Eugene of Savoy was a light cruiser of the Royal Italian Navy, belonging to the class type Commanders Duca d’Aosta.
The ship was so named in honor of the leader of the seventeenth century Savoy Eugene of Savoy, Prince of Savoy-Carignan, known as Prince Eugene during the Austro-Turkish war was the star next to the Polish King Jan Sobieski at the Battle of Vienna in Battle of Mohács alongside Charles V of Lorraine and at the Battle of Zenta, where in command of the ‘imperial army, defeated the Ottoman army, commanded by Sultan Mustafa II, after which Prince Eugene, been distinguished in the War of the Spanish Succession and in ‘siege of Turin in 1706 when he defeated the troops of the Duke La Feuillade hunting in practice from the French’ Italy.
In the same period in which the ‘Eugene of Savoy was serving in the Royal Navy, the Kriegsmarine operated the’ cruiser Prinz Eugen, entitled to the same character, which had previously been dedicated during the First World War to the Imperial-Royal Navy Austro-Hungarian battleship Class Tegetthoff Prinz Eugen.
Italian Cruiser Eugenio Di Savoia Service
Eugene of Savoy was set in 1933 in the Ansaldo shipyards in Genoa Sestri, launched in 1935, and entered service in 1936. Participated in actions in the Spanish Civil War. In 1938, he began with the twin Duca d’Aosta, a circumnavigation of the globe that interrupted the threat of the outbreak of World War II. The departure scheduled for 1 September 1938 took place on 5 November of the same year from Naples, while the return that was scheduled for July 25, 1939, at the end of January 1939 was anticipated with the lure of the ships returned to La Spezia March 3, 1939.
Italian Cruiser Eugenio Di Savoia War Activity
At the outbreak of World War II, he was framed along with his twin Duca d’Aosta Montecuculi and all ‘Attendolo in the VIIth Cruiser Division II First Team as part of the base in La Spezia as a sign of the ship’ Admiral Luigi Sansonetti.
During the conflict, it took place mainly in convoy escort duties and the laying of minefields. On 9 July 1940, he took part in the Battle of Punta Stilo, the first clash between the Royal Navy and the Royal Navy.
Together with Montecuculi, five destroyers on 18 December 1940 bombed the positions on the Greek island of Corfu.
In the summer of 1942, between 12 and 16 June, he took part in the battle of mid-June, raising the banner of Admiral Da Zara, managing to knock out, along with the Montecuculi, the destroyer HMS Bedouin, sank shortly afterward by an SM79 torpedo bomber, and set fire to the large tanker Kentucky, which had stopped after being hit by German aircraft. In the same summer, two months later, between 10 and 15 August, it was taken at the battle of mid-August.
While he was moored in Naples on December 4, 1942, the day of Santa Barbara, he was hit during a bombing by a Liberator, bringing damage to the rear of the hull repaired in 40 days, while among the crew, there were 17 dead and 46 wounded.
American planes started from ‘Egypt and arrived undisturbed on the city as it exchanged for a formation of German Ju 52, dropping their bombs over 6000 meters above sea level, also affecting Montecuculi, in addition to having 44 dead and 36 wounded seven months of work, and Muzio Attendolo, which struck at the heart of one or two bombs was damaged below the waterline then leaning semiaffondato and whose hull was salvaged and demolished at the end of the conflict.
He returned to service in January 1943 when ‘Eugenio di Savoia shot down two enemy bombers.
During all ‘the armistice of’ 8 September, the ship was in La Spezia, where, together with the other two units at that time, constituted the Division VII, Montecuculi el ‘Regulus, the battleships Roma, Vittorio Veneto, Italy’s Ninth Division, the destroyer gunner, Rifleman, a policeman and Velite the XII Squadron, destroyers Legionnaire, Oriani, Gunner and Grecale the XIV Squadron and a squadron of torpedo boats formed by Pegasus, Big Dipper, Orion, brave and reckless, he sailed to join the naval group from Genoa, formed by units of the Eighth Division, composed of Garibaldi, Duke of the Abruzzi and Duca d’Aosta and the torpedo boat Libra, and then surrender to the Allies in Malta together with other Italian naval units from Taranto.
After meeting with the units from Genoa to achieve homogeneity in the characteristics of the cruisers, the Duke of Aosta passed from VIII to VII Division, replacing the ‘Regulus that became part of the Eighth Division, with the ‘Eugene of Savoy, who rose the banner of’ Admiral Romeo Oliva.
During the transfer, the battleship Roma, flagship of ‘Admiral Bergamini, tragically sank in the afternoon of September 9 due centered by a Fritz X bomb dropped from a Dornier Do 217 of the German Luftwaffe. To take command of the fleet to Malta after the sinking of the Roma, it was Admiral Oliva who fulfilled one of the armistice terms, to raise the black brush of mourning on the yards and the discs blacks drawn on told.
In contrast, Admiral Bergamini, who was warned by telephone by De Courten that armistice was imminent and the relevant clauses related to the fleet, had gone on a rampage and then formally accepted orders reluctantly, had left the moorings will however be increased bunting and thus fulfilling the clause.
After reaching Malta‘s 11, the ship was interned in Alexandria, Egypt. Until the armistice had carried out 25 combat missions for 25,000 miles of sailing. On October 13, with the declaration of war of the Southern Kingdom to Germany and the beginning of co-belligerence after the ship returned to Italy, took part, along with the actions of Garibaldi patrol in the Mediterranean and in the Atlantic alongside the Allies to intercept pirate ships German.
On 29 February 1944, the ship was severely damaged after striking a mine at Punta Stilo but managed to reach Taranto, where he remained until the end of the conflict.
Elli
After the war ended under the terms of the peace treaty, after being put back in efficiency on 26 June 1951, it was handed over as reparation for war damages to Greece.
He joined the Hellenic Navy, which was renamed Elli (in Greek: Έλλη) in memory of the cruiser Light Greek sunk by Italian submarine Delfino on August 15, 1940, near the Greek island of Tinos.
In the new marina of belonging, he served as flagship of the fleet and was used by King Paul I of Greece during state visits in Istanbul in June 1952, Yugoslavia in September 1955, in Toulon in France in June 1956, and Lebanon in May 1958.
In 1959, he was sent to Suda island Crete as a fleet command ship of the Ionian Sea.
The ship was decommissioned in 1965 and was used during the dictatorship of the colonels as a prison ship for members of the Navy opponents of the regime until 1973 when it was scrapped.