Inigo Campioni

Inigo Campioni
Ammiraglio di Squadra Inigo Campioni in 1940
Born	(1878-11-14)14 November 1878 Viareggio, Tuscany, Italy
Died	24 May 1944(1944-05-24) (aged 65) Parma, Italy
Buried at	Bari, Italy
Allegiance	Kingdom of Italy
Service/branch	Regia Marina
Years of service	1896–1944
Rank	Ammiraglio di Squadra (Squadron Vice Admiral)
Commands held	Ardito (destroyer) Caio Duilio (battleship) Trento (heavy cruiser) 5th Naval Division 1st Naval Squadron Italian Aegean Islands
Battles/wars	Italo-Turkish War World War I Adriatic Campaign Second Italo-Abyssinian War World War II Battle of the Mediterranean Battle of Calabria Battle of Taranto Operation White Battle of Cape Spartivento Dodecanese Campaign
Awards	Bronze Medal of Military Valor, September 1917 War Merit Cross, December 1918 Life Senator of the Kingdom of Italy, 1939 Commander of the Military Order of Savoy, June 1940-July 1941 Gold Medal of Military Valor, November 1947 (posthumous)

Inigo Campioni (14 November 1878 – 24 May 1944) was an Italian naval officer during most of the first half of the 20th century. He served in four wars, and is best known as an admiral in the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) during World War II.

Campioni was born in Viareggio, Province of Lucca, Italy, on 14 November 1878. He entered the Italian Naval Academy at Leghorn (Livorno) in 1893. He graduated in 1896 and was promoted from midshipman to ensign in 1898 and then to lieutenant in 1905.

Campioni participated in the Italo-Turkish War of 1911-1912, serving as an officer aboard the armored cruiser Amalfi.

During World War I, Campioni served aboard the battleships Conte di Cavour and Andrea Doria. He was promoted to lieutenant commander in 1916 and became commanding officer of the destroyer Ardito, which under his command escorted numerous convoys and served with distinction in a naval engagement in September 1917 in the northern Adriatic Sea. For the latter action, Campioni received the Bronze Medal of Military Valor. In December 1918, just after the conclusion of the war, he received the War Merit Cross.