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The human torpedo (originally known in Italian as the Siluro a Lenta Corsa (SLC) – "Slow-running torpedo") was an electrically propelled torpedo with two crew sitting astride the device and provided with instruments to control and navigate. The warhead was detachable and was used as a limpet mine. The crew wore diving suits while operating the device.
In operation the torpedo was carried to the approximate location of the target by another vessel, typically a normal submarine and then launched. It made its way to the target and the crew attached the warhead to it. They then used the remainder of the chariot to escape.
The idea was first successfully applied by the Regia Marina early in World War II. Its operators nicknamed it maiale ("pig") because its first model was difficult to steer, while the British nicknamed it the "underwater chariot". The idea was not new, a British inventor - Commander Godfrey Herbert - had patented a manned torpedo design in 1909. It had been rejected as dangerous and unworkable by the War Office during World War I.
Timeline of manned torpedo operations
- 1909: The British designer Commander Godfrey Herbert got a patent for a manned torpedo, but during WWI the War Office rejected the idea as impracticable.
- 1918: 1 November - a piloted torpedo carried Raffaele Paolucci and Raffaele Rossetti into Pola harbour, where they sank the Austrian battleship Viribus Unitis along with the freighter Wien using limpet mines.
- 1930-1939: Between these years some Italian swam under water with an industrial oxygen rebreather, probably to make his sport spearfishing easier, and from that began scuba diving in the world. The Regia Marina (the Italian Navy) secretly made manned torpedoes, and trained war frogmen and called them nautatori. The frogmen called that sort of torpedo maiale, which is Italian for "pig", because the first type of them was difficult to steer. They were in a naval department called "Decima Flottiglia Mas" or "X-MAS", and Ernesto Forza was their commander.
- 1940 June 10: Mussolini declared war on Britain.
- 1940 August 21: The Italian submarine Iride went from La Spezia to attack Gibraltar, and in the Gulf of Bomba on Libya's coast four manned torpedoes were loaded into it, but there British aircraft sank it.
- 1940 September 21: The Italian submarine Gondar went from La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes and eight men for them, and on the evening of the 28th it reached Alexandria in Egypt, but a British warship saw it and attacked and sank it, and its crew surrendered.
- 1940 September 24: The Italian submarine Scirè commanded by Junio Valerio Borghese went from La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes and eight men for them, but on 29 September near Gibraltar it was ordered back to La Maddalena, because the British fleet had left Gibraltar.
- 1940 October 21: The Italian submarine Scirè went from La Spezia to Gibraltar carrying three manned torpedoes and eight men for them, and them went in the harbor, but they did not damage any ships, and of their men man two were captured, and six went to Spain and from there back to Italy.
- 1941 May 25: The Scirè went from La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes, and at Cadiz in Spain secretly loaded six men for them. It went to attack Gibraltar, but there they found no warships, but they tried unsuccessfully to sink a ship, and the six men swan to Spain and from there back came to Italy.
- 1941 May 27: The Royal Navy fought against the Bismarck and sank it, and that is why there were no warships in Gibraltar.
- 1941 July 26: Two manned torpedoes and ten swift boats carrying explosives went from Italy to attack Valletta on Malta, but they sank no ship, and in Valletta came under heavy gunfire from the land, and 15 of the men died, and 18 were captured.
- 1941 September 10: The Scirè went from La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes, and at Cadiz in Spain secretly loaded six men for them. It attacked Gibraltar, and they sank three ships, and the men swam to Spain and from there returned to Italy.
- 1941 December 3: The Scirè went from La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes, and at Leros island in the Aegean Sea secretly loaded six men for them. On December 19 it came to Alexandria in Egypt, and they went in the harbor and sank a tanker and badly damaged the British battleships warships HMS Valiant and HMS Queen Elizabeth, so they sat on the bed of the harbor, and for months they couild not be used. The six torpedo-riders were all captured.
- 1942 April 29: The Italian submarine Ambra went from La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes, and at Leros island secretly loaded six men for them. On May 14 it came to Alexandria in Egypt to sink a British floating dock, but the Ambra was seen, and they sank nothing, and the six torpedo-riders were all captured.
- 1942 April: The British Navy men Commander G.M.Sladen and Commander W.R. "Tiny" Fell began to secretly train frogmen. The Navy called the manned torpedoes chariots. These frogman were called the "Experimental Submarine Flotilla", and at first they were at Portsmouth. Many of their breathing sets' oxygen cylinders were German Luftwaffe pilot's oxygen cylinders recovered from shot-down German planes.
- 1942 June: The Experimental Submarine Flotilla went to "Port D" on Loch Erisort in Scotland. They got their first manned torpedo that had a motor, and it was a "Mark I Chariot", and it could go at 2.9 knots, and could dive safely to 20 feet depth, and its hull was 21 inches diameter, and on its bow it carried a warhead with 600 pounds of explosive. That training was hard. From the danger of diving with pure oxygen and the strangeness of the chariots men often went unconscious and had convulsions under the sea, because oxygen become dangerous at about 30 feet depth. Often there were burst eardrums and sinus trouble. They were trained to ride and steer for a long time under water, and afterwards to cut through harbor defence nets. The hardest part was learning to work with the chariots' warheads.
- 1942 July: The Italian frogmen went to the cargo ship Olterra which was in Algeciras near Gibraltar, and they long secretly had a den in it.
- 1942 July 13: Twelve Italian frogmen swam from the Olterra into Gibraltar harbor and set explosives and all returned safely, and they sank four ships.
- 1942 August: The British charioteers went back to Base HHZ on Loch Cairnbawn in Scotland to train to attack bigger better-defended places, and in this training one of them died.
- 1942 September: The Norwegian navy officer Leif Larsen wanted an attack on the German battleship Tirpitz which was in Asenfjord, which is a branch of Trondheimdfjord in Norway.
- 1942 October 26: The fishing boat Arthur went from Britain to Norway and seven British frogmen and three Norwegians and two chariots rode secretly in it.
- 1942 October 28: Arthur came to Norway's coast near Edøy.
- 1942 October 30: Arthur unloaded the chariots and began to tow them.
- 1942 October 31: A storm broke the chariots' fastening bolts, and they were lost, and the attack was called off.
- 1942 November 1: At Breivik they sank Arthur and in two groups tried to reach Sweden. Nine of the ten man rached Sweden, and Germans captured one and afterwards shot him.
- 1942 late November: Britain sent 26 chariots to Malta, and they became part of the "Tenth Submarine Flotilla". Containers to carry chariots were fastened to three submarines.
- 1942 November 28: The British submarine P-311 carrying 3 chariots and their men went from Marsamxett on Malta to attack Maddalena on Sardinia, and this was Operation Principle, but it hit a naval mine near Sardinia and sank with three chariots and ten charioteers and all its crew.
- 1942 November 30: The British submarines Thunderbolt and Trooper carrying chariots went from Malta, and also this was Operation Principle.
- 1942 December 4: The Italian submarine Ambra went from La Spezia to attack Algiers carrying frogmen and two chariots. Ten frogmen carrying limpet mines swam with the chariots. But because of distance they did not reach the harbor, but went to ships outside the harbor and sank two and damaged two.
- 1942 December 17: At Gibraltar six Italians on three chariots went from the Olterra to attack the three British warships HMS Nelson, HMS Formidable and HMS Furious. But a British patrol boat killed one chariot's men with a depth charge, and another British patrol boat saw another chariot and chased it and shot at it and captured its two men. One chariot went back to the Olterra without its rear rider.
- 1943 January 3: In "Operation Principle" HMSM Thunderbolt and HMSM Trooper carrying 4 chariots and their 8 men came to the coast of Sicily near Palermo in bad weather.
- One chariot put its warhead on the Italian warship Ulpio Traiano, and afterwards smaller explosives on four ships, and afterwards Ulpio Traiano sank.
- One chariot put its warhead on the Italian cargo ship Viminale. Afterwards a British submarine sank the Viminale with an ordinary torpedo while the Viminale was being towed out of the harbor.
- Two chariots because of bad weather did not find the harbor.
- All the chariots had to be left there, through malfunction of instruments and controls or human mischance, and of their men one died, and the British submarine P-46 picked up two, and five had to go on land there and became prisoners. But in Rome two of these prisoners escaped from guards and fled and hid in the Vatican until Americans took Rome in 1944. Two fled from guards in Libya and in the center of Tripoli found a British army unit, and they reached England. In this operation they put mines on ships and patrol boats and sank some of them, but some of the mines did not explode.
- Afterwards remained on Malta eight charioteers and two chariots.
- 1943 January 18-19: These two chariots went to attack ships that the Germanas were going to send to Tripoli to block its harbor, and submarines carried the chariots. But the frogmen came too late and a blockship was sunk in the harbor mouth, and no man or chariot came back to Malta.
- 1943 January: At Loch Corrie and Loch Cairnbawn in Scotland more charioteers began to be trained.
- 1943 April 16: Britain sent 14 new charioteers to Malta, and in days afterwards chariots of the new model called Mark II Chariot, which was also called the Terry. Its two men sat back to back. It could go at 4.5 knots. Its warhead could carry 1100 pounds of Torpex explosive.
- 1943 May 8: Three Italian chariots went from the Olterra to attack Gibraltar in bad weather and sank three British ships and all returned to the Olterra.
- 1943 June: Through this month often the British submarine HMSM Unseen carried three chariots from Malta and their men surveyed beaches around Sicily to find dangers for armies who later landed there. They surveyed 100 miles of coast.
- 1943 June 11: The other British charioteers went to Loch Cairnbawn.
- 1943 late June: Britain sent six more charioteers to Malta, and they were going to attack Taranto.
- 1943 June 25: Mussolini resigned and Marshal Badoglio replaced him. Because of this, the attack on Taranto was called off and the British frogmen all went to Scotland. Afterwards there was only one British chariot attack in the Mediterranean.
- 1943 July: At Loch Cairnbawn a charioteer died through an accident.
- 1943 August 3: In the evening three Italian chariots went from the Olterra to attack Gibraltar and sank three ships and returned to the Olterra, but one of their men was captured.
- 1943 September 8: Italy surrendered and changed sides, and afterwards the Italians fought on the British side. And afterwards the Olterra was towed into Gibraltar and men found what had happened in it.
- 1943 September 20: British frogmen in small submarines called X-craft went to attack the Tirpitz and the Scharnhorst in Kåfjord in Norway and badly damaged the Tirpitz, but the Scharnhorst was not there.
- 1943 September 24: Britain sent 4 chariots and 12 charioteers from Scotland to Lunna Voe in the Shetlands to train in operating among Norway's islands.
- 1943 October 2: A bigger Italian frogman-carrier called Siluro San Bartolomeo or SSB was going to attack Gibraltar, and it carried four frogmen, and it was 33 feet long, but through Italy's surrender this attack was called off.
- 1943 October 14: A British torpedo boat carrying two chariots and four charioteers went from Lunna Voe to Tevik Bay in Norway and put on land a man called Job to wait until a German ship came, but German aircraft found the torpedo boat and fought with it. The torpedo boat had to flee to Britain badly damaged, and it landed at Dunbar in Scotland. Four days later another torpedo boat brought Job back to Shetland.
- 1943 October or November: A British torpedo boat carrying two chariots and four charioteers went from Lunna Voe to Nordfjord in Norway and set on land a man to wait until a German ship came, but in two days no German ship came, and they went back to Shetland.
- 1943 November 11: A British torpedo boat carrying two chariots and four charioteers went from Lunna Voe to Tevik Bay in Norway and set on land a man to wait until a German ship came to Askvoll harbor, but in two days no German ship came, and it snowed, and they thought that Askvoll harbor would be blocked with ice. As the torpedo boat went back to Shetland it ditched the chariots because of bad weather, and it brought the charioteers back.
- 1943 October 31: On this day or earlier British and American forces took Naples.
- 1943 October or November: To Brindisi in Italy went British frogmen, and those Italian frogmen who were in lands not held by Germany, and the Italian frogmen who were prisoners in Britain, and they all became one frogman organization.
- 1943 April 15: X-craft went to attack the floating dock Laksevåg at Bergen in Norway, but by error they sank a cargo ship and not the floating dock.
- 1944 May: 14 charioteers were sent to Trincomalee in Sri Lanka.
- 1944: Before D-day British chariots surveyed under sea around Normandy's coast.
- 1944 June 6: This day was D-day, and British frogmen swam and demolished many iron beach obstacles that Germans had set to stop an attacking army. One charioteer drove an army tank onto land.
- 1944 June 21: The Italian warship [[Grecale]] went from Bastia in Corsica carrying three fast boats and Italian frogmen and two British chariots, to attack the Italian warships Bolzano and Gorizia which Germans had in La Spezia. The Grecale carried them and the boats, and afterwards the boats carried them and released them three miles from La Spezia harbor. One chariot began to leak from its float tank and had to be abandoned. One chariot sank the Bolzano, which weighed 10000 tons. All four charioteers had to go on land there: one got back to the Allies and three were captured.
- 1943 September 11: X-craft went to attack the floating dock Laksevåg at Bergen in Norway and sank it.
- 1944 October 27-28: The British submarine Trenchant carrying two chariots went to attack Phuket harbor in Thailand, and released them six miles from the harbor. The charioteers called the two chariots Tiny and Slasher. They sank two cargo ships. Six hours later, this time and only, British charioteers rode back to their mothership. But afterwards the Trenchant jettisoned the chariots so it could travel faster, for someone reported a Japanese MTB in the area; and the Trenchant carried the four charioteers back to Trincomalee. Never afterwards a chariot went to war.
- 1945 July 31: Lieutenant Ian Edward Fraser and the diver James Joseph Magennis went in the X-craft XE3 to attack the Japanese warship Takao in the Johore Strait near Singapore and sank it, and afterwards the two received the Victoria Cross.
After 1945
Some nations including Italy have continued to make and keep human torpedos after 1945.
There are three chariots on public view in Eden Camp Museum near Malton in North Yorkshire in England.
- One is a captured Italian maiale.
- One is an original British Mark II which was found derelict in a scrapyard in Portsmouth and restored. In that make its two riders sat back to back.
- One is a working chariot that was made in 1992 in Milton Keynes with the outside appearance of a British wartime Mark I, but its internal working parts are different. It has been filmed in action for the television. It has a dummy warhead.
Original SLC are displayed at the Italian naval museum in Venice.
There is an Italian SSB maiale in the Naval Museum at Groton in Connecticut in the USA.
The chariot seen in the James Bond film "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" is a realistic-looking but non-functioning film prop.
The three chariots seen in the movie The Silent Enemy (see below), representing Italian maiali, were crudely-made film props.
At least two makes of chariot-like diver-riders for sport divers have been in the diving gear trade since 1960. One of those makes was tradenamed "Dolphin" and was made on the Isle of Wight in the 1960s or 1970s: both its ends tapered to a point. Another make was USA-made and was like a naval chariot but its hull was thinner.
References
- C. Warren and J. Benson - Above Us The Waves (Harrap 1953)
- Junio Valerio Borghese - Sea Devils (1954)
- Robert W. Hobson - "Chariots of War" (Ulric Publishing 2004) ISBN 0954199715
- Jack Greene and Alessandro Massignani - The Black Prince and the Sea Devils: The Story of Prince Valerio Borghese and the Elite Units of the Decima Mas (2004) ISBN 0306813114
- A film, Above Us the Waves, was released in 1955; it concentrates on the midget submarine attack on Tirpitz
- The film The Silent Enemy (released in 1958) does not represent real events accurately. In particular, in the real world there was no attack on the Olterra, and no underwater hand-to-hand battle between Italian and British frogmen. The breathing sets used by the film actors representing the Italian frogmen seem to be British naval type rebreathers and not authentic Italian rebreathers.
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