''Motoscafo armato silurante'' (torpedo-armed motorboat), alternatively ''Motoscafo antisommergibili'' (anti-submarine motorboat) and commonly abbreviated as MAS, was a class of fast torpedo-armed vessels used by the (Italian Royal Navy) during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Originally, "MAS" referred to (armed motorboat SVAN), (Naval Automobile Society of

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

). The MAS were petrol-engined planing boats with displacements of 20–30 tonnes (depending on the class), a 10-man crew and armament composed of two

torpedo A modern torpedo is an underwater ranged weapon launched above or below the water surface, self-propelled towards a target, with an explosive warhead designed to detonate either on contact with or in proximity to the target. Historically, such ...

es, heavy machine guns and occasionally a 37 mm or 20 mm

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder during th ...

. In the context of the unit title (assault craft flotilla; the most famous of which was the Decima MAS of World War II), the term "MAS" is an acronym for (assault craft).

World War I

MAS were widely employed by ''Regia Marina'' during World War I in 1915–1918. Models used were directly derived from compact civilian motorboats, provided with petrol engines which were compact and reliable (characteristics which were not common at the time). They were used not only in the anti-submarine patrol role, but also for daring attacks against major units of the

Austro-Hungarian Navy The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', ) was the navy, naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the Austro-Hungarian Navy were designated ''SMS'', for ''Seiner Majestät Schiff'' (His Majes ...

. A significant success came in December 1917, when an MAS boat managed to sink the pre-dreadnought battleship in Trieste harbor. The greatest success of Italian MAS was the sinking of the

Austro-Hungarian Austria-Hungary, also referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the Dual Monarchy or the Habsburg Monarchy, was a multi-national constitutional monarchy in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. A military and diplomatic alliance, it consist ...

battleship off

Pula Pula, also known as Pola, is the largest city in Istria County, west Croatia, and the List of cities and towns in Croatia, seventh-largest city in the country, situated at the southern tip of the Istria, Istrian peninsula in western Croatia, wi ...

on 10 June 1918 by a boat commanded by Luigi Rizzo. MAS boats later engaged in the Second Battle of Durazzo in October 1918. The main Austrian fleet remained securely at anchor in the harbour at Pola (now

Croatia Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country in Central Europe, Central and Southeast Europe, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. It borders Slovenia to the northwest, Hungary to the northeast, Serbia to the east, Bosnia and Herze ...

), protected by several layers of defensive booms, impassable to conventional MAS boats. A special version, the ''Grillo''-class tracked torpedo motorboat or (Jumping Boats), officially classified as ''tank marino'' (sea tank) or MAS ''speciale'', were designed by 1918. The craft featured a pair of spiked

continuous track Continuous track or tracked treads are a system of vehicle propulsion used in tracked vehicles, running on a continuous band of treads or track plates driven by two or more wheels. The large surface area of the tracks distributes the w ...

s, intended to allow them to clamber over the booms which were supported by large timber baulks. The boats were powered by an electric motor for a silent approach and carried two torpedoes. Four were built; the first two were scuttled when their slow motors failed to get them to the harbour booms at Pola before daybreak and in a second operation, another boat made such a loud clattering noise climbing the booms that it was spotted and destroyed by gunfire.

Interwar Period and Spanish Civil War

In 1926, four MAS boats were built for and purchased by the Royal Albanian Navy. They were named ''Tirana'', ''Saranda'', ''Durres'', and ''Vlorë''. During the

Italian invasion of Albania The Italian invasion of Albania was a brief military campaign which was launched by Fascist Italy, Italy against Albanian Kingdom (1928–1939), Albania in 1939. The conflict was a result of the imperialistic policies of the Italian prime m ...

they were seized and put into service by Italian forces. All survived World War II and in 1945 were returned to Albania. Four units were transferred to the Nationalist Navy during the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War () was a military conflict fought from 1936 to 1939 between the Republican faction (Spanish Civil War), Republicans and the Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War), Nationalists. Republicans were loyal to the Left-wing p ...

in 1938: ''Sicilia'' (LT-18), ex ''MAS 100''; ''Nápoles'' (LT-19), ex ''MAS 223''; ''Cándido Pérez'' (LT-16), ex ''MAS 435''; and ''Javier Quiroga'' (LT-17), ex ''MAS 436''.

World War II

Italian MAS continued to be improved after the end of World War I, thanks to the availability of Isotta Fraschini engines. The MAS of World War II had a maximum speed of and mounted two torpedoes and one Breda 13.2 mm machine-gun. Isotta-Fraschini produced its ASM 180 series of marine engines for the MAS from 1933 to 1955. The standard engine in World War II was the ASM 184, a 18-cylinder machine capable of producing with 2,000 rpm. In 1940 there were 48 MAS 500-class units available. Older units were used in secondary theatres, such as the Italian East Africa. Notable war actions performed by MAS include the torpedoing of the Royal Navy C-class cruiser by ''MAS 213'' of the 21st MAS Squadron working within the Red Sea Flotilla off

Massawa Massawa or Mitsiwa ( ) is a port city in the Northern Red Sea Region, Northern Red Sea region of Eritrea, located on the Red Sea at the northern end of the Gulf of Zula beside the Dahlak Archipelago. It has been a historically important port for ...

Eritrea Eritrea, officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa, with its capital and largest city being Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia in the Eritrea–Ethiopia border, south, Sudan in the west, and Dj ...

; and the failed Raid on Grand Harbour of Malta in July 1941, which caused the loss of two motorboats'', MAS 451'' and ''MAS 452'', the latter recovered by the British, put in service as a tender and renamed ''XMAS''. Five MAS were scuttled in Massawa in the first week of April 1941 as a part of the Italian plan for the wrecking of Massawa harbor in the face of the British advance. ''MAS 204'', ''206'', ''210'', ''213'', and ''216'' were sunk in the harbor; four of the boats were in need of mechanical repairs and could not be evacuated. On 24 July 1941, amid heavy fire from the escorts, ''MAS 532'' torpedoed and crippled the transport ''Sydney Star'', escorted by the destroyer and part of the Operation Substance (Convoy GM 1). The steamer managed to limp to Malta assisted by the destroyer HMAS ''Nestor''. On 1 December 1941, two Italian MAS boats engaged with torpedoes and machine gun fire the

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

icebreaker ''Anastas Mykoyan'', en route from the

Dardanelles The Dardanelles ( ; ; ), also known as the Strait of Gallipoli (after the Gallipoli peninsula) and in classical antiquity as the Hellespont ( ; ), is a narrow, natural strait and internationally significant waterway in northwestern Turkey th ...

Suez Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...

, forcing it to run aground on the Turkish coast off Kastelorizo. The lifeboat of the icebreaker was hit and exploded after being dropped overboard, while the ship itself was holed by some 150 machine gun rounds. The four torpedoes launched at the Soviet vessel missed their target. Even though the Soviet vessel was refloated and reached

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

for repairs the next day, the action compelled the Turkish government to intern eight Soviet ships set to repeat the same journey. Also in the Aegean Sea, on 27 April 1942, near Kastelorizo, a flotilla of MAS rescued a motor sailing boat with Jewish refugees from

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. On 15 March 1943, MAS ''545'' and ''559'' seized the Greek motor sailing ship ''Aghios Dimitros,'' which had been taken over by a British Army boarding party from the Greek submarine '' Papanicolos'' and was being rerouted to Turkish waters. The small vessel was carrying German ammunition. The British crew and a Greek naval officer were taken prisoner. ''MAS 554'', ''554'' and ''557'' sank three allied freighters on the night of 13 August 1942 off Cape Bon, in the course of Operation Pedestal, for a total tonnage of 48,500 tons. On 29 August 1942, a smaller type of MAS boat, the MTSM, torpedoed the British destroyer ''Eridge'' off El Daba,

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

, disabling it for the remainder of the war. A flotilla of MAS served at German request as reinforcements in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

for the planned attack on

Sevastopol Sevastopol ( ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea and a major port on the Black Sea. Due to its strategic location and the navigability of the city's harbours, Sevastopol has been an important port and naval base th ...

in June 1942. The MAS squadron came under intense air attack from Soviet

fighter-bomber A fighter-bomber is a fighter aircraft that has been modified, or used primarily, as a light bomber or attack aircraft. It differs from bomber and attack aircraft primarily in its origins, as a fighter that has been adapted into other roles, wh ...

s and torpedo boats but performed well. They sank the 5,000-ton steamer ''Abkhazia'' and disabled the 10,000-ton transport ''Fabritius'', which was subsequently destroyed by German ''Stuka'' dive-bombers. MAS boats destroyed troop barges and damaged Soviet warships. A MAS boat commander, Sub-Lieutenant Ettore Bisagno, was killed in battle. One MAS was destroyed and three damaged by fighter-bombers in September 1942 during a heavy attack on

Yalta Yalta (: ) is a resort town, resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Crime ...

. In the early hours of 3 August 1942, three MAS boats torpedoed and disabled the Soviet cruiser ''Molotov'' south-west of Kerch. In May 1943, the seven MAS boats in the Black Sea were transferred to the ''

Kriegsmarine The (, ) was the navy of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official military branch, branche ...

''. In August that year, they were transferred to the Romanian Navy. These seven boats were wooden-hulled, each displacing 25 tons. Top speed amounted to 42 knots, generated by petrol engines powering two shafts. They were armed with one 13 mm heavy machine gun or one 20 mm anti-aircraft gun, 6 depth charges and two 450 mm torpedoes. Another flotilla of four MAS, the XII Squadriglia MAS, was deployed to

Lake Ladoga Lake Ladoga is a freshwater lake located in the Republic of Karelia and Leningrad Oblast in northwestern Russia, in the vicinity of Saint Petersburg. It is the largest lake located entirely in Europe, the second largest lake in Russia after Lake ...

in April 1942 to support the

siege of Leningrad The siege of Leningrad was a Siege, military blockade undertaken by the Axis powers against the city of Leningrad (present-day Saint Petersburg) in the Soviet Union on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front of World War II from 1941 t ...

. They claim the sinking of a Soviet gunboat of the Bira class, a 1,300-ton cargo ship and several barges. Soviet sources say that the gunboat, the ''Selemdzha'', was only lightly damaged when the torpedo exploded in the lake's bottom, with two wounded on board. After the signing of the Cassibile agreement, MAS boats sank the German torpedo boat ''TA11'' (ex French ''L'Iphigénie'') at Piombino, on 11 September 1943. The

obsolescence Obsolescence is the process of becoming antiquated, out of date, old-fashioned, no longer in general use, or no longer useful, or the condition of being in such a state. When used in a biological sense, it means imperfect or rudimentary when comp ...

of small MAS became apparent during the conflict, and they were increasingly replaced by larger Yugoslavian E-boats built in Germany and by new improved versions, classified "MS" (''Moto Siluranti'') by the ''Regia Marina''. A type of anti-submarine craft based on the MAS design was developed by the Italian Navy in World War II. This was the ''vedetta anti sommergibile'', or "VAS", equipped with a good amount of

anti-submarine warfare Anti-submarine warfare (ASW, or in the older form A/S) is a branch of underwater warfare that uses surface warships, aircraft, submarines, or other platforms, to find, track, and deter, damage, or destroy enemy submarines. Such operations ar ...

equipment given her small size.

Cultural legacy

The Italian poet Gabriele d'Annunzio, who employed MAS in some of his

adventures, used the MAS acronym for his

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

motto: ''Memento audere semper'' ("remember always to dare").

Surviving examples

Only two complete examples survive to this day * MAS 15 is preserved at the Sacrario delle Bandiere naval museum located at the Vittoriano in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

. In June 1918, it was the boat which sank the SMS ''Szent István''. * MAS 96 is preserved at the Vittoriale degli italiani at Gardone Riviera by

Lake Garda Lake Garda (, , or , ; ; ) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, between Brescia and Milan to the west, and Verona and Venice to the east. The lake cuts into the edge of the Eastern Alps, Italian Alp ...

. In February 1918, it was the boat on which Gabriele d'Annunzio participated in the " Bakar mockery" raid.

Notes

External links

Italian Navy site Pictures of MAS boats amongst other historical Italian ships

"MAS, VAS and MS", by Pierluigi Malvezzi in the "Regia Marina Italiana" website

M.A.S.
Marina Militare website {{Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries Motor torpedo boats of the Regia Marina World War II naval ships of Italy Boat types Ships built in Italy MAS fleet