MAS (motorboat)

Camouflaged World War II MAS in the Mediterranean Sea.

Motoscafo armato silurante (Italian: "torpedo armed motorboat"), commonly abbreviated as MAS was a class of fast torpedo armed vessel used by the Regia Marina (the Royal Navy of Italy) during World War I and World War II. Originally, "MAS" referred to motobarca armata SVAN ("armed motorboat SVAN"), where SVAN stood for Società Veneziana Automobili Navali ("Naval Automobile Society of Venice).^[1]

MAS were essentially motorboats with displacements of 20–30 tonnes (depending on the class), a 10-man crew, and armament composed of two torpedoes, machine guns and occasionally a light gun.

The term "MAS" is an acronym for Mezzi d'Assalto, ("assault vehicles") in the unit name Flottiglia MAS ("assault vehicles flotilla"), the most famous of which was the Decima MAS of World War II.

World War I

MAS were widely employed by Regia 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 the Austro-Hungarian Navy.

A significant success came in December 1917, when an MAS boat managed to sink the pre-dreadnought battleship SMS Wien in Trieste harbor. The greatest success of Italian MAS was the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István off Pula on 10 June 1918 by a boat commanded by Luigi Rizzo. MAS boats later engaged in the Second Battle of Durazzo in October 1918.

Interwar Period and Spanish Civil War

In 1926, four MAS boats were built for and purchased by the Royal Albanian Navy. They were named Tirana, Saranda, Durres, and Vlorë. During the Italian 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 the Nationalist Navy during the Spanish Civil War in 1938: Sicilia (LT-18), ex MAS 100; Nápoles (LT-19), ex MAS 223; Cándido Pérez (LT-16), ex MAS 435; and Javier Quiroga (LT-17), ex MAS 436.

World War II

Italian MAS continued to be improved after the end of World War I, thanks to the availability of Isotta Fraschini engines. The MAS of World War II had a maximum speed of 45 knots, two 450 mm torpedoes and one machine gun for anti-aircraft fire. In 1940 there were 48 MAS500-class units available. Older units were used in secondary theatres, such as the Italian East Africa.

Notable war actions performed by MAS include the torpedoing of the Royal Navy C-class cruiser Capetown by MAS 213 of the 21st MAS Squadron working within the Red Sea Flotilla off Massawa, Eritrea; and the failed attack on the harbour of Malta in January 1941, which caused the loss of two motorboats, one of them recovered by the British, put in service as a tender and renamed XMAS.^[2] Five MAS were scuttled in Massawa in the first week of April 1941 as a part of the Italian plan for the wrecking of Massawa harbor in the face of British advance. MAS 204, 206, 210, 213, and 216 were sunk in the harbor; four of the boats were in need of mechanical repairs and could not be evacuated. On 24 July 1941, MAS 532 torpedoed and crippled the transport Sydney Star, part of the British convoy GM 1. The steamer managed to limp to Malta assisted by the destroyer HMAS Nestor.^[3] MAS 554, 554 and 557 also sank three allied freighters on 13 August 1942 off Cape Bon, in the course of Operation Pedestal, for a total tonnage of 28,500 tons.^[4] On 29 August 1942, a smaller type of MAS boat, the MTSM, torpedoed and disabled for the rest of the war the British destroyer Eridge off El Daba, Egypt.^[5]

A flotilla of MAS served at German request as Black Sea reinforcement in their intended attack on Sevastopol in June 1942. The MAS squadron came under intense air attack from Soviet fighter-bombers and torpedo boats but performed well in the role. They sank the 5,000-ton steamer Abkhazia and disabled the 10,000-ton transport Fabritius, which was subsequently destroyed by Stuka dive-bombers. MAS boats destroyed troop barges and damaged Soviet warships. One MAS boat commander was killed in battle. One MAS was destroyed and three damaged by fighter-bombers in September 1942 during a heavy attack on Yalta. Italian sources claim that on the early hours of 3 August 1942, three MAS boats torpedoed and disabled the Soviet cruiser Molotov south-west of Kerch.^[6] Another flotilla of four MAS, the XII Squadriglia MAS, was deployed to the Lake Ladoga in April 1942 to support the siege of Leningrad. They claim the sinking of a Soviet gunboat of the Bira class, a 1,300-ton cargo ship and several barges.^[7]

During the quagmire that followed the signing of the Cassibile agreement, MAS boats sank the German torpedo boat TA 11 (ex L'Iphigénie) at Piombino, on 11 September 1943.^[8]

The obsolescence of small MAS became apparent during the conflict, and they were increasingly replaced by larger Yugoslavian E-boats built in Germany and reverse-engineering versions of them (classified "MS" – Moto Siluranti by the Regia Marina).

A type of anti-submarine craft, based on the MAS design, was developed by the Italian Navy in World War II. This was the vedetta anti sommergibile, or "VAS", equipped with a good amount of anti-submarine warfare equipment given her small size.^[9]

Cultural legacy

The Italian poet Gabriele d'Annunzio, who employed MAS in some of his World War I adventures, used the MAS acronym for his Latin motto: Memento audere semper ("remember always to dare").

Notes

↑ Naval Weaponry: Italy's MAS Torpedo Boats
↑ Nicholson, Arthur (2015). Very Special Ships: Abdiel Class Fast Minelayers of World War Two. Seaforth Publishing. p. 68. ISBN 1848322356.
↑ Brown, David (2002). The Royal Navy and the Mediterranean: November 1940-December1941, Volume II. Routledge, pp. 147–148. ISBN 0-7146-5205-9
↑ Greene, Jack & Massignani, Alessandro (1998). The Naval War in the Mediterranean, 1940–1943, Chatam Publishing, pp. 253–255. ISBN 1-86176-057-4
↑ HMS Eridge (L68)
↑ M.A.S. and Midget Submarines in the Black Sea 1942–1943
↑ MAS operations on Lake Ladoga (Italian)
↑ "FR L'Iphigénie of the French Navy - French Torpedo boat of the La Melpoméne class - Allied Warships of WWII - uboat.net". uboat.net. Retrieved 2015-12-28.
↑ MAS, VAS, and MS

External links

Italian naval ship classes of World War I

Dreadnought battleships	Dante Alighieri^S Conte di Cavour Andrea Doria Francesco Caracciolo^X

Pre-dreadnought battleships	Ammiraglio di Saint Bon Regina Margherita Regina Elena

Ironclad battleships	Caio Duilio Italia Ruggiero di Lauria Re Umberto

Armored cruisers	Marco Polo^S Vettor Pisani Giuseppe Garibaldi Pisa San Giorgio

Protected cruisers	Giovanni Bausan^S Etna Piemonte^S Regioni Calabria^S Libia^S Quarto^S Nino Bixio Campania

Torpedo cruisers	Goito Partenope Agordat

Destroyers	Fulmine^S Lampo Nembo Soldato Indomito Ardito Audace Rosolino Pilo Poerio Aquila Mirabello Audace^S La Masa Sirtori

Torpedo boats	Condore^S Pellicano^S Sirio Pegaso Orione MAS Gabbiano^S PN

Other vessels	Faà di Bruno^S Alfredo Cappellini^S Castore

S Single ship of class C Completed after the war X Cancelled

Naval ships and warships in the Late Modern period

Naval ship classes in service submarine auxiliary Operational zones Blue-water navy Brown-water navy Green-water navy Gun placement Broadside Central battery/casemate Turretes

Aircraft carriers	Aircraft cruiser Amphibious assault ship Anti-submarine warfare carrier Balloon carrier CAM ship Escort carrier Fighter catapult ship Fleet carrier Helicopter carrier Light aircraft carrier Merchant aircraft carrier Seaplane tender Submarine aircraft carrier Supercarrier

Battleships	Coastal defence ship Dreadnought Fast battleship Pre-dreadnought battleship Super-dreadnought (Standard-type battleship) Treaty battleship

Cruisers	Armored cruiser Battlecruiser Flight deck cruiser Heavy cruiser Pocket battleship Light cruiser Merchant raider Protected cruiser Strike cruiser Torpedo cruiser Unprotected cruiser

Escort	Aviso Convoy rescue ship Destroyer Destroyer escort Destroyer leader Escort destroyer Frigate Guided missile destroyer Kaibōkan Sloop

Transport	Amphibious transport dock Amphibious warfare ship Attack transport Dock landing ship Landing craft Landing craft carrier Landing Craft Support Landing Ship Heavy Landing ship, infantry Landing Ship Medium Landing Ship, Tank Landing Ship Vehicle Troopship

Patrol craft	Armed boarding steamer Armed yacht Coastal Motor Boat Corvette Gunboat Harbour Defence Motor Launch Motor Launch Naval drifter Naval trawler Ocean boarding vessel Patrol boat Q-ship Steam Gun Boat Submarine chaser Torpedo boat

Fast attack craft	E-boat MAS MGB Missile boat MTB MTM MTSM PT boat Shin'yō

Mine warfare	Danlayer Destroyer minesweeper Mine countermeasures vessel Mine planter Minehunter Minelayer Minesweeper

Command and support	Amenities ship Ammunition ship Auxiliary repair dock Auxiliary ship Collier Combat stores ship Command ship Crane vessel Depot ship Destroyer tender Dispatch boat Fast combat support ship General stores issue ship Hospital ship Naval tugboat Net laying ship Repair ship Replenishment oiler Submarine tender

Submarines	Attack submarine Ballistic missile submarine Coastal submarine Cruise missile submarine Cruiser submarine Deep-submergence vehicle DSRV Fleet submarine Midget submarine U-boat

Miscellaneous	Arsenal ship Barracks ship Breastwork monitor Capital ship Flagship Guard ship Littoral combat ship Monitor River monitor Training ship

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