Papal Navy
| Papal Navy Pontifical Navy | |
|---|---|
| Italian: Marina Pontificia Latin: Classis Pontificiae | |
Ensign of the Papal Navy, depicting Sts. Peter and Paul | |
| Active | circa 843–1870 |
| Disbanded | De facto: 1870 (capture of Rome by the nascent Kingdom of Italy) De jure: 1878 (sale of last warship controlled by Papacy) |
| Country | Papal States |
| Allegiance | The Pope |
| Type | Navy |
| Patron | Saint Peter Saint Paul |
| Engagements | Battle of Ostia, 849 Battle of Garigliano, 915 Battle of Lepanto, 1571 Italian revolutions, 1848 Battle of Ancona, 1865 |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders | Cardinal Ludovico Trevisan (Appointed Captain-General of the Church in 1455 by Pope Callixtus III; Under Trevisan, the Papal fleet was greatly expanded and won several victories over the Turks) Archbishop of Tarragona Pedro de Urrea (Appointed a Papal expedition fleet commander under Cardinal Trevisan in the 1450s) Velasco Farinha (Portuguese naval officer appointed as a vice admiral of the Papal Navy in the 1450s under Cardinal Trevisan) Duke-Prince Marcantonio Colonna (Appointed captain-general of the Holy League’s fleet, encompassing the Papal Navy, during the 1571 Battle of Lepanto) Alessandro Cialdi (19th-century commandant and final commander of the Papal Navy) |
The Papal Navy (Italian: Marina Pontificia, "Pontifical Navy"; Latin: Classis Pontificiae) was the maritime force of the Papal States. Loosely constituted, it was sporadically extant from approximately the Battle of Ostia (849) during the pontificate of Leo IV until the ascension of Pope Leo XIII in 1878 (though the Navy had ceased all operations in 1870), when he sold the last remaining Papal warship, the Immacolata Concezione.
The Papal Navy was separate from the Papal Army, a varying combination of volunteers, mercenaries, and Catholic military orders, disbanded in 1870. The modern Vatican City State does not maintain any formal naval or maritime forces and does not include any significant bodies of water.