Скачать или смотреть Italian Divers Who Crippled Alexandria’s Battleships in WWII

In WWII, six Italian divers rode slow, unstable human torpedoes straight into Alexandria harbor—one of the most fortified naval bases in the world. Their mission crippled two British battleships and remains one of the most daring underwater raids of the Second World War.

In December 1941, with the Mediterranean locked in a brutal WWII struggle, an elite unit of Italian naval commandos prepared for a mission that bordered on suicidal. Their target was the heavily defended British anchorage at Alexandria—home to some of the Royal Navy’s most powerful battleships.
These men were part of Decima Flottiglia MAS, Italy’s secretive WWII underwater assault force. Their craft, the SLC “Maiale,” was a human-guided torpedo: slow, prone to breakdowns, and requiring divers to ride exposed through frigid water while carrying explosive charges.
Launched from the submarine Scirè, three Maiale teams made their approach beneath the cover of night. They battled flooded breathing rigs, mechanical failures, and exhaustion as they inched toward the colossal hulls of HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Valiant—centerpieces of the British Mediterranean Fleet.
Alexandria’s defenses were considered impenetrable. Anti-sub nets, patrol craft, and harbor lights made any infiltration nearly impossible. Yet the divers pressed forward, navigating underwater obstacles in near total darkness, aware that discovery meant instant capture or death.
Reaching their targets required extraordinary focus. Each team maneuvered under the battleships, clamping explosive warheads to the keels. The divers had to set timers while fighting the pull of currents and the risk of blacking out from oxygen deprivation—every second a gamble within a WWII kill zone.
By dawn, the harbor erupted. The detonations crippled both battleships, forcing them out of action for months and dramatically altering the balance of naval power in the Mediterranean during WWII. The attack shocked the Royal Navy, which had believed its defenses untouchable.
The Italian divers were captured after the raid, but their captors openly acknowledged their bravery. Even Winston Churchill later praised the incredible courage behind the operation, calling it one of the boldest acts of underwater warfare in the war.
Though it didn’t change the ultimate outcome of WWII, the raid proved that tiny, unconventional strike teams could damage even the most heavily guarded fleets. The Alexandria attack inspired new doctrines in special operations and naval sabotage.
Today, historians view the mission as a defining moment in WWII special warfare—six men on fragile machines who rewrote what was possible in naval operations. Their raid remains one of the most audacious underwater assaults ever attempted during the Second World War.

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