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Raid on Souda Bay

Coordinates: 35°29′0″N 24°08′17″E / 35.48333°N 24.13806°E / 35.48333; 24.13806
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Raid on Souda Bay
Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of the Second World War

The hulk of HMS York with Sirio alongside
Date26 March 1941
Location
Souda Bay, Mediterranean Sea
Result Italian victory
Belligerents
 United Kingdom
 Norway		  Italy
Commanders and leaders
United Kingdom Reginald Portal Fascist Italy Arturo Redaelli[1]
Ugo Ferruta[1]
Luigi Faggioni (POW)
Strength
2 destroyers
6 motor assault boats
Casualties and losses
1 heavy cruiser
1 tanker
2 killed		 6 prisoners

The Raid on Souda Bay was an assault by Regia Marina explosive boats on Souda Bay, Crete, during the early hours of 26 March 1941. The motor boats were launched by the torpedo boats (small destroyers) Francesco Crispi and Quintino Sella at the approaches to the bay. After negotiating the boom defences, the small craft attacked the British heavy cruiser HMS York and the Norwegian tanker Pericles. The vessels were sunk in shallow waters by the explosive charges and eventually lost.

Background

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X-MAS

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Main article: MT explosive motorboat

On 15 March 1941, the Special Weapons Section of the Regia Marina was used to form the Decima Flottiglia MAS (X flotilla MAS or X-MAS) a disguise suggested by Vittorio Moccagatta the commander of X-MAS. the Flotilla consisted of a headquarters, an assault craft department for surface craft and one for underwater vehicles. Lieutenant Commander Junio Borghese took command of the underwater department, which included the Siluro a lenta corsa (SLC, slow-running torpedo [human torpedo]) operator school in Bocca di Serchio, the diving school in Livorno, the uomini gamma (gamma men [frogmen]) and transport submarines. Tenente Comandante (Lieutenant-Commander) Giorgio Giobbe took over the surface department, including the Motoscafo da Turismo (MT, explosive boats) [also called barchini, little boats] and other surface craft.[2]

MT carried a 660 lb (300 kg) explosive charge in the bow.[3] The MTs were specially equipped to make their way through obstacles such as torpedo nets. Once clear, the pilot would steer the MT towards a ship, jumping before it hit the target and exploded, the backrest serving as a means to get out of the water and escape the shock wave.[4] Training with the MTs at the island of Leros had shown that it was possible to approach the target by ship, rather than aircraft as had first been thought. MT training included overcoming obstructions, simulating attacks under floodlights and manoeuvring in formation. The Sella-class destroyers Francesco Crispi and Quintino Sella were adapted for X-MAS operations. Each ship carried six MT and had electric motor davits for quick launches of the boats.[2]

Souda Bay

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Main article: Souda Bay
Aerial view of Souda Bay from the north-east

Souda Bay (Suda Bay to the British) is a naturally protected harbour on the north-western coast of the island of Crete, about 4.3 mi (7 km) long with a depth of 33–39 ft (10–12 m) at the mouth, increasing to 230–390 ft (70–120 m) further inside. The bay had been chosen as a target by the X-MAS months before, because it had become a busy anchorage for ships of the Royal Navy, tankers and other support ships. Recent air reconnaissance had spotted a number of naval and merchant ships at anchor.[5]

Prelude

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On 24 March, aerial reconnaissance photographs showed a cruiser, two destroyers and twelve merchant ships at anchor in Souda Bay. Later information indicated one cruiser and eight merchant ships but by the time the operation, more ships had entered the bay. The heavy cruiser HMS York, the light cruiser Gloucester, the anti-aircraft cruiser Calcutta, the destroyer HMS Hasty, RFA Cherryleaf (5,934 GRT) and Dumana (8,427 GRT) an RAF flying boat tender and the tankers Desmoulea (8,120 GRT), Marie Mærsk (8,271 GRT) and Pericles (8,324 GRT) were present.[6] York had arrived with Gloucester from Operation MC 9, escorting Convoy MW 6 to Malta, at 14:00 on 25 March. On the night of 25/26 March 1941, Crispi and Sella departed from the island of Astypalaia, each carrying three 2 long tons (2.0 t) MT (barchini) led by Tenente di vascello (Lieutenant) Luigi Faggioni, to release the MT 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) from the mouth of Souda Bay. At 23:30, the destroyers reached the launching point, quickly unloaded the MT and turned for home.[7]

Attack

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York and Pericles beached; a Sunderland flying boat lands between them

The MTs made their way to the objective, reached it smoothly and quickly began to overcome the external obstructions. One MT was obstructed by the net barrage but managed to get past and joined the rest of the formation near an islet near the mouth of the bay. Faggioni saw the obstruction at 04:30; the MT bypassed it by going close to the shore and then moved along the net, towards the centre of the bay, using oars to assemble quietly. Faggioni called the boats together and at 02:45 on 26 March, resumed the advance towards the third obstruction, about 3 nmi (5.6 km; 3.5 mi) away. Two searchlights tuned on as the anti-aircraft cruiser Coventry entered the bay, causing the MT crews to think that they had been discovered. The MT had to wait until there was enough light to launch the attack. Faggioni briefed the pilots, two MT were to attack York, about 500 m (1,600 ft) away; his MT and another MT waited in reserve in case their attempt failed; the last two MT made ready to attack the merchant ships.[8]

As dawn broke, soon after 05:00, the attack began. The first two MTs moved to about 980 ft (300 m) from York and waited for about fifteen minutes for the sky to become clear, then sped towards the cruiser, the pilots abandoning their MT at about 260 ft (80 m) from the ship. At 05:11 the officer of the watch on York heard the sound of an engine but mistook it for an aircraft and before he could raise the alarm the ship was hit. The two MTs exploded against York amidships, flooding her aft boilers and magazines and the ship was beached in 27 ft (8.2 m) of water.[9] Pericles 8,324 GRT was severely damaged and settled on the bottom, while the other tanker and the cargo ship were sunk (according to Italian sources).[10][11] According to British reports, the other MT missed their targets and one was stranded on the beach. The anti-aircraft guns of the base opened fire randomly, believing that the base was under air attack. Faggioni, Alessio de Vito, Emilio Barberi, Angelo Cabrini, Tullio Tedeschi and Lino Beccati, were captured.[12]

Aftermath

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York was disabled and run aground, though her anti-aircraft guns still provided air defence to the harbour. On 21 March two divers assessing damage were killed by a near miss during an air raid. A salvage operation involving the submarine, HMS Rover, dispatched from Alexandria to assist York with electrical power, was abandoned due to the intensity of the air attacks, which damaged the submarine and forced her return to Egypt.[13] The cruiser was evacuated and her main guns were wrecked with demolition charges by her crew before the Battle of Crete.[14] Pericles was taken in tow by destroyers but broke in two during a storm and was sunk by gunfire on 14 April 1941 35 nmi (65 km; 40 mi) north-west of Alexandria.[15]

The sinking of York was the source of a controversy between the Regia Marina and the Luftwaffe over credit for her sinking. The matter was resolved by British war records and by the ship's war log, captured by Italian naval officers who boarded the half-sunk cruiser. The Italians seized the following naval message from Captain Portal to his Chief Engineering Officer,

Please take statements from all men who were in boiler and engine rooms when the ship was struck on the 26th, also from any men who can bear witness as to the R.A.s who were lost, being in the engine room. I would like you also to make rough notes now, while events are fresh in your mind, of sequence of damage reports and appreciations as time went on. Also a log of events since we started pumping out. R.P.[16]

Notes

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  1. ^ a b Le Operazioni della Flottiglia MAS (in Italian)
  2. ^ a b Greene & Massignani 2015, p. 76.
  3. ^ Sadkovich 1994, p. 25.
  4. ^ Greene & Massignani 1998, p. 141.
  5. ^ Borghese 1995, p. 77.
  6. ^ Jordan 2006, pp. 14, 83, 98, 334, 448, 495.
  7. ^ Greene & Massignani 2015, p. 78.
  8. ^ Greene & Massignani 2015, pp. 78, 81–82, 80, 83–84.
  9. ^ Brown 1995, p. 42.
  10. ^ Jordan 2006, p. 334.
  11. ^ Borghese 1995, p. 80.
  12. ^ Greene & Massignani 2015, pp. 81–82, 80, 83–84.
  13. ^ "HMS York (90) [ 1941]". wrecksite.eu.
  14. ^ Borghese 1995, pp. 83–84.
  15. ^ Jordan 2006, pp. 334, 563.
  16. ^ Borghese 1995, p. 83.

References

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  • Borghese, J. Valerio (1995). Sea Devils: Italian Navy Commandos in World War II. Classics of Naval Literature. Translated by Cleugh, James. Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute. ISBN 1-55750-072-X.
  • Brown, David (1995) [1990]. Warship Losses of World War Two (2nd rev. ed.). London: Arms and Armour Press. ISBN 978-1-85409-278-6.
  • Greene, Jack; Massignani, Alessandro (1998). The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940–1943. London: Chatham. ISBN 1-86176-057-4.
  • Greene, Jack; Massignani, Alessandro (2015). Il Principe Nero: Junio Valerio Borghese e la X Mas [The Black Prince: Junio Valerio Borghese and the X Mas] (in Italian). Translated by Alverà, Emanuela. Milano: Mondadori Editore S.p.A. ISBN 978-8-85-208209-2.
  • Jordan, Roger W. (2006) [1999]. The World's Merchant Fleets 1939: The Particulars and Wartime Fates of 6,000 Ships (2nd ed.). London: Chatham/Lionel Leventhal. ISBN 978-1-86176-293-1.
  • Sadkovich, James (1994). The Italian Navy in World War II. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-28797-X.

Further reading

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  • Bragadin, Marc'Antonio (1957). The Italian Navy in World War II. Annapolis, MD: US Naval Institute. ISBN 0-405-13031-7.
  • Greene, Jack; Massignani, Alessandro (2004). The Black Prince And The Sea Devils: The Story Of Valerio Borghese And The Elite Units Of The Decima Mas. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0-306-81311-5.
  • Schofield, William (2004). Frogmen First Battles. Branden Books. ISBN 0-8283-2088-8.
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35°29′0″N 24°08′17″E / 35.48333°N 24.13806°E / 35.48333; 24.13806

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