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N0KFQ > TODAY 26.03.08 08:00l 48 Lines 2094 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - Mar 26
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From: N0KFQ@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
To : TODAY@ALLUS
March 26, 1941
Naval warfare gets new weapon
On this day, Italy attacks the British fleet at Suda Bay, Crete,
using detachable warheads to sink a British cruiser. This was the
first time manned torpedoes had been employed in naval warfare,
adding a new weapon to the world's navies' arsenals.
The manned torpedo, also known as the "Chariot," was unique.
Primarily used to attack enemy ships still in harbor, the
Chariots needed "pilots" to "drive" them to their targets.
Sitting astride the torpedo on a vehicle that would transport
them both, the pilot would guide the missile as close to the
target as possible, then ride the vehicle back, usually to a
submarine. The Chariot was an enormous advantage; before its
development, the closest weapon to the Chariot was the Japanese
Kaiten--a human torpedo, or suicide bomb, which had obvious
drawbacks.
The first successful use of the Chariot was by the Italian navy,
although they referred to their version as Maiali, or "Pigs." On
March 26, six Italian motorboats, commanded by Italian naval
commander Lt. Luigi Faggioni, entered Suda Bay in Crete and
planted their Maiali along a British convoy in harbor there. The
cruiser York was so severely damaged by the blast that it had to
be beached.
The manned torpedo proved to be the most effective weapon in the
Italian naval arsenal, used successfully against the British
again in December 1941 at Alexandria, Egypt. Italian torpedoes
sank the British battleships Queen Elizabeth and Valiant, as well
as one tanker. They were also used against merchant ships at
Gibraltar and elsewhere.
The British avenged themselves against the Italians, though, by
sinking the new Italian cruiser Ulpio Traiano in the port of
Palermo, Sicily, in early January 1943. An 8,500-ton ocean liner
was also damaged in the same attack.
After the Italian surrender, Britain, and later Germany,
continued to use the manned torpedo. In fact, Germany succeeded
in sinking two British minesweepers off Normandy Beach in July
1944, using their Neger torpedoes.
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