Motoscafo armato silurante (torpedo-armed motorboat), alternativelyMotoscafo antisommergibili (anti-submarine motorboat) and commonly abbreviated asMAS, was a class of fasttorpedo-armed vessels used by theRegia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) duringWorld War I andWorld War II. Originally, "MAS" referred tomotobarca armata SVAN (armed motorboat SVAN),Società Veneziana Automobili Navali (Naval Automobile Society ofVenice).[1]
The MAS were petrol-enginedplaning boats with displacements of 20–30 tonnes (depending on the class), a 10-man crew and armament composed of twotorpedoes, heavy machine guns and occasionally a 37 mm or 20 mmcannon.
In the context of the unit titleFlottiglia MAS (assault craftflotilla; the most famous of which was theDecima MAS of World War II), the term "MAS" is an acronym forMezzi d'Assalto (assault craft).
MAS were widely employed byRegia Marina during World War I in 1915–1918. Models used were directly derived from compact civilian motorboats, provided with petrol engines which were compact and reliable (characteristics which were not common at the time). They were used not only in the anti-submarine patrol role, but also for daring attacks against major units of theAustro-Hungarian Navy.
A significant success came in December 1917, when an MAS boat managed to sink the pre-dreadnought battleshipSMS Wien in Trieste harbor. The greatest success of Italian MAS was the sinking of theAustro-Hungarian battleshipSMS Szent István offPula on 10 June 1918 by a boat commanded byLuigi Rizzo. MAS boats later engaged in theSecond Battle of Durazzo in October 1918.
The main Austrian fleet remained securely at anchor in the harbour at Pola (nowPula inCroatia), protected by several layers ofdefensive booms, impassable to conventional MAS boats. A special version, theGrillo-class tracked torpedo motorboat orBarchino Saltatore (Jumping Boats), officially classified astank marino (sea tank) or MASspeciale, were designed by 1918.[2] The craft featured a pair of spikedcontinuous tracks, intended to allow them to clamber over the booms which were supported by large timber baulks. The boats were powered by an electric motor for a silent approach and carried two torpedoes. Four were built; the first two were scuttled when their slow motors failed to get them to the harbour booms at Pola before daybreak and in a second operation, another boat made such a loud clattering noise climbing the booms that it was spotted and destroyed by gunfire.[3]
In 1926, four MAS boats were built for and purchased by theRoyal Albanian Navy. They were namedTirana,Saranda,Durres, andVlorë. During theItalian invasion of Albania they were seized and put into service by Italian forces. All survived World War II and in 1945 were returned to Albania. Four units were transferred to theNationalist Navy during theSpanish Civil War in 1938:Sicilia (LT-18), exMAS 100;Nápoles (LT-19), exMAS 223;Cándido Pérez (LT-16), exMAS 435; andJavier Quiroga (LT-17), exMAS 436.[4]
Italian MAS continued to be improved after the end of World War I, thanks to the availability ofIsotta Fraschini engines. The MAS of World War II had a maximum speed of 45 kn (52 mph; 83 km/h) and mounted two 450 mm (18 in) torpedoes and oneBreda 13.2 mm machine-gun. Isotta-Fraschini produced its ASM 180 series of marine engines for the MAS from 1933 to 1955. The standard engine in World War II was the ASM 184, a 18-cylinder machine capable of producing 1,500 hp (1,100 kW) with 2,000 rpm.[5]
In 1940 there were 48 MAS 500-class units available. Older units were used in secondary theatres, such as theItalian East Africa. Notable war actions performed by MAS include the torpedoing of the Royal NavyC-class cruiserHMS Capetown byMAS 213 of the 21st MAS Squadron working within theRed Sea Flotilla offMassawa,Eritrea; and the failedRaid on Grand Harbour of Malta in July 1941, which caused the loss of two motorboats, MAS 451 andMAS 452, the latter recovered by the British, put in service as atender and renamedXMAS.[6] Five MAS were scuttled in Massawa in the first week of April 1941 as a part of the Italian plan forthe wrecking of Massawa harbor in the face of the British advance.MAS 204,206,210,213, and216 were sunk in the harbor; four of the boats were in need of mechanical repairs and could not be evacuated.[7]
On 24 July 1941, amid heavy fire from the escorts,MAS 532 torpedoed and crippled the transportSydney Star, escorted by the destroyerCossack and part of theOperation Substance (Convoy GM 1). The steamer managed to limp to Malta assisted by the destroyerHMASNestor.[8]
On 1 December 1941, two Italian MAS boats engaged with torpedoes and machine gun fire theSoviet icebreakerAnastas Mykoyan, en route from theDardanelles toSuez, forcing it to run aground on theTurkish coast offKastelorizo.[9] The lifeboat of the icebreaker was hit and exploded after being dropped overboard, while the ship itself was holed by some 150 machine gun rounds. The four torpedoes launched at the Soviet vessel missed their target.[10] Even though the Soviet vessel was refloated and reachedHaifa for repairs the next day, the action compelled the Turkish government to intern eight Soviet ships set to repeat the same journey.[9] Also in the Aegean Sea, on 27 April 1942, near Kastelorizo, a flotilla of MAS rescued a motor sailing boat with Jewish refugees fromRomania.[11] On 15 March 1943, MAS545 and559 seized the Greek motor sailing shipAghios Dimitros, which had been taken over by a British Army boarding party from the Greek submarinePapanicolos and was being rerouted to Turkish waters. The small vessel was carrying German ammunition. The British crew and a Greek naval officer were taken prisoner.[12]
MAS 554,554 and557 sank three allied freighters on the night of 13 August 1942 offCape Bon, in the course ofOperation Pedestal, for a total tonnage of 48,500 tons.[13] On 29 August 1942, a smaller type of MAS boat, theMTSM, torpedoed the British destroyerEridge off El Daba,Egypt, disabling it for the remainder of the war.[14]
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A flotilla of MAS served at German request as reinforcements in theBlack Sea for the planned attack onSevastopol in June 1942. The MAS squadron came under intense air attack from Sovietfighter-bombers and torpedo boats but performed well. They sank the 5,000-ton steamerAbkhazia and disabled the 10,000-ton transportFabritius, which was subsequently destroyed by GermanStuka dive-bombers. MAS boats destroyed troop barges and damaged Soviet warships. A MAS boat commander, Sub-Lieutenant Ettore Bisagno, was killed in battle. One MAS was destroyed and three damaged by fighter-bombers in September 1942 during a heavy attack onYalta. In the early hours of 3 August 1942, three MAS boats torpedoed and disabled theSoviet cruiserMolotov south-west ofKerch.[15]
In May 1943, the seven MAS boats in the Black Sea were transferred to theKriegsmarine. In August that year, they were transferred to theRomanian Navy. These seven boats were wooden-hulled, each displacing 25 tons. Top speed amounted to 42 knots, generated by petrol engines powering two shafts. They were armed with one 13 mm heavy machine gun or one 20 mm anti-aircraft gun, 6 depth charges and two 450 mm torpedoes.[16]
Another flotilla of four MAS, theXII Squadriglia MAS, was deployed toLake Ladoga in April 1942 to support thesiege of Leningrad. They claim the sinking of a Soviet gunboat of the Bira class, a 1,300-ton cargo ship and several barges.[17] Soviet sources say that the gunboat, theSelemdzha, was only lightly damaged when the torpedo exploded in the lake's bottom, with two wounded on board.[18]
After the signing of theCassibile agreement, MAS boats sank the German torpedo boatTA11 (ex FrenchL'Iphigénie) atPiombino, on 11 September 1943.[19]
Theobsolescence of small MAS became apparent during the conflict, and they were increasingly replaced by larger YugoslavianE-boats built in Germany and by new improved versions, classified"MS" (Moto Siluranti) by theRegia Marina.
A type of anti-submarine craft based on the MAS design was developed by the Italian Navy in World War II. This was thevedetta anti sommergibile, or "VAS", equipped with a good amount ofanti-submarine warfare equipment given her small size.[20]
The Italian poetGabriele d'Annunzio, who employed MAS in some of hisWorld War I adventures, used the MAS acronym for hisLatin motto:Memento audere semper ("remember always to dare").[21]
Only two complete examples survive to this day
