Raid On Algiers

The raid on Algiers, known in Italy as Operation N.A. 1 (), took place on 11 December 1942, in the Algiers harbour. Italian manned torpedoes and commando frogmen from the Decima Flottiglia MAS were brought to Algiers aboard the . The participating commandos were captured after setting limpet mines which sank two Allied ships and damaged two more.

The raid

On 4 December 1942, , a submarine of the (the Italian Royal Navy]), left the naval base of La Spezia, carrying three manned torpedoes and 10 commando frogmen. Air reconnaissance had discovered that the port of Algiers was crowded with Allied cargo ships, so the Italian High Command decided to launch an operation involving both human torpedoes and combat swimmers carrying limpet mines. On the evening of 10 December, ''Ambra'' reached Algiers at a depth of . One of the swimmers was employed as scout on the surface, and he guided the submarine toward a position from the southern entrance to the harbour. He spotted six steamers at 21:45, and informed the presence of targets to ''Ambra'' by phone.

The other swimmers and the manned torpedoes begun to emerge at 23:45 after some delay. The observer reported an intense reaction from the harbour defences. The submarine awaited to recover the operators until 03:00, an hour after the original time set. Then the scout swimmer was recalled on board and ''Ambra'' departed back to La Spezia. At 05:00, the explosions started to rock the freighters. The Norwegian ''Berta'' () was sunk, while ''Ocean Vanquisher'' (7,174 GRT), ''Empire Centaur'' (7,041 GRT) and ''Armatan'' (4,587 GRT) were severely damaged. The American Landing Ship Medium ''LSM-59'' became stranded on the beach. Sixteen Italian divers were captured.Borghese, p. 233

Notes

References

* "''Frogmen First Battles''" by retired U.S. Captain William Schofield.
* "''Sea Devils''" by J. Valerio Borghese, translated into English by James Cleugh, with introduction by the United States Naval Institute

Further reading

*
*

External links

"Principal Operations of the 10th Light Flotilla" - RegiaMarina.net







* ttp://www.anaim.it/ambra.htm ''Ambra''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Algiers 1942
Naval battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
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