Raid on Algiers

Raid on Algiers
Part of the Battle of the Mediterranean of World War II
Date 11 December 1942 Location Algiers, Mediterranean Sea Result Italian victory
Belligerents
United Kingdom United States Norway	Kingdom of Italy
Commanders and leaders
	Mario Arillo
Strength
Harbour defences	1 submarine 3 Human torpedoes 10 frogmen
Casualties and losses
2 cargo ships sunk 1 tanker damaged 1 cargo ship damaged 1 military transport ship damaged	16 captured

The Raid on Algiers took place on 11 December 1942, in the Algiers harbour. The attack was carried out by manned torpedoes and commando frogmen from the Decima Flottiglia MAS.

The raid

On 4 December 1942, the Italian submarine Ambra of the Italian Royal Navy (Regia Marina) left the naval base of La Spezia, carrying three manned torpedoes and 10 commando frogmen. Air recoinnassance had discovered that the port of Algiers was crowded with Allied cargo ships, thus the Italian high command had decided to launch a combined operation involving both human torpedoes and combat swimmers carrying limpet mines. On the evening of 10 December, Ambra reached Algiers at a depth of 18 m (59 ft). One of the swimmers was employed as scout on the surface, and he guided the submarine toward a position 2,000 mt from the southern entrance to the harbour. He spotted six steamers at 21:45, and informed the presence of targets to Ambra by phone. The other swimmers and the manned torpedoes begun to emerge at 23:45 after some delay. The observer reported an intense reaction from the harbour defences. The submarine awaited to recover the operators until 03:00, an hour after the original time set. Then the scout swimmer was recalled on board and Ambra departed back to La Spezia. Meanwhile, at 05:00, the explosions started to rock the freighters. The Ocean Vanquisher (7,174 tons) and the Norwegian Berta (1,493 tons) sank, while the Empire Centaur (7,041 tons) and the Armatan (4,587 tons) were heavily damaged. The U.S. LSM 59 became stranded on the beach. Sixteen Italian divers were captured.

References

• "Frogmen First Battles" by retired U.S Captain William Schofield. ISBN 0-8283-2088-8
• "Sea Devils" by J. Valerio Borghese, translated into English by James Cleugh, with introduction by the United States Naval Institute ISBN 1-55750-072-X

Further reading

• The Italian Navy in World War II by Marc'Antonio Bragadin, United States Naval Institute, Annapolis, 1957. ISBN 0-405-13031-7
• The Italian Navy in World War II by Sadkovich, James, Greenwood Press, Westport, 1994. ISBN 0-313-28797-X

External links

• "Principal Operations of the 10th Light Flotilla" - RegiaMarina.net (English)
• La fine delle Illusioni - RegiaMarinaItaliana.it (Italian)
• L'incredibile impresa del Comandante Arillo con il sommergibile "Ambra" nella tana del lupo per uscirne indenne e vittorioso - BascoGrigioverde (Italian)
• Ambra (Italian)