Italian kamikaze
 

as the Japanese, the Italians had committed suicide squads.
usanvano a special weapon called the MAIALE(pig in eglish lenguagge) here are the pictures.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...0px-Maiale.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...Maiale_SLC.jpg
http://www.ilduce.net/Galleria%20guerra/Xmas/slc.JPG
Italia u boat whit MAIALE on board
http://www.ilduce.net/Galleria%20gue...contmaiali.JPG
http://www.ilduce.net/Galleria%20guerra/Xmas/somm.JPG
this suicide squadron call FLOTTIGLIA X MAS
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...Z7LRAiMVp2tCgw

Not suicide! They detached the warhead and used it as a mine with a time counter ... and drove away.

This was not a suicide weapon. It was guided to its target by the divers who then attempted to escape, often successfully.


Hah! --- beaten to the post.

... although I edited it two times. :D

Does anyone know, if this type of vessels was used against the british BB in Alexandria?

SUICIDE ?? Where Italians not Kamikaze !!
 

Sorry, but you don't understand how has gone the History and how has gone with the Italian's Maiale-missions. :confused:

Read this about the XMas:
http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/X%C2%AA...o_d'Italia)

I'm Italian and I know how this piece of History as gone, I am a member of the ANMI (Italian - Men of Sea Association: retired military sea-man basicly) and I see the PIG, really called "SLC -Siluro a Lento corsa" (Slow-running Torpedo in English) and the "Barchino Esplosivo" (Exploding Boat in English), both at Arsenal-Museum in La Spezia (Italy).

The X MAS-Pigs missions was similar to this one:
The SLCs uses a 2 military divers-crew and they gone slowly below the enemy ships anchored in a bay, "attach" the SLC to one primary-big target ship (yes, they works for a lot of time and attach litteraly the SLC to the ship with a big screw...) set the timer, then both divers swim-away and after 1 or 2 hours.... You can hear A REAL BIG BOOM !!! And the SLC crew was sit on a hill, well far away from the sea, on theyr escape-route..

The "Barchino Esplosivo" was a little high-speed motor boat, full of explosives, for running into the side of an enemy ship BUT don't stop here !!
The pilot, a diver, sits on an rudimental Escape-system, with a simple metal-bar he can recline-back the seat and exit from the boat, before the BIG BOOM !!

As I know, and I speak and listen the hystories from various retired sea-man, it's NOT a Kamikaze-unit the Decima MAS !!!
It was famous as a Special-Unit,a special-divers unit for Special-Incursions !!

Please, read before write.... ;)

HI, Maw-68.
Reggio Emilia, Italy.

And dont forget the gamma man like Luigi Ferraro, spy in Alessandretta he was used to swim during night, with a mine with him, to the vessels parked out of the city, often more than 1 miles out.
Then he applied the mine to the rudder of the ship and when the ship started moving the mine got activations and explode like a torpedo .....
He sunk 3 ships this way.
After the war he founded the Technisub.

More to the point, I don't think that there were any instances of aircraft destroying a SLC or Barchino Esplosivo.

There's plenty of Italian equipment which still needs to get into the game which was more dangerous to, and more in danger from, aircraft.