Italian rank titles do not map neatly onto familiar British or NATO equivalents, as the difficulty of fitting them into STANAG 2116 illustrates. The episode then sets out the institutional problem Cavagnari faced: as Chief of the Naval Staff, he answered to Mussolini, who had made himself Minister of the Navy. The dictator combined political authority with nominal control of the naval ministry. Direct access to Mussolini still did not produce sound naval direction.
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Italian naval ranks and Cavagnari's post
The opening translates the Regia Marina's rank structure before placing Domenico Cavagnari beneath Mussolini's personal naval ministry.