View source for Italian destroyer Agostino Bertani

{{short description|Italian ''La Masa''-class destroyer}}
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|Ship country=[[Kingdom of Italy]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|Kingdom of Italy|naval}}
|Ship name=''Agostino Bertani''
|Ship namesake=[[Agostino Bertani]] (1812–1886), Italian patriot and politician
|Ship owner=
|Ship ordered=
|Ship builder=''[[Cantieri navali Odero]]'', {{nowrap|[[Sestri Ponente]], [[Kingdom of Italy]]}}
|Ship laid down=23 December 1917
|Ship launched=6 June 1919
|Ship acquired=
|Ship completed=13 June 1919
|Ship commissioned=13 June 1919
|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]] BR
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship struck=January 1921
|Ship reinstated=January 1921
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship renamed=''Enrico Cosenz'' January&nbsp;1921
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{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship namesake=[[Enrico Cosenz]] (1820–1898), Italian general and politician
|Ship identification=Pennant number CS
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship reclassified=[[Torpedo boat]] 1929
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship honors=
|Ship fate=[[Scuttling|Scuttled]] 27&nbsp;September&nbsp;1943
|Ship notes=
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{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header =
|Header caption =(as built)
|Ship type = [[Destroyer]]
|Ship displacement =*{{convert|785|LT|t|0|abbr=on}} (standard)
*{{convert|851|LT|t|0|lk=on}} ([[full load]])
|Ship length = {{convert|72.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}} ([[Waterline length|waterline]])
|Ship beam = {{convert|7.3|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship draught = {{convert|2.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship power =*{{convert|15,500|shp|0|abbr=on|lk=on}}
*maximum {{convert|17,000|shp|0|abbr=on}}
|Ship propulsion =*2 × [[Franco Tosi Meccanica|Tosi]] steam turbines
*4 × [[Three-drum boiler#Thornycroft boiler|Thornycroft boilers]]
|Ship speed = {{convert|33.6|kn|lk=in}}
|Ship range = *{{convert|2,230|nmi|sigfig=3|lk=in|abbr=on}} at {{convert|12.5|kn}} 
*{{convert|410|nmi|sigfig=3|abbr=on}} at {{convert|28.5|kn}}
|Ship complement = 4 [[Commissioned officer|officers]], 74 [[non-commissioned officer]]s and sailors
|Ship crew =
|Ship sensors =
|Ship EW =
|Ship armament =*'''As built:'''
*4 × [[Cannon 102/45|{{Convert|102|mm|in|0|abbr=on}}/45]] guns
*2 × [[Cannon 76/40 Model 1916|{{Convert|76.2|mm|in|0|abbr=on}}/40]] AA
*4 × {{Convert|450|mm|in|0|abbr=on}} [[torpedo tube]]s
*10 [[Naval mine|mine]]s
|Ship armour =
|Ship notes =
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|}
'''''Agostino&nbsp;Bertani''''' was an Italian {{sclass|La Masa|destroyer}}. She was [[Ship commissioning|commissioned]] into service in the Italian {{lang|it|[[Regia Marina]]}} (Royal Navy) in 1919. Her crew supported [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]]′s actions in [[Fiume]] in 1920, and as a consequence she was renamed '''''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz''''' in 1921. Reclassified as a [[torpedo boat]] in 1929, she took part in the [[Battle of the Mediterranean|Mediterranean campaign]] and the [[Adriatic Campaign of World War II|Adriatic campaign]] of [[World War II]] until the Italian [[Armistice of Cassibile|armistice]] with the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] in 1943, shortly after which her crew [[Scuttling|scuttled]] her to prevent her capture by German forces. She was involved in four collisions during her operational career.

==Construction and commissioning==
''Agostino Bertani'' was [[Keel-laying|laid down]] at the {{lang|it|[[Cantieri navali Odero]]}} ({{langx|en|Odero [[Shipyard]]}}) in [[Sestri Ponente]], [[Italy]], on 23&nbsp;December&nbsp;1917. She was [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 6&nbsp;June&nbsp;1919 and completed and [[ship commissioning|commissioned]] on 13&nbsp;June&nbsp;1919.{{sfn|Fraccaroli|1985|pp=252, 290}}

==Service history==
=== 1921–1940 ===
Before Italy entered [[World War I]] in May 1915, it had made a pact with the [[Allies of World War I|Allies]], the [[Treaty of London (1915)|Treaty of London]] of 1915, in which it was promised all of the [[Austrian Littoral]], but not the city of Fiume (known in [[Croatian language|Croatian]] as [[Rijeka]]). By late October&nbsp;1918, [[Austria-Hungary]] had effectively disintegrated, and the [[Armistice of Villa Giusti]], signed on 3&nbsp;November&nbsp;1918, went into effect on 4&nbsp;November&nbsp;1918 and brought hostilities between Austria-Hungary and the Allies to an end. World War I ended a week later with the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice]] between the Allies and the [[German Empire]] on 11&nbsp;November&nbsp;1918. At the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|Paris Peace Conference]] in 1919, this delineation of territory under the Treaty of London was confirmed, with Fiume remaining outside of Italy's borders and amalgamated into the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (which in 1929 would be renamed the [[Kingdom of Yugoslavia]]). Opposing this outcome, the poet and [[Italian nationalism|Italian nationalist]] [[Gabriele D'Annunzio]] led a force of about 2,600 so-called "[[Roman legionary|legionaries]]" to Fiume and seized the city in September 1919 in what became known as the {{lang|it|Impresa di Fiume}} ("Fiume endeavor" or "Fiume enterprise"). On the night of {{nowrap|7–8 October 1919,}} ''Agostino&nbsp;Bertani'' was moored at the ''Molo&nbsp;Sanità'' (Sanità&nbsp;[[Pier]]) in [[Trieste]] when, following disturbances aboard the ship, [[Commissioned officer|officers]] who sided with D'Annunzio seized control of the ship and took her to Fiume.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.loccidentale.it/node/103063 |title=Quando la pirateria era made in Italy {{!}} l'Occidentale<!-- Title generated automatically --> |access-date=23 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304120452/http://www.loccidentale.it/node/103063 |archive-date=4 March 2016| language=it}}</ref><ref name="giuseppemarchese">{{Cite web|url=http://www.giuseppemarchese.it/articoli/art_144/art144.html|title=Le navi italiane a Fiume 1918-1921<!-- Title generated automatically -->|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101105005139/http://www.giuseppemarchese.it/articoli/art_144/art144.html|archive-date=5 November 2010|language=it }}</ref><ref name="trentoincina">{{Cite web|url=http://www.trentoincina.it/dbunita2.php?short_name=Cosenz|title=Trentoincina<!-- Title generated automatically -->}} (in Italian).</ref>

D'Annunzio declared Fiume to be the [[Italian Regency of Carnaro]] in September 1920. Relations between Italy and D'Annunzio's government continued to deteriorate, and after Italy signed the [[Treaty of Rapallo (1920)|Treaty of Rapallo]] with the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes in November 1920, making Fiume an independent state as the [[Free State of Fiume]] rather than incorporating it into Italy, D'Annunzio declared war on Italy. Italy launched a full-scale invasion of Fiume on 24&nbsp;December&nbsp;1920, beginning what became known as the [[Bloody Christmas (1920)|Bloody Christmas]]. The Bloody Christmas fighting ended on 29&nbsp;December&nbsp;1920 in D'Annunzio's defeat and the establishment of the Free State of Fiume. With the Fiume affair at an end, ''Agostino&nbsp;Bertani'' surrendered to Italian forces and returned to ''Regia&nbsp;Marina'' control. In {{nowrap|mid-January 1921}} she moved to [[Pula|Pola]] and was stricken temporarily from the [[naval register]]. She quickly was reinstated as a ship of the ''Regia&nbsp;Marina'' with the new name ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz''.<ref name="giuseppemarchese"/><ref name="trentoincina"/>

On 19&nbsp;February&nbsp;1926, the destroyer ''[[Italian destroyer Francesco Nullo (1914)|Fratelli&nbsp;Cairoli]]'' accidentally rammed ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz''.<ref name="trentoincina"/> ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' was reclassified as a [[torpedo boat]] on 1929.<ref name="Marina Militare">{{Cite web|url=http://www.marina.difesa.it/storiacultura/storia/almanacco/Pagine/ABCD/bertani.aspx|title=Marina Militare<!-- Title generated automatically -->}} (in Italian).</ref>

===World War II===
[[World War II]] broke out in September 1939 with [[Nazi Germany]]'s [[invasion of Poland]]. [[Fascist Italy]] joined the war on the side of the [[Axis powers]] with its [[Italian invasion of France|invasion of France]] on 10&nbsp;June&nbsp;1940. At the time, ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' was based at [[Brindisi]] as part of the 7th Torpedo Boat [[Squadron (naval)|Squadron]], which also included the torpedo boats {{nowrap|{{ship|Italian destroyer|Angelo Bassini||2}}}}, {{nowrap|{{ship|Italian destroyer|Giacomo Medici||2}},}} and {{nowrap|{{ship|Italian destroyer|Nicola Fabrizi||2}}.}} During the war, she operated on escort duty, at first along the shipping routes between Italy and [[North Africa]] and later in the [[Tyrrhenian Sea]].<ref name="trentoincina"/>

At the end of September 1940, ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' was escorting a [[steamship]] of around 700 [[gross register ton]]s in the [[Eastern Mediterranean]] when a [[submarine]] [[torpedo]]ed the steamer. After ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' counterattacked with [[depth charge]]s, her crew reported seeing a presumably British submarine come to the surface, [[Angle of list|listng heavily]], and sinking. Although the Italian [[Royal Italian Army|Royal Army′s]] official bulletin<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.regioesercito.it/bollettini/09_40.htm|title=Regio Esercito - I Bollettini del Comando Supremo: Settembre 1940<!-- Title generated automatically -->}} (in Italian).</ref> and the newspaper ''[[La Domenica del Corriere]]'' (''The Sunday Courier'')<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.collezione-online.it/domenica_corriere_anno_42_n.41_torpediniera_cosenz.htm|title=''La Domenica del Corriere'', anno 42, nº 41, torpediniera Cosenz<!-- Title generated automatically -->|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317053047/http://www.collezione-online.it/domenica_corriere_anno_42_n.41_torpediniera_cosenz.htm |archive-date=17 March 2011 }} (in Italian).</ref> both reported that ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' had sunk a British submarine, British records do not confirm the loss of a submarine.

From {{nowrap|11 to 12 October 1940}} ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' escorted the [[merchant ship]] ''Col di Lana'' from [[Tripoli, Libya|Tripoli]], [[Italian Libya|Libya]], to [[Naples]], Italy.<ref>Giorgio Giorgerini, ''La guerra italiana sul mare. La Marina tra vittoria e sconfitta 1940-1943'', p. 455 (in Italian).</ref>

After 1940, ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' underwent a revision of her armament which saw the removal of two {{convert|102|mm|0|adj=on}} guns and two [[torpedo tube]]s and the replacement of her {{convert|76|mm|0|adj=on}} guns with six 20-millimetre [[autocannon]]s.<ref name="Marina Militare"/> On 9&nbsp;April&nbsp;1941 she got underway from Naples with the destroyer {{ship|Italian destroyer|Dardo|1930|2}} and the torpedo boats {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Clio|1938|2}}  and {{ship|Italian torpedo boat|Generale Achille Papa||2}} to escort the merchant ships ''Andrea Gritti'', ''Barbarigo'', ''Burmania'', ''Rialto'', and ''Sebastiano Venier'' to Tripoli. The [[convoy]] arrived at Tripoli without incident on 11&nbsp;April&nbsp;1941.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4104-31APR01.htm|title=German raiders and British armed merchant cruisers, April 1941<!-- Title generated automatically -->}}</ref>

At 05:30 on 21 November 1941, ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' departed Naples with the destroyer {{ship|Italian destroyer|Nicoloso da Recco||2}} to escort the modern merchant ship ''Monginevro'' and the large [[Tanker (ship)|tanker]] ''Iridio&nbsp;Mantovani'' to Libya. During the operation, British forces attacked the convoy's distant cover force, torpedoing and seriously damaging the [[heavy cruiser]] {{ship|Italian cruiser|Trieste||2}} and the [[light cruiser]] {{ship|Italian cruiser|Luigi di Savoia Duca degli Abruzzi||2}}.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.naval-history.net/xDKWW2-4111-38NOV02.htm|title=KMS Kormoran and HMAS Sydney, KMS Atlantis and HMS Dunedin lost, November 1941<!-- Title generated automatically -->}}</ref>

At 04:50 on 21&nbsp;January&nbsp;1942, ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' collided with the auxiliary [[Tugboat|tug]]/[[minesweeper]] ''G 76 America'' while arriving at [[Trapani]], [[Sicily]].{{sfn|Notarangelo|Pagano|1997|p=24}} Just over a month later, at around 21:00 on 22&nbsp;February&nbsp;1942, she accidentally rammed the steamship {{SS|Luisa||2}}, loaded with [[coal]], in the [[Strait of Messina]]. ''Luisa'' sank in about 20 minutes.{{sfn|Notarangelo|Pagano|1997|p=283}}

On 17&nbsp;October&nbsp;1942, ''Giuseppe Dezza'' left Naples at 04:10 with the destroyers {{ship|Italian destroyer|Maestrale||2}} and {{ship|Italian destroyer|Grecale||2}} and the torpedo boat {{nowrap|{{ship|Italian destroyer|Giuseppe Sirtori||2}}}} to escort the tanker ''Panuco'' to Tripoli.<ref name="hma2">[http://www.historisches-marinearchiv.de/projekte/asa/ausgabe.php?where_value=2449 Historisches MarineArchiv (in German).]</ref> On 18&nbsp;October the British submarine {{HMS|Una}} unsuccessfully attacked ''Panuco'' north of [[Catania]], Sicily, with torpedoes, and later the ships came under attack by Allied aircraft, prompting the convoy to divert to [[Taranto]], Italy, where it arrived at 02:00 on 20&nbsp;October.<ref name="hma2"/>

On 8&nbsp;September&nbsp;1943, the Kingdom of Italy announced an [[Armistice of Cassibile|armistice]] with the Allies and [[Kingdom of the South|switched sides]] in the war, prompting [[Nazi Germany]] to begin [[Operation Achse]], the disarmament by force of the Italian armed forces and the occupation of those portions of Italy not yet under Allied control. ''Enrico&nbsp;Cosenz'' avoided capture, but on 25&nbsp;September&nbsp;1943 suffered damage in another collision, this time with the steamer {{SS|Ulisse||2}} off [[Lastovo]] (known to the Italians as Lagosta) in the [[Adriatic Sea]] off the coast of [[Dalmatia]].<ref name="trentoincina"/> On 27&nbsp;September&nbsp;1943, German aircraft inflicted further damage on her, and later that day her crew [[Scuttling|scuttled]] her in the Adriatic Sea off Lastovo to prevent her capture by German forces.<ref name="trentoincina"/>

==References==
===Citations===
{{reflist}}
=== Bibliography ===
* {{cite book
  |first=Franco
  |last=Favre
  |title=La Marina nella Grande Guerra. Le operazioni navali, aeree, subacquee e terrestri in Adriatico
  |trans-title=
  |language=it
    }}
* {{cite book|last=Fraccaroli|first=Aldo|title=Italian Warships of World War 1|year=1970|publisher=Ian Allan|location=London|isbn=0-7110-0105-7}}
* {{cite book|last=Fraccaroli|first=Aldo|chapter=Italy|pages=252–290|editor1-last=Gray|editor1-first=Randal|title=Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921|year=1985|location=Annapolis |publisher=Naval Institute Press|isbn=978-0-87021-907-8}}
* {{cite book|first1= Rolando |last1=Notarangelo |first2= Gian Paolo |last2=Pagano |title= Navi mercantili perdute |location= [[Rome]] |publisher= Ufficio Storico Marina Militare |year= 1997 |isbn= 978-88-98485-22-2 |language=it}}
*{{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M.J.|title=Destroyers of World War Two: An International Encyclopedia |year=2000|publisher=Cassell & Co|location=London|isbn=1-85409-521-8}}
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==External links==-->

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{{La Masa class destroyer}}
{{1926 shipwrecks}}
{{January 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{February 1942 shipwrecks}}
{{September 1943 shipwrecks}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Agostino Bertani}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Italian destroyer ''Agostino Bertani''}}
[[Category:La Masa-class destroyers| ]]
[[Category:1919 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built by Cantieri navali Odero]]
[[Category:Destroyers of the Regia Marina]]
[[Category:World War II torpedo boats of Italy]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in 1926]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in January 1942]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in February 1942]]
[[Category:Maritime incidents in September 1943]]
[[Category:Scuttled vessels]]
[[Category:World War II shipwrecks in the Adriatic Sea]]