Frogman Operations

Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 38. Chapters: Decima Flottiglia MAS, Underwater Demolition Team, Human torpedo, Sinking of the Rainbow Warrior, Russian commando frogmen, Lionel Crabb, Operation Algeciras, British commando frogmen, Ian Edward Fraser, German commando frogmen, Limpet mine, Junio Valerio Borghese, Italian commando frogmen, Operation Source, Raid on Alexandria, Sydney Knowles, John H. Lang, Battle of Remagen. Excerpt: The Decima Flottiglia MAS (Decima Flottiglia Mezzi d'Assalto, also known as La Decima or Xª MAS) (Italian for "10th Assault Vehicle Flotilla") was an Italian commando frogman unit of the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) created during the Fascist regime. The acronym MAS also refers to various light torpedo boats used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II. Decima MAS was active during the Battle of the Mediterranean and took part in a number of daring raids on Allied shipping. These operations used surface boats (such as the Sinking of HMS York), manned torpedoes (the Raid on Alexandria) and Gamma Frogmen (against Gibraltar). During the campaign Decima MAS took part in more than a dozen operations which sank or damaged 5 warships and 20 merchant ships totalling 130,000 GRT (Gross Register Tonnage) . In 1943, after the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini was ousted, Italy left the Tripartite Pact and joined the Allies. Some of the Xª MAS men who were stationed in German-occupied northern Italy enlisted to fight for Mussolini's newly-formed Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana or RSI) and retained the unit title, but were primarily employed as an anti-partisan force operating on land. Other Xª MAS men in southern Italy or other Allied-occupied areas joined the Italian Co-Belligerent Navy as part of the Mariassalto (Naval Assault) unit. See Italian commando frogmen for the COMSUBIN frogman corps currently serving the Italian Republic, and for their post-World War II actions. In World War I, on November 1, 1918, Raffaele Paolucci and Raffaele Rossetti of the Regia Marina rode a manned torpedo (nicknamed Mignatta or "leech") into the harbour of Pula, where they sank the Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Viribus Unitis and the freighter Wien using limpet mines. They had no underwater breathing sets, and thus had to keep their heads above water to breathe. They were discovered and taken prisoner as they attempted to leave the harbour. In the 1