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Luigi Durand De La Penne
Luigi Durand de la Penne (11 February 1914 – 17 January 1992) was an Italian Navy admiral who served as naval diver in the Decima MAS during World War II. De la Penne was born in Genoa, where he also died. De la Penne graduated from the Italian Naval Academy in Livorno in 1934. He joined the Decima MAS in 1935. ''Iride'' submarine crew rescue action On 22 August 1940, in the Gulf of Bomba, the Italian submarine ''Iride'', being a human torpedo carrier, was sunk by a torpedo released by a British Fairey Swordfish bomber. The air attack happened during an exercise, in shallow water, when four human torpedo squads were around, including officers Teseo Tesei and Luigi Durand de la Penne. The divers were able to make an immediate rescue action. Of the 12 ''Iride'' crewmen who survived, two died during an unsuccessful attempt to surface, nine were retrieved alive (two of them died soon, due to wounds), and one was too shocked to leave the sunken submarine. De la Penne tried to pers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genoa
Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of Genoa, which in 2015 became the Metropolitan City of Genoa, had 855,834 resident persons. Over 1.5 million people live in the wider metropolitan area stretching along the Italian Riviera. On the Gulf of Genoa in the Ligurian Sea, Genoa has historically been one of the most important ports on the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean: it is currently the busiest in Italy and in the Mediterranean Sea and twelfth-busiest in the European Union. Genoa was the capital of Republic of Genoa, one of the most powerful maritime republics for over seven centuries, from the 11th century to 1797. Particularly from the 12th century to the 15th century, the city played a leading role in the commercial trade in Europe, becoming one o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Swordfish (bomber)
The Fairey Swordfish is a biplane torpedo bomber, designed by the Fairey Aviation Company. Originating in the early 1930s, the Swordfish, nicknamed "Stringbag", was principally operated by the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy. It was also used by the Royal Air Force (RAF), as well as several overseas operators, including the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and the Royal Netherlands Navy. It was initially operated primarily as a fleet attack aircraft. During its later years, the Swordfish was increasingly used as an anti-submarine and training platform. The type was in frontline service throughout the Second World War. Despite being outmoded by 1939, the Swordfish achieved some spectacular successes during the war. Notable events included sinking one battleship and damaging two others of the ''Regia Marina'' (the Italian navy) during the Battle of Taranto, and the famous attack on the German battleship ''Bismarck'', which contributed to her eventual demise. Swordfish sank a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Limpet Mine
A limpet mine is a type of naval mine attached to a target by magnets. It is so named because of its superficial similarity to the shape of the limpet, a type of sea snail that clings tightly to rocks or other hard surfaces. A swimmer or diver may attach the mine, which is usually designed with hollow compartments to give the mine just slight negative buoyancy, making it easier to handle underwater. Types of fuses Usually limpet mines are set off by a time fuse. They may also have an anti-handling device, making the mine explode if removed from the hull by enemy divers or by explosions. Sometimes limpet mines have been fitted with a small turbine which would detonate the mine after the ship had sailed a certain distance, so that it was likely to sink in navigable channels (to make access difficult for other ships) or deep water (out of reach of easy salvage) and making determination of the cause of the sinking more difficult. Development In December 1938, a new unit was cr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Destroyer
In naval terminology, a destroyer is a fast, manoeuvrable, long-endurance warship intended to escort larger vessels in a fleet, convoy or battle group and defend them against powerful short range attackers. They were originally developed in 1885 by Fernando Villaamil for the Spanish NavySmith, Charles Edgar: ''A short history of naval and marine engineering.'' Babcock & Wilcox, ltd. at the University Press, 1937, page 263 as a defense against torpedo boats, and by the time of the Russo-Japanese War in 1904, these "torpedo boat destroyers" (TBDs) were "large, swift, and powerfully armed torpedo boats designed to destroy other torpedo boats". Although the term "destroyer" had been used interchangeably with "TBD" and "torpedo boat destroyer" by navies since 1892, the term "torpedo boat destroyer" had been generally shortened to simply "destroyer" by nearly all navies by the First World War. Before World War II, destroyers were light vessels with little endurance for unattended o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Battleship
A battleship is a large armored warship with a main battery consisting of large caliber guns. It dominated naval warfare in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The term ''battleship'' came into use in the late 1880s to describe a type of ironclad warship,Stoll, J. ''Steaming in the Dark?'', Journal of Conflict Resolution Vol. 36 No. 2, June 1992. now referred to by historians as pre-dreadnought battleships. In 1906, the commissioning of into the United Kingdom's Royal Navy heralded a revolution in the field of battleship design. Subsequent battleship designs, influenced by HMS ''Dreadnought'', were referred to as "dreadnoughts", though the term eventually became obsolete as dreadnoughts became the only type of battleship in common use. Battleships were a symbol of naval dominance and national might, and for decades the battleship was a major factor in both diplomacy and military strategy.Sondhaus, L. ''Naval Warfare 1815–1914'', . A global arms race in battleship cons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and many smaller islands within the British Isles. Northern Ireland shares a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. The total area of the United Kingdom is , with an estimated 2020 population of more than 67 million people. The United Kingdom has evolved from a series of annexations, unions and separations of constituent countries over several hundred years. The Treaty of Union between the Kingdom of England (which included Wales, annexed in 1542) and the Kingdom of Scotland in 170 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Human Torpedo
Human torpedoes or manned torpedoes are a type of diver propulsion vehicle on which the diver rides, generally in a seated position behind a fairing. They were used as secret naval weapons in World War II. The basic concept is still in use. The name was commonly used to refer to the weapons that Italy, and later (with a larger version) Britain, deployed in the Mediterranean and used to attack ships in enemy harbors. The human torpedo concept has occasionally been used by recreational divers, although this use is closer to midget submarines. History of common wartime models The concept of a small, manned submarine carrying a bomb was developed and patented by a British naval officer in 1909, but was never used during the First World War. The Italian Navy experimented with a primitive tiny sub (Mignatta) carrying two men and a limpet mine: this craft successfully sank Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS ''Viribus Unitis'' on 1 November 1918. The first truly practical human to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria grew rapidly and became a major centre of Hellenic civilisation, eventually replacing Memphis, in present-day Greater Cairo, as Egypt's capital. During the Hellenistic period, it was home to the Lighthouse of Alexandria, which ranked among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, as well as the storied Library of Alexandria. Today, the library is reincarnated in the disc-shaped, ultramodern Bibliotheca Alexandrina. Its 15th-century seafront Qaitbay Citadel is now a museum. Called the "Bride of the Mediterranean" by locals, Alexandria is a popular tourist destination and an important industrial centre due to its natural gas and oil pipelines from Suez. The city extends about along the northern coast of Egypt, and is the largest city on t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mario Marino
Mario Marino (27 March 1914 in Salerno – 11 May 1982 in Salerno) was an Italian sailor of the Regia Marina during World War Two. As a diver and human-torpedo operator with the Decima Flottiglia MAS, he won the Gold Medal of Military Valour for the Raid on Alexandria on 19 December 1941. A 97-ton submarine-support speedboat of the Italian Navy launched in 1984 is named after him. Life He volunteered for the navy in January 1934 and was assigned to the diving division, attending the Scuola C.R.E.M. at Varignano near La Spezia. At the end of the course he was assigned to the naval command at Gaeta. He then joined the destroyer ''Freccia'' and in 1936 the submarine ''H6'', attended the first diving course and took part in the first experiments in exiting a submerged submarine. At the end of the course he took part in the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and the Spanish Civil War. In 1938 he took part in the Corso per Alti Fondali in deep-sea diving and on 4 June 1940 he joined the ''Ti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vincenzo Martellotta
Vincenzo Martellotta (1 January 1913, Taranto - 27 August 1973, Castelfranco Emilia) was an officer of the Italian Navy during World War II. The Istituto Comprensivo Martellotta school in Taranto is named after him, as is the Italian Navy auxiliary ship launched in 1990 with the pennant number A5320 Life After graduating in classics from the Liceo Morea of Conversano, he enrolled at the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Naples. Attracted by the sea, he applied to the Italian Naval Academy in Livorno and in October 1931 it shall submit an application to ' Naval Academy in Livorno and in October 1931 he was admitted as a student. In 1934 he moved to the Institute of War in Turin and gained a degree in industrial engineering at the Turin Polytechnic. He was promoted to sub-lieutenant (gunnery) in the navy in 1935 and to lieutenant the following year. After finishing the supplementary course at the Naval Academy, in October 1937 he was sent to Massawa to head the Navy's to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spartaco Schergat
Spartaco Schergat (1920 in Koper – 1996 in Trieste) was an Italian military frogman during World War II. Biography Schergat was born in Istria to an Italian irredentist. He voluntarily joined the ''Regia Marina'' in 1940. He was friends with Luigi Durand de la Penne, who enrolled him in the elite Decima MAS (XMAS). In 1941, during the Raid on Alexandria, Schergat severely damaged the British battleship , with a human torpedo. For this military action he received the Italian gold medal in the Second World War. From 1943 until the end of the war, Schergat collaborated with the Allies, via the Royal Navy of the Badoglio government in southern Italy. In the 1950s, Schergat was elected as deputy of MSI, an Italian far right party. In 1996 Spartaco Schergat died, after a long struggle with cancer, in Trieste. The attack on ''Queen Elizabeth'' As part of a team of divers of the X MAS he took part in the human torpedo attacks on British vessels in the Mediterranean. In Dec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Antonio Marceglia
Antonio Marceglia (28 July 1915, Pirano – 13 July 1992, Venice) was a captain in the Naval Engineers during World War II. A municipal swimming pool at 245 via Sandro Gallo in Lido di Venezia is named after him. Life Marceglia incumbent in 1933 as an officer cadet in the naval engineers. In 1938, he graduated from the University of Genoa and became a Sottotenente. On 10 June 1940 (the day Italy declared war on the United Kingdom) he joined the submarine ''Ruggero Settimo'', in which he took part in three missions in the Mediterranean. In October that year he joined the ''Gruppo Mezzi d'Assalto'', and after spending his time training on the River Serchio, he took part in two missions against the Royal Navy base in Gibraltar on 26 May and 20 September 1941. He also joined the Raid on Alexandria on 19 December 1941, which seriously damaged the battleships ''Valiant'' and ''Queen Elizabeth'', the tanker ''Sagona'' and the destroyer ''Jervis''. Marceglia was captured during th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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