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 Decima Flottiglia MAS was an Italian flotilla, with marines and commando frogman unit, of the Regia Marina. The acronym MAS also refers to various light torpedo boats used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II.
Francesco Mimbelli was an Italian naval officer who fought in World War II.
Motoscafo armato silurante, alternatively Motoscafo antisommergibili and commonly abbreviated as MAS, was a class of fast torpedo-armed vessels used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II. Originally, "MAS" referred to motobarca armata SVAN, Società Veneziana Automobili Navali.
The Leninets or L class were the second class of submarines to be built for the Soviet Navy. Twenty-five were built in four groups between 1931 and 1941. They were minelaying submarines and were based on the British L-class submarine, HMS L55, which was sunk during the British intervention in the Russian Civil War. Some experience from the previous Dekabrist-class submarines was also utilised. The boats were of the saddle tank type and mines were carried in two stern galleries as pioneered on the pre-war Russian submarine Krab (1912). These boats were considered successful by the Soviets. Groups 3 and 4 had more powerful engines and a higher top speed.
The Black Sea Campaigns were the operations of the Axis and Soviet naval forces in the Black Sea and its coastal regions during World War II between 1941 and 1944, including in support of the land forces.
The Raid on Alexandria was carried out on 19 December 1941 by Italian Navy divers of the Decima Flottiglia MAS, who attacked and sank two Royal Navy battleships at their moorings and damaged an oil tanker and a destroyer in the harbour of Alexandria, Egypt, using Siluro Lenta Corsa manned torpedoes.
The Raid on Souda Bay was an attack by the Decima MAS (X-MAS), a specialist unit of the Regia Marina that used unconventional weapons. Decima MAS used explosive boats (MTM) against British ships lying in Souda Bay, Crete, during the early hours of 26 March 1941. The MTM explosive boats had been ferried from Astypalaia by the destroyers Francesco Crispi and Quintino Sella and launched at the approaches to the bay. After crossing the three boom defences, the MTM attacked the British heavy cruiser HMS York and the Norwegian tanker Pericles (8,324 GRT).
The auxiliary ship Olterra was a 5,000 ton Italian tanker scuttled by its own crew at Algeciras in the Bay of Gibraltar on 10 June 1940, after the entry of Italy in World War II. She was recovered in 1942 by a special unit of the Decima Flottiglia MAS to be used as an undercover base for manned torpedoes in order to attack Allied shipping at Gibraltar.
The explosive motorboat MT also known as barchino, was a series of small explosive motor boats developed by the Italian Royal Navy, which was based on its predecessors, the prototype boat MA and the MAT, an airborne prototype. Explosive motorboats were designed to make a silent approach to a moored warship, set a collision course and run into full gear until the last 200 or 100 yards to the target, when the pilot would eject after blocking the rudder. At impact, the hull would be broken amidships by a small explosive charge, sinking the boat and the warhead, which was fitted with a water-pressure fuse set to go off at a depth of one metre.
The Siluro San Bartolomeo was an Italian human torpedo designed during World War II, used by the Decima Flottiglia MAS for commando style operations. Some limitations had been noticed when using the Siluro Lenta Corsa human torpedo, demonstrating the need for an updated version. The project was managed and developed by the engineer of the Genio Naval, Mayor Mario Masciulli, with the help of Captain G.N Travaglino and engineer Guido Cattaneo. The improvement in the materials available for the assembly and parallel new technologies led to a far superior product to its precursor.
Mario Elbano Masciulli Manelli, Baron Miglianico was a prominent military engineer of the Italian Regia Marina, Major of Genio Navale and belonging to the recognized Decima Flottiglia MAS as director of the Office of Submarine Secret Weapons during Second World War. He was awarded the Silver Medal of Military Valor.
Mališan was a CB-class midget submarine that served in the Yugoslav Navy from 1953 to 1957. Laid down in 1943 by the Caproni company in Milan as CB-20, she was ordered by the Italian Regia Marina during World War II for harbour defence and anti-submarine warfare tasks, but she was incomplete at the time of the Italian surrender in September 1943.
The National Republican Navy was the navy of the Italian Social Republic, a World War II German puppet state in Italy.
The Romanian Navy during World War II was the main Axis naval force in the Black Sea campaigns and fought against the Soviet Union's Black Sea Fleet from 1941 to 1944. Operations consisted mainly of mine warfare, but there were also escort missions and localized naval engagements. The largest naval action fought by the Romanian Navy was the 26 June 1941 Raid on Constanța, and its most extensive operation was the 1944 evacuation of the Crimea.
NMS Mărășești was one of four Vifor-class destroyers ordered by Romania shortly before the beginning of the First World War from Italy. All four sister ships were requisitioned when Italy joined the war in 1915. Originally named Vârtej by the Romanians, she was renamed Nibbio and classified as a scout cruiser in Italian service. Not completed until mid-1918, the ship took part in the Adriatic campaign of World War I but engaged Austro-Hungarian Navy ships in the Adriatic Sea only once before the war ended in November 1918. She was renamed Mărășești when she was re-purchased by the Romanians in 1920.
During the Second World War, the Royal Romanian Navy operated a total of 9 submarines: three fleet submarines and six midget submarines. These vessels fought on the Axis side during the war. Only two of them survived the war and continued to serve in the Romanian Navy until the 1960s.
Submarine warfare in the Black Sea in World War II during 1942 involved engagements between primarily submarines of the Soviet Black Sea Fleet attacking Axis merchantmen defended by Romanian and German naval warships. These engagements were a part of the Black Sea campaigns between Axis and Soviet naval forces.
The Raid on Grand Harbour, was an Italian raid against Allied shipping in Grand Harbour, Valletta, Malta in the early morning of 26 July 1941 during the Second World War. MTM explosive motorboat pilots and Frogmen from the Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti of the Regia Marina conducted a raid to penetrate the harbour and attack British shipping. The attackers destroyed the St Elmo Bridge trying to enter the harbour, before being driven off by fire from the coastal defences.
The Quarta Flottiglia MAS was an Italian flotilla of the Regia Marina created during the Fascist regime.
