Costantino Borsini

Costantino Borsini (April 7, 1906 – October 21, 1940) was an Italian naval officer during World War II. He received the Gold Medal of Military Valor for his actions in command of the destroyer in the Attack on Convoy BN 7 in October 1940.

Biography Borsini was born in Milan in 1906. He was a top student at the Naval Academy of Livorno from March 15, 1922, to November 15, 1926. There he graduated as an ensign, before embarking on the battleship Giulio Cesare. He was then transferred to the battleship Andrea Doria and later served in succession on the hydrographic ship Ammiraglio Magnaghi, the destroyer , the destroyer (after promotion to sub-lieutenant on 1 January 1929) and again on Giulio Cesare, being promoted to lieutenant in July 1932.

In 1933 he joined the Italian Naval Detachment in Tianjin (China). At his return to Italy he attended the course in Taranto as "Aircraft Observer" (naval officer attached to Regia Aeronautica aircraft employed against shipping) and in 1935 he received his patent; he subsequently served for one year as member of the 153rd Seaplane Squadron.

He was then transferred to the submarine branch until 1937, when he became executive officer on the destroyer , after which he was given command of the torpedo boat .

In January 1940 he was embarked on the colonial ship Eritrea, stationed in the Eritrean Red Sea at Massawa, and in May of that year he was promoted to lieutenant commander and was given command of the destroyer , operating in the Red Sea.

On October 21, following the unsuccessful attack on convoy BN 7, Borsini fought a fierce battle off Harmil island against HMS Kimberley. In the battle, Nullo was seriously damaged, and Borsini brought his ship toward an Italian coastal battery so that its guns could hit Kimberley.

When Nullo started to sink, Borsini ordered the crew to save themselves, and decided to go down with his ship while at his command post. His orderly, seaman Vincenzo Ciaravolo, went back on board the sinking ship to reach his commander, and both went down with the ship. Both posthumously were awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valor. The attacking British destroyer Kimberley was hit by the Italian batteries and remained in repair until spring 1941.

Action off Harmil Island

After the first minutes of combat against the British convoy BN 7, Francesco Nullo manoeuvred so as to attack again the convoy before following the destroyer Pantera toward Massawa, but Nullo s crew, 190 survived and were rescued by personnel of the Harmil battery, while 12 perished in combat and two (Lieutenant Commander Borsini and his orderly Ciaravolo) voluntarily sank with the ship. The Italian Royal Navy, fearing that such attitude would cause the loss of too many experienced commanders (two more Italian navy commanders - Enrico Baroni of destroyer Espero and Lorenzo Bezzi of submarine Liuzzi - had already done so in the few months of war since Italy declared war to the Allies in June 1940), emitted on the next week an informal 'instruction' discouraging such actions (to little avail, as such episodes happened again several times during the war).