Enrico Accorretti

He was born in Macerata on July 14, 1888, the son of Marquis Giuseppe Accorretti, lieutenant colonel in the cavalry of the Royal Italian Army, and of Bianca Malacari Misturi. After attending the first year at the Institute of Social Sciences of the University of Florence, he chose to pursue a military career like his father and brother Alberto.^[1][2]

In 1907 he entered the Royal Naval Academy of Livorno, graduating in 1911 with the rank of ensign. He served on the armored cruiser Pisa during the Italo-Turkish War. After the Kingdom of Italy entered World War I on 24 May 1915, he first served as a navigation officer on the destroyer Ardito, engaged in the protection of naval traffic between Brindisi and La Spezia, and later on the protected cruiser Piemonte, operating within the Anglo-French squadron stationed in Thessaloniki. After returning to Italy in 1917 he became aide of Admiral Luigi Cito Filomarino in Venice, and later of the Duke of Spoleto and of the commander of the Third Army, Lieutenant General Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-Aosta. He developed an interest in aviation and obtained the license of seaplane pilot, after which (having been meanwhile promoted to lieutenant) he was assigned to the "Giuseppe Miraglia" seaplane station in Venice as group leader of the bombing squadrons, participating in the bombing of Pola on 17 July 1918. Altogether he carried out twenty flight missions and was awarded a Silver Medal of Military Valour.^[1][2]

After the end of the Great War he embarked again on the Pisa, stationed in the Levant, and resumed his studies, obtaining a degree in social sciences in 1924. In 1920 he took part in a cruise to Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay on board the battleship Roma. In 1922 he assumed the superior naval command for the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean with the gunboat Misurata as flagship, participating in the studies on the first military operations aimed at reasserting Italian sovereignty over Somalia. In 1924 he was promoted to lieutenant commander and given command of the destroyer Castelfidardo, and in 1925–26 he became commander of the 2nd Destroyer Squadron. From 22 April 1927 to 11 September 1928, after promotion to commander, he was once again appointed commander of Italian naval forces in the Red Sea, as well as naval commander of Massawa, with the minelayer Legnano as flagship. In 1929 he was appointed Deputy Chief of Staff of Admiral Antonio Foschini, commander of the Special Naval Division.^[1][2]

In 1930 he married Miss Nerina Varvaro and attended the naval warfare school, at the end of which he returned to sea as commander of the destroyer Emanuele Pessagno and then of the 5th Torpedo Boat Squadron, with flag on Giuseppe Cesare Abba. He was then transferred to the office of the Chief of Staff of the Navy and in 1934 he was promoted to captain, taking command of the heavy cruiser Zara from 16 September 1934 to 14 August 1935. At the outbreak of the Second Italo-Ethiopian War he was once again sent to the Red Sea, where he helped with the logistics organization, and then took command of the torpedo boat group based in Massawa. He was part of the retinue of Princess Yolanda of Savoy when she made a visit to Eritrea and the Indian Ocean on the hospital ship Cesarea. In late 1938 he was sent to Spain as commander of the Italian naval mission, set up at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, which had the dual purpose of supporting the Corpo Truppe Volontarie and acting as a liaison with the Nationalist Navy of Generalissimo Francisco Franco. He fought personally in the battle of Catalonia, and was among the first to enter Barcelona in January 1939, earning another Silver Medal of Military Valor. As the war was ending in favor of the Nationalists, he performed diplomatic tasks by forging ties between the two countries, and after the war he was promoted to rear admiral and became naval attaché at the Italian Embassy in Madrid.^[1][2]