Arturo Triangi di Maderno e Laces | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Senator | |
| In office 25 October 1917 – 3 March 1935 | |
| Preceded by | Camillo Corsi |
| Succeeded by | Alberto Del Bono |
| Minister of the Navy | |
| In office 16 June 1917 – 16 July 1917 | |
Arturo Corrado Luigi Triangi, Conte di Maderno e Laces (18 February 1864 in Fiesole – 3 March 1935 in Florence) was an Italian admiral. He was also a member of the Senate and briefly Minister of the Navy in the Boselli government. A count of the Holy Roman Empire, his title was officially recognised in Italy by a ministerial decree of 8 April 1925.
Early career
Arturo Corrado Luigi Triangi came from a noble family and was the son of Giuseppe Triangi and his wife Elisabetta Thom.[1]
On October 16, 1878, he began training at the Naval School in Genoa. On 1 August 1883, at the end of five years at the naval school, he was appointed ensign of the general staff corps. His first assignment was on the cruiser Flavio Gioia. Over the next two years on board this ship, Triangi voyaged to South America, touching the major Atlantic and Pacific ports of the continent. Returning home on board the sloop Staffetta, he was promoted to second lieutenant in January 1886.[2]
His first assignment on a large vessel came after his appointment as lieutenant (14 April 1889), when he was assigned to the battleship Enrico Dandolo, one of the largest units of the Regia Marina. His first tour as a second officer was on board the Aquila (August–October 1888). His first command was on a torpedo boat, the 64.S, from 28 June 1896 to 3 June 1898, followed by a second on the torpedo boat 133. In November 1902, he was appointed commander of a squadron of torpedo boats. In September 1904 Triangi reached the rank of frigate captain and from 1 December 1909 to 29 September 1911 he commanded the Navy Engineer School. He was promoted to captain on 16 January 1910.[2]
Libyan war
During the Italo-Turkish War, Triangi was sent to Naples, where he was placed in charge of the loading operations of men and supplies destined for Libya. In March 1912, with the reorganization of the combined naval forces, Triangi was given superior naval command in Tripolitania aboard the armoured cruiser Carlo Alberto with the armored cruiser Marco Polo the torpedo cruisers Coatit and Agordat, and the torpedo boats Partenope and Iride.[3] He was tasked with maintaining control of the Tripoli coast and suppressing the smuggling of weapons in to Ottoman and indigenous forces who opposed the Italian invasion.[2]
He took part in the capture of Sidi Said (27–28 June 1912), the units under his command supporting the action led by General Alberto Cavaciocchi with the his ships’ guns.[4]: 95–8 With the same ships, Triangi also took part in the taking of Misrata.[4]: 158 During the early stages of the operation his ships bombed the enemy forces along the Zeira coast in preparation for an amphibious assault.[2]
First World War
From 1 May 1913 until 28 August 1914, Triangi was chief of staff of the 2nd naval squadron, serving aboard the battleship Regina Elena and then the Dante Alighieri. At the outbreak of the First World War he was seconded as chief of staff of the maritime military department of Venice, a position he held from 1 October 1914 to 1 February 1917. He was also promoted to rear admiral on 18 May 1916.[2]
In Venice Triangi worked with vice-admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, who had recently resigned as Navy Chief of Staff and been assigned to the Venice base. Together they developed naval and air operations in the Adriatic. In February 1917, when Thaon di Revel returned to office as Navy Chief of Staff, Triangi was appointed (1 February – 20 March 1917) to the position of general director of the royal crew corps. From 18 February 1917 he was transferred to an auxiliary role because of his age, but despite this Thaon di Revel appointed him deputy chief of staff of the Navy, a position he held until 16 June 1917.[2]
Political career
A political crisis developed in the Boselli government in 1917 over the exceptionally high shipping losses Italy was suffering as a result of German submarine activity, seriously disrupting the country’s war industries. The Navy Minister Camillo Corsi resigned and Thaon di Revel lobbied for Triangi to replace him. Triangi was appointed in his place on 16 June 1917 and a few days later was also made a senator.[5]
His period in office lasted only a matter of weeks. During a closed-door meeting in the Chamber of Deputies, he argued that the crisis in maritime transport could not easily be resolved, because America’s recent entry into the war was placing significant new demands on merchant shipping, meaning less was available for Italian use.[6] News of his pessimistic views reached the press, fuelling public anxiety about shortages. Shaken by the incident, Triangi’s health began to suffer, prompting him to resign on 15 July 1917. He also wrote to Count Giuseppe Manfredi, president of the Senate, offering resign his seat there too as he had been so briefly in office, but his offer was not accepted.[2]
After his resignation, Triangi returned to the position of deputy chief of staff to Thaon di Revel. On 26 August 1918 he was promoted to vice admiral of the naval reserve, a rank he retained until he left the general staff on 16 September 1918 and was placed in reserve. By ministerial decree of 8 April 1925 he was elevated to Conte di Maderno e Laces and on 16 September 1926 he was granted the rank of admiral of the naval reserve. His marriage to Lucia Misserly produced the children Anna Maddalena, Corrado and Sabina.[7][8]
Honours
 Grand Officer of the order of the Crown of Italy - ribbon for ordinary uniform | Grand Officer of the order of the Crown of Italy |
 Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus - ribbon for ordinary uniform | Commander of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus |
 Knight of the Military Order of Savoy - ribbon for ordinary uniform | Knight of the Military Order of Savoy |
.jpg.webp){kind=small} War Merit Cross - ribbon for ordinary uniform | War Merit Cross |
References
- ↑ "TRIANGI DI MADERNO E LACES Arturo". senato.it. Senato della Repubblica. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 De Ninno, Fabio. "TRIANGI, Arturo Corrado Luigi, conte di Maderno e Laces". treccani.it. Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
- ↑ Vitale, Massimo Adolfo (1959). L'Italia in Africa: L'opera della marina, 1868-1943. Rome: Istituto poligrafico dello Stato. p. 32. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- 1 2 Roncagli, Giovanni; Manfroni, Camillo (1926). Guerra italo-turca (1911-1912) cornistoria delle operazioni navali · Volume 2. Milan: Hoepli. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
- ↑ Halpern, Paul G. (2015). The Naval War in the Mediterranean 1914-1918. London: Taylor & Francis. ISBN 9781317391869. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ↑ Frassati, Luciana (1979). Un uomo, un giornale: Alfredo Frassati, vol. II. Rome: Ed. di Storia e Letteratura. p. 397. Retrieved 20 December 2023.
- ↑ Spreti, Vittorio (1932). Enciclopedia storico-nobiliare italiana Volume 6. Milan. p. 710. Retrieved 17 December 2023.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) - ↑ Gothaisches genealogisches Taschenbuch der gräflichen Häuser Volume 112. Gotha: Justus Perthes. 1939. pp. 603–4. Retrieved 17 December 2023.