1 agosto 2014 FONTE – Giornale di Bordo Marina Militare.
Sull’ammiraglio Paolo Thaon di Revel l’Ufficio Storico della Marina ha prodotto nel corso degli anni numerose pubblicazioni. La sua intensa e proficua attività a favore della Regia Marina, soprattutto quella operata durante la prima guerra mondiale, è stata lungamente dibattuta e analizzata anche al di fuori dei confini nazionali.
Nell’opera “The naval war in the Mediterranean (1914-1918)” di Paul Halpern, edita dal Naval Institute Press di Annapolis nel 1987, considerata una delle più approfondite, troviamo un’interessante descrizione della sua figura:
[…] Paolo Count Thaon di Revel was Capo di Stato Maggiore for most of the war except for the period from October 1915 to February 1917 when he was C.-in C. at Venice. He would emerge from the war as the dominant figure in the Regia Marina. Authoritarian in temperament, he seemed the terror of his subordinates and displayed a ferocious energy not always found among the senior officeres of that service. He would also be a thorn in the side of the Allies for his stubborn and singleminded determination to uphold what he considered to be Italy’s vital interests in what critics have described as a naval form of sacro egoismo. Revel was a member of a noble Piemontese family with a long tradition of service to the state. Admiral Sims, commander of US forces in European waters, described him with tongue in check as “a source of continual delight” and went on to say: “…Someone remarked that he was in reality an Irishman who had escaped into Italy; and this facetious characterization was not really inapt. His shock of red hair, his reddish beard, and his short stocky figure almost persuaded one that County Cork was his native soil”. Howard Kelly, who had commanded the British forces in the Adriatic was more blunt. Although always kind to him, he found Revel “a real tough nut”, and “it was positively annoyng to see the state of absolute subjugation to which he had reduced all his admirals. They trembled at the very thought of him…[…].
Fermezza di carattere, autorità e risoluta determinazione nel difendere gli interessi vitali dell’Italia, qualità che consentirono a Paolo Thaon di Revel di operare scelte coraggiose e in controtendenza, molto spesso criticate, che si rivelarono però determinanti per il conseguimento della vittoria finale.