The Most Ruthless Naval Revenge of WW2

in only four sweltering minutes the Royal Navy's Mediterranean Fleet had crushed the Italian regia Marina in the Battle of Cape madapan despite the Italians having more significant numbers and faster ships with three heavy Cruisers and two destroyers swallowed by the Sea one capital ship severely damaged and over 3 000 casualties at the cost of only three British Sailors and one warplane the Italian Navy Spirits were demolished the humiliating defeat had Benito Mussolini seething and he would have his revenge one way or another a covert scheme was then hatched to deliver a blow to the Mediterranean Fleet in its home in the port of Alexandria in December of 1941 months after matapana six Italian frogmen Commandos boarded three small man Torpedoes and dashed under the dimmed Egyptian Waters toward the British ships moored at the pier of Alexandria between them and their objective a vast range of mines and submarine Nets stood in their way but the dangerous operatives had been waiting for this moment their entire lives they would avenge their fallen comrades no matter the consequences a torted Time once a highly feared Force the Royal Navy was meeting the limit of its reach by the end of 1941. this was especially true of the Mediterranean Fleet despite crippling the Italian regia Marina in the Battle of Cape Mattapan considered the largest naval battle in the European theater a series of recent disasters had left the naval Force weaker than ever the unfortunate streak began less than a month after matapana with the sinking of HMS York by Italian explosive motorboats operated by Italian frogmen from the flotilla de Chima flotilla Mas November 25th then marked a tragic turn as the battleship HMS Barra met her untimely demise struck by a torpedo from the u-331 submarine the toll was immense with over 800 Sailors lost in a devastating explosion the cruiser galatea met a similar end Weeks Later under the sites of u-557 followed by a British Squadron running into a Minefield that claimed four more invaluable ships Stakes increased exponentially at the start of December with Japan joining the Axis powers the Royal Navy had to spread far further than ever before as the language Mediterranean Fleet had no hope of receiving reinforcements Admiral Andrew Cunningham understood the gravity of the situation and knew the fleet could not suffer another sizable strike by the axis forces as it could risk the entire Allied war effort consequently the British Navy became more cautious regarding Open Sea battles and the Mediterranean however nobody expected the deceptive subversion that was afoot enter the frogmen activated in March of 1941 the digima flatilia nas started its combat service with the bang destroying hmas York and conducting several amphibious raids against Allied ships using rigged motorboats and manned torpedoes for Mussolini the Frogman as the man of the dejima flatilia were also known were a process asset especially after his Fleet had been so blatantly humiliated now he would use them to deliver a knockout blow to the Mediterranean Fleet highly specialized Naval unit was assembled that same year to face the Mediterranean Fleet but as the months passed the Italian High command wanted to take their success to a whole new level and use it to do what the reggiano had failed to do during the Battle of Cape Mattapan destroyed the British battleships the plan was dangerous and ambitious six men would depart from Greece in a low and Italian submarine and would travel 1700 miles to the Waters of Alexandria where the Commandos would slip into the water board specially designed manned Torpedoes and guide them towards the hulls of three of the largest British Capital ships in the port the docks were highly secured and defended swarming with surveillance on the surface and teeming with mines and Nets underwater the Frogman would have to elude all obstacles make it to the ships plant the explosives and Escape without being detected the three targeted ships HMS Valiant HMS Queen Elizabeth and the carrier HMS Eagle would then be rattled to their core as the explosive charges tore massive holes under their hulls sinking them to the bottom of the bay in minutes however plans seldom work as intended a Time unknown although they didn't know it then the Italian frogmen were against a much more difficult trial than what they were expecting Admiral Andrew Cunningham knew that his Fleet had been weakening and would now be a prime target for attacks and sabotage attempts the British were also fully aware of Italian man torpedo technology and the tactics employed by the frogmen as they had obtained one of the Torpedoes from the second Italian attack on Gibraltar and captured cement after the second attack on Malta Cunningham knew an attack was coming but he did not know the day the hour or the exact place as such he responded by bolstering British defenses in all Mediterranean bases and deploying additional mines and submarine Nets around the most critical ports especially on the lodge military Port of Alexandria the attack finally came on December 3rd 1941 when the Italian submarine C Day commanded by Lieutenant Junior Valerio Borghese departed from the LA Spezia Naval Base carrying three man Torpedoes known as mayali or pigs to the Italians the submarine secretly stopped the island of leros in the Aegean Sea with a sixth hand-picked Frogman carrying out the mission and got on board after an excruciating Journey where the submarine had to travel submerged most of the way Borghese reached his destination on the night of December 19th the brilliant Skipper had surfaced only four feet off his intended target position when the Sun finally came down the captain released the man Torpedoes each crewed by two frogmen the Torpedoes had been equipped with large explosive Warheads designed to be quickly placed below the halls of capital ships the Frogman silently slipped into the water as they had practiced so many times making the Mad Dash across the water and towards the harbor The Raid as the Frogman Drew increasingly closer to their targets they had to carefully navigate through a vast field of mines and submarine Nets resting in the waters around the port of Alexandria despite working in nearly complete darkness the Commandos were able to get to the entrance of the harbor where the defenses were almost impassable in a fortunate turn of events the British suddenly lowered the defenses as three destroyers were returning to port at that very moment the Frogman took advantage of the situation and entered the harbor alongside the British vessels so close were they to the enemy vessels that they could hear the sailors conversations on Deck the leading torpedo headed for HMS Valiant was now inside the harbor the two crewmen carefully Advanced frequently stopping to push their torpedo over the submarine Nets that continued to protect the inside of the dock second pair of Frogman targeting HMS Elizabeth approached their target without meeting any resistance they quickly identified the massive Battleship silhouette against the Harbor's light the last pair tasked with sinking the British carrier HMS Eagle was met with an insurmountable issue the ship was not there the carrier had actually been deployed to the Indian Sea that morning and the Commandos would have to find another objective but several Cruisers discarded as too small the frogmen finally decided to plant their Warhead on the hull of a large tanker more to the docks while this was taking place the pair attacking Valiant was suddenly struck by disaster their man Torpedoes propeller was damaged by the steel cable of a submarine net and its engine was now useless there were just a few dozen yards from their objective but they could not move the Warhead both men Dove 55 feet to the seabed where they began to slowly push the broken torpedo towards Valiant but suddenly the breathing equipment of one of the Commandos stopped working forcing him to surface immediately Luigi Doran De La Pena had to push the torpedo for a grueling 40 minutes in pitch black darkness while his mask filled with water and his breathing gear gave him vicious stomach spasms however he was able to place the torpedo in the seabed below the Valiants Hall and although it was not attached to the ship it would have to do vengeance the events that followed were chaotic and intense as De La Pena surfaced and met with his cohort they were suddenly spotted by a Searchlight and the fierce warning burst of a machine gun forced them to surrender they were immediately taken Prisoners the team targeting Queen Elizabeth managed to reach the shore and Escape into town however they were captured a few hours later by Egyptian customs officers and were turned into the British authorities and his teammate began to be interrogated at 6am the first charge detonated in deafening Roar that swallowed the massive tanker and a destroyer that had been refueling the British tried to force the captured men to reveal the location of the other explosives but the Italian Commandos would not budge as the interrogation continued groups of Italian men desperately searched the two battleships however the efforts were futile at 604 am Valiant detonated her structure shattered and her decks flooded rapidly then at precisely 6 15 a colossal blast tore apart the hull of HMS Queen Elizabeth smashing three of her boiler compartments into pieces the captured Commandos looked at each other with pride despite being prisoners they had achieved their objective and crippled the Mediterranean Fleet meanwhile the last pair of Commandos had managed to escape the harbor but were caught the following day all sex frogmen were now in British custody but the deed could not be undone the Italian Navy had achieved a remarkable feat they had sunk a significant oil tanker caused damage to a destroyer and taken two Capital ships out of commission for months stunning Victory had an immense impact completely changing the naval balance of power in the Mediterranean thank you for watching dark Seas for more a thrilling Maritime Adventures subscribe to our Channel and hit the notification Bell and to delve into many more fascinating wartime stories from around the globe click on your screen and check out our other documentaries channels we publish new content regularly so stay tuned

Channel: Dark Seas

Views: 417,769

Keywords: navy, naval, documentary, history, history channel, warships, dark docs

Id: dkjXXkg7fIs

Length: 10min 30sec (630 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 05 2023