Saturday - The 1a Division of the Active Naval Squad (armored King Umberto e Andrea Doria, torpedo rams Stromboli ed Etruria, torpedo cruiser Partenope) under the command of Vice-Admiral Enrico Accinni leaves Naples for a political-military mission in the waters of the Turkish Levant, where a bloody repression of the Armenians (better known as the "massacre of the Armenians" or "Hamid massacres") is taking place by the government hamidiés they asked the Sublime Door for equality and cultural freedom.
The ships, later reinforced by those of the 2a Division, had the task of safeguarding the life and interests of the Italian resident communities; the Active Team will remain in those waters until the return to Taranto between the 31 January and the 3 February 1896, after having stopped for a long time in Smyrna, twice, and in Thessaloniki.
[The Hamidiés were Kurdish battalions specially set up by the Sultan for their ferocity and ethnic hatred towards the Armenians, who will transform the repressive action into a true genocide with more than 200.000 dead, according to the most accredited estimates]
(in the image one of the moments of persecution)
