Qualla: Italian Destroyer Antonio Mosto

Italian Destroyer Antonio Mosto: Introduction

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Most warships of her era did not survive. The Antonio Mosto did — through two world wars, an armistice, a change of allegiance, and a change of government. She was laid down at the Cantiere Pattison shipyard in Naples in October 1913, launched in May 1915, and commissioned in July 1915, just weeks after Italy entered the First World War. She was still in service when that war's sequel ended in May 1945. She was reclassified as a minesweeper in 1953. She was the last of her class to leave service, stricken from the naval register on 15 December 1958 — forty-three years after she first put to sea.

Italian Destroyer Antonio Mosto: First War: The Adriatic, Submarines, and Otranto

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Italy declared war on Austria-Hungary on 23 May 1915. The Antonio Mosto was commissioned seven weeks later. Her early service was in the Adriatic, where the Italian and Austro-Hungarian navies contested control of the sea routes between Italy's Adriatic ports and the Albanian coa...

Italian Destroyer Antonio Mosto: The Battle of the Strait of Otranto

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The largest naval action of the Adriatic campaign of the First World War came on 15 May 1917, when Austro-Hungarian forces staged a two-pronged attack against the Otranto Barrage — the anti-submarine barrier the Allies had stretched across the strait — and against Italian convoy ...

Italian Destroyer Antonio Mosto: Between the Wars, and Into the Second

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

After 1918, the Antonio Mosto's armament was revised and her displacement rose to 900 tonnes. In 1929 she was reclassified as a torpedo boat, the same designation given to her sometime companion the Angelo Bassini. When Italy entered the Second World War in June 1940, the Antonio...

Italian Destroyer Antonio Mosto: The Armistice and the Change of Sides

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

On 8 September 1943, Italy announced an armistice with the Allies and switched sides in the war. Nazi Germany immediately began Operation Achse — the forcible disarmament of Italian military units and the occupation of Italian-held territory. Ships that hesitated or were caught i...

Italian Destroyer Antonio Mosto: After the War: Longest-Serving of Her Kind

Sun, 14 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT

The Italian monarchy was abolished in 1946. The Regia Marina became the Marina Militare of the Italian Republic. The Antonio Mosto stayed in service under both flags. In 1953, she was reclassified as a minesweeper and given the pennant number M 5335 — a role suited to a ship now ...