Raid on Alexandria (1941)

The Raid on Alexandria ( EA 3) was carried out on 19 December 1941 by Royal Italian Navy () divers of the Decima Flottiglia MAS (), who attacked and sank two Royal Navy battleships at their moorings and damaged an oil tanker and a destroyer in the harbour of Alexandria, Egypt, using manned torpedoes.

The attacks came at a difficult time for the Mediterranean Fleet, after the loss of the aircraft carrier and the battleship to U-boats, the loss of ships during the Battle of Crete and the sinking of much of Force K on an Italian minefield, the day before the human torpedo attack on Alexandria. Ships also had to be sent to the Eastern Fleet.

Background

The interest of the in small boat warfare lay dormant between 1918 and the diplomatic crisis with Britain over the Second Italo-Ethiopian War 1935–1936. In 1935 and early 1936, Captain Teseo Tesei and Captain Elios Toschi tested a human torpedo in La Spezia on the Tyrrhenian Sea and resumed testing in May. The Ethiopian defeat in 1936 ended the tests but work on assault boats continued. On 28 September 1938, ordered the (1st Torpedo Motorboat Flotilla), based at La Spezia, to establish a research department (the (Special Weapons Section) from 1939. The detachment had a few officers at HQ, seven at a confidential base at Bocca di Serchio for human torpedo and frogman training and another six officers to pilot the assault motorboats, of which seven had been built, plus eleven Siluro Lenta Corsa human torpedoes.

On 24 February 1940, the 1st MAS Flotilla and the Special Weapons Section was taken over by Commander Mario Giorgini and in August attempts to use the unconventional weapons began, with little success and the capture of Giorgini in October. On 23 January 1941 Commander Vittorio Moccagatta replaced Giorgini and on 15 March formed the (10th Torpedo Motorboat Flotilla, ). The new force had a HQ, including a plans office and a weapons section. The surface assault boats and the training school (Lieutenant-Commander Giorgio Giobbe) were split from the human torpedoes and other underwater weapons (Lieutenant-Commander Junio Valerio Borghese), the captain of the . remained at La Spezia and an advanced base was set up in Augusta, Sicily.

Ultra

The British code-breakers of the Government Code and Cypher School (GC & CS) alerted Admiral Andrew Cunningham the commander in chief of the Mediterranean Fleet before 17 December 1942, that its decodes of Italian messages encyphered on the Italian C 38m machine, showed that , the Italian naval staff, had some interest in the port of Alexandria but without details. Torpedo nets were set up around the battleships and and other precautions were taken. On the day, Cunningham was told that an Italian reconnaissance aircraft had reported that ''Valiant'' and ''Queen Elizabeth'' were at their moorings and that the sea was calm, an unusual item to report. On 18 December GC & CS reported that the reconnaissance was urgent; Cunningham and his staff issued an alert at that

Prelude

On 3 December, the submarine (Lieutenant Junio Valerio Borghese) of the Italian left the naval base of La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes, nicknamed (pigs). At the island of Leros in the Aegean Sea, the submarine secretly picked up six men of the , Lieutenant Commander Luigi Durand de la Penne and Sergeant-Major Emilio Bianchi nº 221), Captain Vincenzo Martellotta and Sergeant-Major Mario Marino ( nº 222) and Captain Antonio Marceglia and Lance Corporal Spartaco Schergat ( nº 223).

EA 3

On the night of 18/19 December, from the commercial (eastern) harbour of Alexandria, ''Scirè'' released the at a depth of about from the naval anchorage. The reached the harbour and entered the naval base when the British opened the boom gate to let in three destroyers. The frogmen were shaken by the explosive charges being dropped in the harbour by patrol craft. The crews found it comparatively easy to get over the torpedo nets around the battleships but attaching a charge to ''Valiant'' from its bilge keels was difficult and the crew dropped the explosive onto the sea bed about below the ship. Marceglia and Schergat, planting their bomb beneath the keel of ''Queen Elizabeth'', found it much easier and suspended the charge from the bilge keels as planned. The crew who attacked ''Valiant'' were discovered holding on to the mooring buoy but gave nothing away when questioned.

The prisoners were assumed to have already planted a bomb and were detained in a room near the bottom of the ship. At an explosion under the rear of the tanker ''Sagona'' (7,554 GRT) did severe damage to the ship and to the destroyer ''Jervis'' oiling alongside. At one of the prisoners on ''Valiant'' asked to see the captain and told him that the ship was going to blow up and fifteen minutes later there was an explosion under ''Valiant's'' fore turrets. Four minutes after the explosion under ''Valiant'' there was another explosion, this time under ''Queen Elizabeth'', near its boiler rooms. There were eight casualties and the battleships were put out of action. The crews of the other two got ashore and tried to reach the submarine , due to meet them off Rosetta but were captured over the next 48 hours.

Aftermath

Analysis

Where the Italian fleet had failed, six sailors had succeeded. In 1957 the Italian historian and Admiral Marcantonio Bragadin wrote,

Cunningham reported to Sir Dudley Pound, the First Lord of the Admiralty, that the result was a disaster. Cunningham wrote that it was fortunate that a junior officer suggested that ships should keep their propellers turning slowly in reverse, creating a strong enough current to frustrate a swimmer. The idea was adopted, Cunningham remarking, "It is a pity we did not think of it before". To maintain appearances, Cunningham remained on board ''Queen Elizabeth'' keeping the usual routines going, marine bands parading, the ceremonies of the morning colours and sunset continuing.

The recent loss of and to U-boats, the sinking of much of Force K on an Italian minefield, on top of the losses during the Battle of Crete and having to send ships to reinforce the Eastern Fleet, reduced the Mediterranean Fleet to a force of light cruisers and destroyers. Decodes from the Italian C 38m made it practical for the Admiralty to keep the extent of the damage to ''Valiant'' and ''Queen Elizabeth'', which was not apparent to air reconnaissance, along with the loss of ''Barham'' until late January 1942 when a prisoner mentioned the success at Alexandria, leading to the Italians making the most of this by sailing more convoys. The coup at Alexandria neutralised the main remaining capital ships of the Mediterranean Fleet at a stroke. Along with transfers to the Eastern Fleet, it meant that the only ships left at Alexandria larger than a destroyer were the cruisers , and . The Italian battle fleet had four battleships operational and grounds for confidence in the future; the deception to conceal the extent of the damage of ''Valiant'' and ''Queen Elizabeth'' could not last for long.

HMS ''Valiant''

The explosive charge under ''Valiant'' was under the port torpedo bulge near A turret, holing the lower bulge and blowing the hole upwards over . The internal damage was spread from the keel to the lower bulge compartments, with flooding in the double-bottom bulge, A shell room and magazine and the compartments next to it up to the lower deck. Shock caused some damage to electrical equipment and the traversing mechanism for A turret was distorted. The main and auxiliary machinery were undamaged and the ship could put to sea if necessary. As many items as possible were taken off the ship to lighten it and then it was moved to Admiralty Floating Dock No. 5 on 21 December for temporary repairs; on 3 April 1942 she sailed to Durban for permanent repairs from 15 April to 7 July 1942.

HMS ''Queen Elizabeth''

The explosion that disabled ''Queen Elizabeth'' was under B boiler room, damaging the double bottom and anti-torpedo bulges over . The floor of B boiler room and those of A and X boiler rooms, to a limited extent, were forced upwards. The boiler rooms, the forward 4.5-inch magazines, Y boiler room and many other compartments were flooded up to the main deck, damaging boilers, machinery and other electrical equipment. The main and secondary armament remained operational but hydraulic power was lost. ''Queen Elizabeth'' took electrical current from submarines moored on either side. The ship was put into a floating dock for temporary repairs and then during the panic after the defeat at the Battle of Gazala (26 May – 21 June 1942) ''Queen Elizabeth'' sailed to Port Sudan in the Red Sea on 5 May. The fuel tanks were repaired and fuel taken on for a journey to the US and in mid-July ''Queen Elizabeth'' sailed for the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Virginia. ''Queen Elizabeth'' underwent permanent repairs from 6 September to 1 June 1943, a period of nearly eighteen months.

''Sagona'' and HMS ''Jervis''

''Sagona'' was towed back to England and repairs took until 1946 to be completed. ''Jervis'' required a month in dock to make repairs.

See also

* Lionel Crabb
* Operation Source
* Raid on Algiers
* Italian auxiliary ship ''Olterra''

Notes

Footnotes

References

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Further reading

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External links

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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alexandria 1941
Naval battles of World War II involving the United Kingdom
Naval battles of World War II involving Italy
Frogman operations
1941 in Egypt
Alexandria
Italian naval victories in the battle of the Mediterranean
World War II raids
Military history of Alexandria
20th-century military history of the United Kingdom
Egypt in World War II
Maritime incidents in December 1941
December 1941 in Africa
20th century in Alexandria
Attacks on naval bases
Attacks on military installations in Egypt
Attacks on military installations in 1941