Francesco Mimbelli (16 April 1903, in Livorno – 26 January 1978, in Rome) was an Italian naval officer who fought in World War II.

Mimbelli engaged three British light cruisers at point-blank range, taking 18 six-inch hits but driving off the warships before they could sink all the transports and machine-gun helpless survivors in the water.

Although the odds were heavily stacked against him (one torpedo boat against the seven ships of Force D) more than two-thirds of the convoy survived due to Mimbelli's maneuvers.

[2] Between the end of June and the beginning of July, 1942, the Italian MAS participated, along with the Germans and the Romanians, in the capture of Sevastopol and Balaklava.

[7][8][9][10] In 1946 Mimbelli joined the Italian Navy (Marina Militare) and was appointed captain of the cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi.