| Page Created |
| May 18th, 2022 |
| Last Updated |
| May 26th, 2022 |
| Additional Information |
| Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti Order of Battle Commanders Operations Equipment Multimedia References Interactive Page |
| Badge |
 |
| Motto |
| Memento Audere Semper, Remember to always be bold |
| Founded |
| 1935 |
| Disbanded |
| September 14th, 1943 |
| Theater of Operations |
| Mediterranean Alexandria, Egypt Malta Sevastopol, Soviet Union Haifa, Palestine El Daba, Egypt Algiers, Algeria Gibraltar İskenderun, Turkey Mersin, Turkey |
| Organisational History |
| The foundation of the Decima Flottiglia MAS (Motoscafi Armati Siluranti) was a combination of several events. First, already during World War 1 the Regia Marina was experimenting with the use of Motor Torpedo Boats (MTB’s) or Motoscafo Armato Silurante in Italian to attack the Austrian-Hungarian Navy in the Adriatic Sea. These small attack ships were the brainchild of Engineer Atillio Bisio who was put in charge of the program to develop these craft in the beginning of 1917. Bisio was the director of the SVAN-Shipyard (Società Veneziana Automobili Navali). He came up with the ingenious design of the Barchino Saltatore. This boat was designed to clear the defences of the Pula, Croatia base and launch a torpedo at the vessels anchored there. Although none of the assaults were successful their actions would be remembered in the preparation for the next major conflict.  \The first four Barchino Saltatore ready for action in March 1918. They are named Grillo, Locusta, Pulce and Cavalletta. Second also during World War 1 the Regina Marina had used human torpedoes. On November 1st, 1918, they had used the Torpedine Rossetti or Mignatta to sink the Austro-Hungarian battleship Viribus Unitis in Pula Harbor. The Torpedine Rossetti was the result of the Mignatta-Project of Major Ing. Raffaele Rossetti in collaboration with Lieutenant Raffaele Paolucci. Ten days after the Viribus Unitis went down the first World War ended so the weapon wasn’t used anymore. But what the Italians had learned during this war was that bold actions against the enemy paid off.  The Austro-Hungarian battleship Viribus Unitis sinking on November 1st, 1918, after being attacked by a Torpedini Rossini. In the 1930’s the use of the Torpedine Rossetti and the Barchino Saltatore were still in the collective memory of the Regia Marina. During that time, two naval engineers. Teseo Tesei and Elios Toschi, at the Livorno Accademia Navale each produced a new design for the Torpedine Rossetti. Around that same time, General Duke Amedeo di Savoia-Aosta who had served in the Italian Air Force and his brother, Admiral Aimone Torino di Savoy-Aosta who was an officer in the Regia Marina, played with the idea of a flotilla of MTB’s based on the Barchino Saltatore. The idea was to use them in mass attacks on enemy naval bases immediately after the beginning of hostilities. Besides normal MTB’s they also thought of mounting small explosive boats between the floats of obsolescent Savoia-Marchetti S.55 seaplanes. Engineer Guido Cattaneo and by Cdr Mario Giorgini were tasked with the design of the prototypes. They came up with two prototypes, the Motoscafo d’Assalto (M.A.) and the Motoscafo Avio Trasportato (M.A.T.), an airborne prototype. The prototypes were made of wood and canvas with a small, bow-mounted, impact-fused explosive charge.   Major Ing. Teseo Tesei and Major Ing. Elios Toschi Their ideas received little attention until 1935 when new fundings from the Regia Marina became available because of two events. First the Italian-Ethiopian war called for a modernisation of the Italian Armed Forces. and second, this war caused the British to station parts of their home fleet in Malta, shifting the balance of power in the Mediterranean. These developments made Admiral Cavagnari, the Chief of Staff of the Regia Marina decide to approve the foundation of the 1° Gruppo Sommergibilli. This unit became the new base for the ideas of Major Ing. Teseo Tesei, Major Ing. Elios Toschi and Admiral Aimone Savoia D’aosta. For a brief period of time, they had enough funding to optimize their design for what become known as the Siluro a Lenta Corsa (SLC), or Slow Moving Torpedo. The unit also came up with the Motoscafi da Turismo Modificati, or modified tourist motorboat. This boat was based on the prototypes of the Motoscafo d’Assalto (M.A.) a few years earlier. The boat was commonly known as Barchino Esplosivi, explosive boat or simply barchino.  The SLC (Siluro a Lenta Corsa) in action. However, by the end of 1936 the military tension between the Italians and British relaxed a bit and the funding for the 1° Gruppo Sommergibilli was again limited by the Regia Marina. First the S.L.C. program was put on hold, shortly afterwards followed by M.A. program. It was not until the end of 1938, when international relations started to worsen up again before the unit received enough funding to start developing both programs again. In September 1939, the unit was renamed to 1° Flottiglia MAS. Capitano di Fregata Paolo Aloisi became the new commander of the unit. He was tasked was to continue training the unit and prepare for future actions.  Barchino Esplosivi in Action. World War 2 broke and Italy entered the war the unit was not fully prepared for their task. In June 1940 when Italy joined Germany in the attack on France the unit had eleven SLC”s and the submarine Iride for transport of these vessels. Besides that, it had seven MTM’s for surface assaults. For a short while during the end of 1940 and the beginning of 1941 the unit was renamed to Flottiglia Speciale but on March 15th, 1941, it received its final name the Xa Flottiglia MAS. The number in the name was chosen in honour of Julius Caesar’s favorite legion, the Tenth Legion. By that time Capitano di Fregata Vittorio Moccagatta was already commander of the unit and he reorganised it with an underwater and surface assault group. Besides these two assault units he also created several support units. In June, the unit set up a secret base at Villa Carmella in Spain to attack the harbour of Gibraltar. This base was soon replaced by a secret SLC base inside an interned ship in the harbour of Algeciras. The unit was disbanded in September 1943 after the Italian armistice. However, the last commander of the Xa Flottiglia MAS, Capitano di Fregata Junio Valerio Borghese chose the side of the Repubblica Sociale Italiana (RSI). This “Italian” government was created by Germans after the Italian armistice. On September 12th, 1943, he signed a treaty of alliance with the German Kriegsmarine. Many of his colleagues volunteered to serve with him, and the Decima Flottiglia was revived. Under command of Capitano di Vascello Ernesto Forza another unit was raised that joined the Allied. The unit with the name of the Mariassalto was a combined unit with the British. It had a similar goal as the Xa Flottiglia MAS and was active a few times during the rest of the war. |