Luigi Amedeo, Duke of Abruzzi

Luigi Amedeo, Duke of Abruzzi (1873-1933), Italian naval officer, mountaineer, and explorer. Luigi Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Abruzzi, was born in Madrid. He made the first ascent of Mount Saint Elias, Alaska, in 1897 and two years later led an expedition toward the North Pole. This expedition was the first to reach latitude 86°34’ north. He was the first to climb (1906) the peaks of the Ruwenzori Range in Africa and set a world record in ascending K2, or Mount Godwin Austen, in Kashmīr, to a height of about 7,500 m (about 24,600 ft). On September 30, 1911, he commanded the squadron that attacked Préveza, Greece, in the first action of the Italian-Turkish War. He commanded the Adriatic fleet of the Italian navy in World War I (1914-1918).