknown chapter of WW2 is unveiled, thanks to respected researcher […]