The Raid on Pula (Italian: Impresa di Pola) was a maritime raid undertaken on 1 November 1918 at the end of

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 ...

. It was carried out with a manned torpedo by two officers of the Italian ''

Regia Marina The , ) (RM) or Royal Italian Navy was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy () from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the changed its name to '' Marina Militare'' ("Military Navy"). Origin ...

'', Raffaele Paolucci and

Raffaele Rossetti Raffaele Rossetti (12 July 1881 – 27 December 1951) was an Italian engineer and military naval officer who sank the once SMS Viribus Unitis, main battleship of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the end of World War I. He was also a politician of t ...

, with the goal of damaging what they thought was an

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 ...

fleet anchored in the bay of

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 ...

. The fleet was handed by the Austrians to the newly established

State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs The State of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs ( / ; ) was a political entity that was constituted in October 1918, at the end of World War I, by Slovenes, Croats and Serbs (Prečani (Serbs), Prečani) residing in what were the southernmost parts of th ...

only a couple of hours before the raid, with

Janko Vuković Janko Vuković, sometimes spelt Janko Vukovich or von Vukovich, also known as Janko Vuković de Podkapelski or Janko Vuković-Podkapelski (27 September 1871 – 1 November 1918) was a Croatian naval officer who served in the Austro-Hungarian Navy ...

, previously an officer 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 ...

, being declared the commander-in-chief of the new state's navy. The state of Slovenes, Croats and Serbs had declared neutrality in the war and informed the

Allies An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not an explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are calle ...

of this shortly after taking over the armed forces on 31 October. However, the attackers were not aware of this, and rigged the main ship SMS ''Viribus Unitis'' (renamed to ''Jugoslavija'') with explosives, which ended in the ship sinking and the death of Vuković.

The sinking

Travelling down the rows of Austrian

battleship A battleship is a large, heavily naval armour, armored warship with a main battery consisting of large naval gun, guns, designed to serve as a capital ship. From their advent in the late 1880s, battleships were among the largest and most form ...

s, Paolucci and Rossetti encountered the ''Viribus Unitis'' at around 4:40 am. Rossetti placed one canister of

TNT Troponin T (shortened TnT or TropT) is a part of the troponin complex, which are proteins integral to the contraction of skeletal and heart muscles. They are expressed in skeletal and cardiac myocytes. Troponin T binds to tropomyosin and helps ...

on the hull of the battleship, timed to explode at 6:30 am. He then flooded the second canister, sinking it on the harbour floor close to the ship. The men had no breathing sets, and therefore had to keep their heads above water. They were discovered and taken prisoner just after placing the explosives under the battleship's hull. Taken aboard the ''Viribus Unitis'', they informed the new captain of the battleship of what they had done but did not reveal the exact position of the explosives. Admiral Janko Vuković arranged for the two prisoners to be taken to Tegetthoff, and ordered the ''Viribus Unitis'' to be evacuated. The explosion did not happen at 6:30 as predicted and Vuković returned to the ship with many sailors, mistakenly believing that the Italians had lied. The mines exploded at 6:44, sinking the battleship in 15 minutes. Vuković and 300–400 of her crew were killed in the sinking. The explosion of the second canister also sank the Austrian freighter ''Wien''.

Aftermath

Remnants of sunken naval ships from the Raid on Pula have left over 3000 tonnes of steel at the bottom of Pula Port. The Pula Port seabed is now littered with thousands of parts from Austro-Hungarian ships from the Uljanik Shipyard. Today, debris is still preventing cruise ships from safely docking at the ports.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pula, raid on Conflicts in 1918 History of Istria Pula History of the Adriatic Sea November 1918 Adriatic question