ABSTRACT
As we have seen in the preceding chapters, the Italian navy by its very presence weighed heavily in the minds of Austrian naval leaders such as Haus, and to a large degree influenced – the Germans might say paralysed – their action. The Austrian leaders were correct for, once free of the possibility or nightmare of having to fight as Austria’s ally, the Chief of the Italian Naval Staff returned to the traditional problem of preparing for war in the Adriatic. Paolo Count Thaon di Revel was Capo di Stato Maggiore for most of the war except for the period from October 1915 to February 1917 when he was C.-in-C. at Venice. He would emerge from the war as the dominant figure in the Regia Marina. Authoritarian in temperament, he seemed the terror of his subordinates and displayed a ferocious energy not always found among the senior officers of that service. He would also be a thorn in the side of the Allies for his stubborn and singleminded determination to uphold what he considered to be Italy’s vital interests in what critics have described as a naval form of sacro egoismo. Revel was a member of a noble Piedmontese family with a long tradition of service to the state. Admiral Sims, commander of US forces in European waters, described him with tongue in cheek as ‘a source of continual delight’ and went on to say:
… Someone remarked that he was in reality an Irishman who had escaped into Italy; and this facetious characterization was not really inapt. His shock of red hair, his reddish beard, and his short stocky figure almost persuaded one that County Cork was his native soil. He delivered his opinions with an insistence which indicated that he entertained little doubt about their soundness; he was not particularly patient if they were called in question; yet he was so courteous, so energetic, and so entertaining that he was a general favourite.
