Adone Del Cima

Adone Del Cima (1898-1943) was an officer of Regia Marina that was named in 1942 the first and the only commander of battleship Roma.

Life
Born in Viareggio he joined Regia Marina on 1 November 1917. In 1942, he assumed the duty of Captain of Battleship Roma. At 3:00 on 9 September, 5 hours after the proclamation of the Armistice with Italy the Roma left the harbour of La Spezia with the entire Italian fleet in order to surrender the ship to British forces in North Africa, but near the island of Asinara the Italian fleet was attacked by the Luftwaffe and Roma was hit with 2 Fritz X bombs and sunk. About 1400 sailors and officers died, Del Cima was one of the deaths. Del Cima received the Silver Medal of Military Valor.