Raid on Alexandria

19 December 1941, Alexandria harbour, Egypt

Italian success; two British battleships disabled

The submarine Scirè, under Prince Junio Valerio Borghese, released three human torpedoes, electric torpedoes ridden by two divers, a mile off Alexandria. The crews slipped into the harbour behind British destroyers coming in through the opened boom. Luigi Durand de la Penne's machine broke down under Valiant and he dragged its warhead under her hull by hand; he and his partner were caught and held aboard Valiant, and he warned her captain only minutes before the charge went off. The second crew set their charge under Queen Elizabeth, and the third under the tanker Sagona, which also damaged the destroyer Jervis alongside her. Both battleships settled on the harbour bottom. They were kept upright to hide the damage from air reconnaissance, but Cunningham was left without a battle fleet in the eastern Mediterranean for months. All six Italians were captured. In 1945 Valiant's former captain pinned the Italian gold medal for valour on Durand de la Penne.