Raid on Souda Bay

Raid on Souda Bay
Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of the Second World War
The hulk of HMS York with Sirio alongside
Date 26 March 1941 Location Souda Bay, Mediterranean Sea Result Italian victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom  Norway	Italy
Commanders and leaders
Reginald Portal	Arturo Redaelli[1] Ugo Ferruta[1] Luigi Faggioni (POW)
Strength
3 cruisers 1 destroyer 5 auxiliary ships and tankers	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. The six MTM pilots, Luigi Faggioni, Alessio de Vito, Emilio Barberi, Angelo Cabrini, Tullio Tedeschi and Lino Beccati were taken prisoner and were later awarded the Italian Gold Medal of Military Valor (Medaglia d'oro al valor militare).

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 Modificato (MTM, explosive motor boat) [also called barchini, little boats] and other surface craft.^[2]

MTM carried a 660 lb (300 kg) explosive charge in the bow.^[3] The MTMs were specially equipped to make their way through obstacles such as torpedo nets. Once clear, the pilot would steer the MTM 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 MTMs 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. MTM 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 MTM and had electric motor davits for quick launches of the boats.^[2]

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]

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) MTM (barchini), the six pilots led by Tenente di vascello (Lieutenant) Luigi Faggioni were Alessio de Vito, Emilio Barberi, Angelo Cabrini, Tullio Tedeschi and Lino Beccati. The destroyers were to release the MTM 10 nmi (19 km; 12 mi) from the mouth of Souda Bay. At 23:30, the destroyers reached the launching point, quickly unloaded the MTM and turned for home.^[7]

The MTMs made their way to the entrance of the bay where one MTM was obstructed by the net barrage but managed to get past and joined the rest of the formation near an islet in the mouth of the bay. At 04:30 on 26 March, Faggioni bypassed the inner net by going close to the shore and then moved along it, towards the centre of the bay, the MTM pilots using oars to move quietly. Faggioni called the boats together and, resumed the advance towards the third net barrage, 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 MTM crews to think that they had been discovered. The MTM then had to wait until there was enough natural light to attack. Faggioni briefed the pilots ordering two MTM pilots to attack York, about 500 m (1,600 ft) away. Faggioni and another MTM pilot waited in reserve in case the attack failed; the last two MTM made ready to attack the merchant ships.^[8]

As dawn broke, soon after 05:00, the first two MTMs 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 MTM 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, before he could raise the alarm the ship was hit. The two MTMs exploded against York amidships, flooding the aft boilers and magazines and the ship was towed to shore by Hasty and beached in 27 ft (8.2 m) of water.^[9] Pericles was severely damaged and settled on the bottom. 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.^[10]

Ian Playfair, the British official historian of the Mediterranean campaign, wrote in 1956 that the attack was the first of Italian unconventional operation and that took skill and bravery.^[11] The British official historian of the Royal Navy, Stephen Roskill, wrote in 1957 that the loss of York was the inevitable consequence of using a base that was not adequately defended. The poor defences there limited its use to that of an advanced fuelling station, forcing the Mediterranean Fleet to operte from Alexandria, 500 nmi (930 km; 580 mi) to the south.^[12] In 2015, Greene and Massignani wrote that the sinking of York was the first success of the MTM which vindicated them as weapons.

The six pilots were captured and an MTM was recovered intact; while being inspected there was an explosion, wounding a British officer and damaging the vehicle.^[13] The Italians claimed hits on another tanker and Pericles, which were sunk.^[14] The British reported that York and Pericles were grounded and the other MTM missed their targets, one being stranded on the beach. Anti-aircraft guns around the base opened fire under the impression that the base was under air attack.^[10] The six MTM pilots were awarded the Medaglia d'oro al valor militare.^[15]

Faggioni, de Vito, Barberi, Cabrini, Tedeschi and Beccati were captured. The prisoners were well treated at first, Faggioni recalling that a British sailor said "Good job, isn't it?" Later, Faggioni and his men were subjected to a mock firing squad, with an officer holding a black bandage in his hand and were then taken back to prison.^[16]

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.^[17] The cruiser was evacuated and her main guns were wrecked with demolition charges by her crew before the Battle of Crete.^[18] 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.^[19]

The Regia Marina and the Luftwaffe argued over the credit for the sinking of York but the matter was resolved by British records records and by the York war log, recovered by Italian naval officers who boarded the half-sunk cruiser after the capture of Crete. A message from Portal, the captain to his Chief Engineering Officer read,

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.^[20]

In 2001, David Thomas attributed the loss of York to X-MAS rather than the Germans.^[21]

• 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.

• "Attack to Suda Bay" - RegiaMarina.net (in English)
• HMS York at Uboat.net
• HMS York at Naval History.Net

35°29′0″N 24°08′17″E / 35.48333°N 24.13806°E / 35.48333; 24.13806