The attack in Suda Bay ( English Raid on Souda Bay ; Italian. Atacco alla Baia di Suda ) - an assault operation of the Italian Navy (10th MAS flotilla) conducted on March 26, 1941.
| Attack in the Bay of the Court | |||
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| Main Conflict: World War II | |||
 Damaged heavy cruiser York stranded in the Bay of the Court, May 1941 | |||
| date | March 26, 1941 | ||
| A place | Suda Bay (northwest coast of Crete ) | ||
| Total | victory of Italy | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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| Forces of the parties | |||
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| Losses | |||
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In the course of the attack against British ships located in the harbor of the Court in Crete, the Italians used special exploding boats that seriously damaged the heavy cruiser York (of the same type) and the former Norwegian tanker Pericles, requisitioned by Great Britain ( Eng. Pericles ) [1 ] .
Content
Background
By the beginning of World War II, units of the ( Italian: X a Flottiglia MAS ) [2] had various types of special , one of which was the MTM type ( Italian: Motoscafo Turismo Modificato ) [ 3] . On boats of this type, a charge of 300 kg of explosive was installed with a shock-hydrostatic fuse (having a duplicate temporary moderator). MTM developing a high speed (24 knots ), when it hits a target, it breaks down and begins to sink, after which at a certain depth (below the armor belt ) the fuse detonated under the influence of hydrostatic pressure and undermined the main charge, leading to the formation of large holes in the underwater part of the enemy’s ship . At the same time, the pilot left the boat some time before the explosion, after sending it to the target. He had to have time to climb a special life raft to avoid death from a hydrodynamic shock during the explosion of a boat [4] .
MTM was delivered to the operation site by specially equipped ships, on which there were slips and electric winches . The old destroyers Francesco Crispi and Quintino Sella (both types of Sella ) were equipped for this purpose and each of them could carry 3 MTM boats, launching them in 35 seconds.
A favorable opportunity for the use of these boats presented itself in early 1941, when the number of Allied transports to Greece sharply increased. In particular, many targets appeared in the ports of Crete.
Attack
In January - February 1941, Italians got information that the Allies use the Court's Bay in northwest Crete as a base. The ships of the 10th flotilla MAS, based on the island of Leros , began to prepare for the operation. Twice in January and February, Francesco Crispi and Quintino Sella went to sea with MTM boats on board, but returned as the air reconnaissance reported that there were no suitable targets in the bay. Only on March 25, reconnaissance aircraft reported the presence in the Court of a heavy cruiser, two destroyers and about 12 transports. Francesco Crispi and Quintino Sella went to sea, each carrying 3 MTM boats on board. The boat division was commanded by Lieutenant Luigi Faggioni.
The destroyers launched MTM on March 25 at 23:30, 9 miles from the entrance to the bay. By 1:00, the boats approached the throat of the bay, which was 6 miles long, and headed for the anchorage. Along the way, MTMs, which had very little draft and easily lifted outboard motors , overcame 3 rows of boom- net boom and got together at 4:45 a.m. Lieutenant Faggioni ordered to turn off the engines and wait until dawn. The boats were so close to the Allied ships that the Italians heard the boatswain pipes of the British. By 5:00, boats of the sub-lieutenant Angelo Cabrini and senior non-commissioned officer Tullio Tedeschi approached the York at a distance of about 300 meters and attacked the cruiser at 5:30. At a distance of about 90 meters from the target, the pilots left the boats and remained floating on rafts. Both boats exploded at the side of the cruiser, which tilted after the explosions. British naval and coastal guns fired indiscriminately, without observing the enemy.
At this time, the MTM of senior non-commissioned officer Lino Beccati seriously damaged the former Norwegian tanker Pericles ( 8324 dl. T ), [1] but the boats of the senior gunner Alessio De Vito and sergeant gunner Emilio Barberi ( Emilio Barberi ) walked past the anchored transports. Lieutenant Faggioni also intended to attack the York if necessary, but decided that the cruiser was drowning after the attack of Cabrini and Tedeschi and sent his boat to another ship, but his MTM passed the target.
Operation Summary
All six Italian pilots survived and were captured. After the attack, the cruiser "York" was towed inland and landed aground, where, until May 22, 1941, it was finally disabled by German aircraft [1] .
The Pericles tanker broke in half and sank on April 14, 1941 during an attempt to tow it to Alexandria for repair [1] .
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Borisenko I.V. Losses of RN in 1939–45 : A Handbook on Ships and Ships of the Royal Navy Lost during World War II // Samizdat : Zh. - 2009. - February 5.
- ↑ MAS ( Italian: Motoscafo Armato Silurante ) - torpedo boat .
- ↑ In addition to various types of exploding boats, the MAS 10th flotilla was armed with small torpedo boats of the ( Italian: Motoscafo Turismo Silurante ), as well as their modified versions: MTSM ( Italian: Motoscafo Turismo Silurante Modificato ) and MTSMA ( Italian .Motoscafo Turismo Silurante Modificato Allargato ), intended as exploding boats for covert sabotage operations.
- ↑ Shirokorad A.B. 23: Extraordinary adventures of Italians in Russia // Battle for the Black Sea. - M .: AST : Transitbook , 2005. - S. 351. - 554, [6] p., 32 l. silt - (Unknown wars). - ISBN 5-17-029680-0 . - ISBN 5-9578-2054-7 .
Literature
- Bragadin Marc Antonio. The Italian fleet in World War II = Bragadin M'A. La Marina Militare Italiana nella 2a Guerra Mondiale, 1948. - Moscow: AST , 2000.
- Junior W. Borghese , Kayyus Becker. “Underwater saboteurs in the Second World War” AST Publishing House, Moscow, 2001, 636 pages, 7000 copies, ISBN 5-17-008535-4