Felice Napoleone Canevaro

Italian Wars of Independence

In 1859, with the rank of second lieutenant, Canevaro took part in Royal Sardinian Navy operations in the Adriatic Sea aboard the transport Beroldo and the sailing frigate Des Geneys during the Second Italian War of Independence.^[1]

In 1860, Canevaro arrived in Palermo, Sicily, aboard Maria Adelaide, the flagship of the Sardinian squadron. When the supporters of the Italian nationalist leader General Giuseppe Garibaldi organized their navy, he resigned from the Royal Sardinian Navy to enlist in the Garibaldian navy. Aboard the steam frigate Tukory on the night of 13 August 1860, Canevaro distinguished himself during an unsuccessful attempt to board the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies steam ship-of-the-line Monarca while she was anchored in the port of Castellammare di Stabia. He received the Silver Medal of Military Valor for his actions during this engagement.^[1]

In the autumn of 1860, Canevarro was reinstated in the Royal Sardinian Navy. While embarked on the Sardinian steam frigate Carlo Alberto from December 1860 to March 1861, he took part in the Siege of Gaeta and a siege of Messina during operations in which Carlo Alberto repeatedly exchanged fire with hostile forces at close range along the coast. After the campaign, he was made a Knight of the Military Order of Savoy, and in 1863, he was promoted to luogotenente de vascello. In 1865–1866, Canevaro was on board the steam frigate Principe Umberto, under the command Guglielmo Acton, during a long cruise that included a transatlantic voyage, operations along the Atlantic coast of South America, a transit of the Strait of Magellan into the Pacific Ocean, and steaming up the coast of Chile.^[1]

Canevaro and the officers of the battleship Italia pose under a pair of her 17-inch (432 mm) guns.

On returning to Italy, he was assigned to the broadside ironclad Re di Portogallo, commanded by Augusto Riboty. Aboard Re di Portogallo, he took part in 1866 in the Third Italian War of Independence, during which the ship was engaged in operations against the fortress of Lissa in the Adriatic Sea. As flagship of the 3rd Division, and with Canevaro aboard as the division's chief-of-staff, Re di Portogallo led the division's attack on Porto San Giorgio on 18 July 1866.^[1]

"The Admirals of the Powers in Cretan Waters" (Sketch from Black and White, 10 April 1897). Canevaro, serving at the time as commander of the International Squadron, is fourth from left.

Illustration as it appeared in The Graphic on 13 March 1897 of warships of the International Squadron bombarding Christian insurgents above Chania, Crete, on 21 February 1897. It probably is reversed.

Battle of Lissa

On 20 July 1866, Re di Portogallo played a particularly prominent role in the Battle of Lissa against the Austrian fleet.^[1] She first opened fire on the Austrian steam corvette SMS Erzherzog Friedrich, scoring a hit below the waterline that opened a leak that caused more water to enter Erzherzog Friedrich than her pumps could handle, forcing Erzherzog Friedrich to retreat in the direction of Lissa. While chasing the damaged Erzherzog Friedrich, Re di Portogallo sighted the Austrian steam ship-of-the-line SMS Kaiser, which, although seriously damaged by a broadside fired by the Italian ironclad ram Affondatore, was approaching to defend Erzherzog Friedrich.^[2][3] Re di Portogallo attempted to ram Kaiser, but Kaiser steered toward Re di Portogallo and the two ships collided violently head-on.^[2] Kaiser had the worst of the collision, which badly damaged her bow, destroyed her bowsprit, and left her figurehead, a wooden statue of the Austrian emperor Kaiser Franz Joseph I, stuck in the hull of Re di Portogallo; it became an Italian war trophy.^[2][3] Entangled with Kaiser, Re di Portogallo pummeled her with gunfire at close range, inflicting many casualties on her crew and bringing down her foresail, which crashed onto her funnel. Re di Portogallo put her engines astern to pull away from Kaiser and maneuver to ram her again, but could not resume her attack because smoke had concealed Kaiser, which the officers of Re di Portogallo mistakenly believed may have sunk. As the battle continued Re di Portogallo found herself surrounded by four Austrian ships, but she managed to escape from them thanks to the ability of her commander, Riboty.^[2] One of the Italian ships most heavily involved in the battle,^[1] Re di Portogallo suffered serious damage, including the loss of her anchors and some of her boats and having 18 metres (59 ft) of her armor dislodged, most of this damage occurring during the duel with Kaiser. Although the outcome of the Battle of Lissa ultimately was disastrous for the Italian fleet,^[2] Canevaro received a second award of the Silver Medal for Military Valor,^[1] while Re di Portogallo's comanding officer Riboty received the Gold Medal of Military Valor.^[4]

1870s–1890s

Promoted to capitano di fregata in 1869, Canevaro served as a naval attaché at the Italian embassy in London from March 1874 to August 1876. From January 1877 to March 1879, while in command of the cruiser Colombo, he circumnavigated the globe, departing Italy, transiting the Suez Canal, skirting Asia, visiting ports in China and the Netherlands East Indies – where Colombo recovered the body of the Italian general and politician Nino Bixio, who had died of cholera in Banda Aceh on Sumatra in 1873 – and then went on to Japan, Russia (including Siberia), Australia and the Americas. After transiting the Strait of Magellan into the Atlantic Ocean, Colombo steamed up the coast of South America to the Caribbean, then crossed the Atlantic to return to Italy.^[1]

Promoted to capitano di vascello, Canevaro performed various important duties, including service as chief-of-staff of the 3rd Maritime Department headquartered at Venice, second-in-command of the Italian Naval Academy, and commanding officer of the ironclad battleship Italia. In 1884, while in command of Italia, he played an active role in humanitarian work and public health during a cholera epidemic in La Spezia, and he received the Silver Medal for Civil Valor for these efforts.^[1]

Promoted to counter admiral (the equivalent of rear admiral) in 1887,^[1] Canevaro assumed command of the arsenal of Taranto and later of the 2nd Naval Division of the Permanent Squadron.^[1] He was promoted to vice admiral in 1893,^[1] and King Umberto I appointed him a Senator of the Kingdom of Italy – an appointment for life – in 1896,^[1] the same year in which he assumed command of the Regia Marina's Naval Squadron.

International Squadron

In February 1897, when a Christian uprising against the authority of the Ottoman Empire broke out on the island of Crete, Canevaro arrived at Crete in command of the 1st Division of the 1st Squadron, consisting of the ironclad battleships Sicilia (his flagship) and Re Umberto, the protected cruiser Vesuvio, and the torpedo cruiser Euridice. Canevaro – who relieved the commander of the Italian naval squadron, Rear Admiral Gualterio, who had previously been in command of the 2nd Naval Division – assumed command of the International Squadron of warships off Crete on 16 or 17 February 1897 (sources differ) as the most senior admiral present, and took up duties as president of the "Admirals Council," which consisted of the senior admirals present off Crete of each of the six countries participating in the International Squadron.^[1][5] The squadron put landing detachments ashore, but Christian insurgents continued to attack Ottoman forces and Canevaro soon ordered International Squadron ships to bombard them during February and March 1897 to stop the fighting. Although some political opponents in the Italian legislature attacked him for ordering the International Squadron to bombard the insurgents, Canevaro received great credit during his time in command of the squadron for his ability to exercise diplomacy and mediate disputes between the six Great Powers – Austria-Hungary, France, the German Empire, Italy, the Russian Empire, and the United Kingdom – making up the squadron and for the way in which he dealt with the confusing and anarchic situation on Crete, balancing humanitarian compassion and a spirit of conciliation in his dealings with Greek, Christian insurgent, and Ottoman forces on the island with the occasional need to use force to halt fighting and quell disturbances. Before leaving the International Squadron in 1898, Canevaro negotiated an agreement under which all combat on Crete would cease and Greece and the Ottoman Empire would withdraw their forces from the island in anticipation of the creation of an autonomous Cretan State under the suzerainty of the Ottoman sultan.^[1] Such was his reputation that when the creation of an office of High Commissioner of the Cretan State was proposed in the spring of 1898, Canevaro received an invitation to become the first high commissioner, but he declined the offer, and instead Prince George of Greece and Denmark became the first high commissioner when the Cretan State finally came into existence in December 1898.^[1]