Raid on Alexandria - 1941 - Mare Nostrum

For Admiral Cunningham, Commander and Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet, the winter of 1941 had been less than kind to him; in the span of less than a month the British forces in the area had lost 6 ships including the battleship HMS Barham; taking over 800 sailors with her. Not to mention the entry of Japan into the war, resulting in further stretching of the Royal Navy’s already exacerbated fleet and diverting critical resources away from his area of operations. Things would only get worse in December as the backbone of his fleet was to be struck by unorthodox and innovative new underwater threats.

On the night of the 14^th a single Italian submarine from the elite 10^th flotilla, the Scire, departed occupied Greece bound for the port of Alexandria in Egypt with the goal of carrying out their most ambitious mission to date. Their mission was to infiltrate the naval base at Alexandria and by using a stealthy approach afforded by their submarine transport, deal as much damage as possible to the British Mediterranean Fleet’s scarce capital ships while at anchor.

Captain Junio Borghese led Scire on a 1700-mile journey which was spent almost completely submerged due to the need to avoid detection and as such left him and crew completely reliant on maps to navigate with as they maneuvered underneath minefields. At roughly 18:00 of the 18^th of December the sub surfaced and despite the challenges faced on the voyage, including a storm, they arrived a mere 4ft off from their intended arrival point.

Scire pictured in the late 1930's

From here, Captain Borghese deployed his payload, 3 manned torpedoes (often referred to as human torpedoes), each with a crew of 2 men. The human torpedoes had a large detachable warhead that was designed to be placed beneath the keels of vessels to inflict the most damage possible, essentially breaking a ship’s back. This concept had been dreamt up by the British as early as 1909 but hadn’t seen widespread adoption until after WW1, it was the Italians who truly took the idea and ran with it, developing the first practical human torpedo known as the Maiale or “Pig” due to its poor handling characteristics.

Example of an Italian "Maiale" human torpedo

Once launched the 3 teams of “frogmen” followed the Ras Al Tin breakwater to its southernmost point where they waited for an opportunity to break into the harbor. Alexandria’s defenses were extensive consisting of anti-torpedo nets and a motorboat at the mouth of the harbor dropping depth charges at random intervals, as well as guards with search lights stationed both on land and onboard berthed vessels. An opportunity presented itself when 3 British ships returned from their previous assignment and the defenses were lowered to allow them through.

The Italians stuck close to the enemy ships as they passed through the harbor entrance, close enough to hear the conversations of sailors on deck. Once inside they split up, Luigi De La Penne and Emilio Bianchi would target the Battleship HMS Valiant, Antonio Marceglia and Spartaco Schergat her sister ship HMS Queen Elizabeth and finally Vincenzo Martellotta and Mario Marino would target HMS Eagle.

De La Penne and Bianchi found Valiant in short order and made their approach, manually pushing down Valiant’s own torpedo net so that they could pass over with their warhead. Whilst on approach their craft’s propeller became snagged by a steel cable that dragged it down 55ft to the floor of the harbor. To further complicate matters Bianchi’s breathing equipment failed during the plunge forcing him to separate from his teammate and surface. For the next 40 painstaking minutes, De La Penne hauled his warhead until it rested directly beneath Valiant, which he deemed close enough; he then surfaced too and reunited with Bianchi. But before they could make their way to land, they were picked out by a search light and captured.

HMS Queen Elizabeth re-arming in Alexandria circa 1940/41

Marceglia and Schergat had significantly better luck with Queen Elizabeth, which was located directly behind Valiant. They planted their explosives at roughly 3:15 in the morning before making their way to the shoreline and ditching their equipment.

The final group, Martellotta and Marino, quickly had to get creative once in the harbor as they soon realized that their assigned target, the carrier Eagle, was nowhere to be found, having departed Alexandria the previous morning.

The pair began searching and sizing up what was left in the harbor before settling on a group of tankers that they believed would have a suitable alternative. Martellotta picked out the largest tanker present, the 16,000 ton Norwegian flagged “Sagona” and set about attaching his warhead beneath it - luck was on their side as during the arming phase a British destroyer, HMS Jervis, came alongside the Sagona to refuel, completely unaware of what was unfolding mere feet away from them. The two men then made their way to dry land, but this is where their luck ran out as they were caught and detained by Egyptian officers who then handed them over to the British.

At 5:50 in the morning, a British Commander arrived to interrogate the pair. However, just as he was about to begin his questioning, a massive explosion tore through the Sagona, obscuring the ship in a cloud of smoke and sea spray. At the same time De La Penne and Bianchi where imprisoned onboard Valiant, the same ship they’d just planted a bomb under mere hours earlier, in a remarkable display of bravery they refused to tell the British the location of the warhead. At 6:04, it detonated, blowing an 80ft hole in the ship and causing it to list to one side rapidly.

The operation was complete when at 6:15 the third and final bomb underneath Queen Elizabeth exploded, destroying 3 of her boiler rooms in the process.

At Alexandria railway station Marceglia and Schergat overheard the explosions in the distance and the two men shook hands. In a complete reversal of the Battle of Taranto the year previous, the Italians had achieved a stunning victory, for just 6 men captured they’d sunk one tanker, damaged a destroyer, and taken two Battleships out of action for months to come whilst they were refloated and repaired. In one fell swoop the Italians had regained the advantage in the Mediterranean and at the same time found redemption for the devastating defeat suffered at Taranto.

Close up of the damage HMS Valiant sustained in the attack

However, considering just how decisive this engagement was (going down in history as the Italian Navy’s most successful attack against the British), there was relatively little in the way of long-term repercussions. There were many in the Italian navy including the submarine commander, Captain Borghese, that felt they didn’t push their advantage enough in the weeks and month following the raid with Italian capital units not being deployed offensively enough to enjoy their newfound naval supremacy. Likewise, no serious attempt was made at capturing the British territory of Malta, all of which frustrated the Italian command.

The Italian Job... Borghese (right) and the frogmen who carried out the operation

As a result, the British were effectively allowed to live and fight another day, with Malta secure and acting as an unsinkable fortress in the Italians back garden and the North African campaign raging on with no clear end in sight.