HMS Queen Elizabeth after the modernisation

Spartaco Schergat (1920 in

Koper Koper (; it, Capodistria, hr, Kopar) is the fifth largest city in Slovenia. Located in the Istrian region in the southwestern part of the country, approximately five kilometres () south of the border with Italy and 20 kilometres () from Triest ...

– 1996 in

Trieste Trieste ( , ; sl, Trst ; german: Triest ) is a city and seaport in northeastern Italy. It is the capital city, and largest city, of the autonomous region of Friuli Venezia Giulia, one of two autonomous regions which are not subdivided into provi ...

) was an Italian military

frogman A frogman is someone who is trained in scuba diving or swimming underwater in a tactical capacity that includes military, and in some European countries, police work. Such personnel are also known by the more formal names of combat diver, comb ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Biography

Schergat was born in

Istria Istria ( ; Croatian language, Croatian and Slovene language, Slovene: ; ist, Eîstria; Istro-Romanian language, Istro-Romanian, Italian language, Italian and Venetian language, Venetian: ; formerly in Latin and in Ancient Greek) is the larges ...

to an

Italian irredentist Italian irredentism ( it, irredentismo italiano) was a nationalist movement during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries in Italy with irredentist goals which promoted the unification of geographic areas in which indigenous peoples ...

. He voluntarily joined the ''

Regia Marina The ''Regia Marina'' (; ) was the navy of the Kingdom of Italy (''Regno d'Italia'') from 1861 to 1946. In 1946, with the Italian constitutional referendum, 1946, birth of the Italian Republic (''Repubblica Italiana''), the ''Regia Marina'' ch ...

'' in 1940. He was friends with

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 Ital ...

, who enrolled him in the elite

Decima MAS The ''Decima Flottiglia MAS'' (''Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti'', also known as ''La Decima'' or Xª MAS) (Italian for "10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla") was an Italian flotilla, with commando frogman unit, of the ''Regia Marina'' ...

(XMAS). In 1941, during the Raid on Alexandria, Schergat severely damaged the British

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 ...

, with a

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. ...

. 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 Pietro Badoglio, 1st Duke of Addis Abeba, 1st Marquess of Sabotino (, ; 28 September 1871 – 1 November 1956), was an Italian general during both World Wars and the first viceroy of Italian East Africa. With the fall of the Fascist regime ...

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

The attack on ''Queen Elizabeth''

As part of a team of divers of the X MAS he took part in the

attacks on British vessels in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

. In December 1941, Schergat was one of a team of six (Luigi Durand de la Penne with Emilio Bianchi; Antonio Marceglia with Spartaco Schergat; Vincenzo Martellotta with Mario Marino) which attacked

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 ...

harbour. They used the new Italian secret torpedo ''S.L.C.'' ("Siluro Lenta Corsa", also known as "''maiale''"), a small underwater assault vehicle with a crew of two. As a result, four ships were damaged in

: the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

battleships (by Marceglia and Schergat) and (by Martellotta and Marino), and the tanker ''Sagona'' with the

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 ...

. Spartaco Schergat personally placed the

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 m ...

under the hull of ''Queen Elizabeth''. However, the two capital ships were in shallow water, ''Queen Elizabeth'' settling on the sea bed, ''Valiant'' down by the bow, but both maintaining the illusion from the air that they were undamaged. Temporary repairs were quickly effected; ''Queen Elizabeth'' was sent to the United States for permanent full repairs, ''Valiant'' to Durban, South Africa. Both ships were out of action for over one year. This represented a dramatic change of fortunes against 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 explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

from the strategic point of view in the central

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

during the next half-year or more. The Italian fleet - with the Alexandria Raid - had nominally achieved

naval supremacy Command of the sea (also called control of the sea or sea control) is a naval military concept regarding the strength of a particular navy to a specific naval area it controls. A navy has command of the sea when it is so strong that its rivals ...

in the Mediterranean Sea, called in that year Italy's Mare Nostrum by fascist propaganda."Consequently, the Alexandria Fleet remained for many months without any battleships, and it was forced to abandon any further open activity. In fact, Admiral Cunningham wrote that his Fleet now ''should have to leave it to the Royal Air Force to try if they could dispute the control of the Central Mediterranean with the enemy's fleet.''(...) In fact, it opened a period of clear Italian naval supremacy in the east-central Mediterranean." Bragadin, page 152

References

Bibliography

*"''Frogmen First Battles''" by retired U.S. Captain William Schofield's book. *''The Italian Navy in World War II'' by Marc'Antonio Bragadin, United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, 1957. *''The Italian Navy during World War II'' by Sadkovich, James, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1994. {{DEFAULTSORT:Schergat, Spartaco Regia Marina personnel of World War II Istrian Italian people 1920 births 1996 deaths

Biography

The attack on ''Queen Elizabeth''

See also

References

Bibliography