MAS-451

Type

Motor Torpedo Boat (MAS)

Period

20th Century

Nation

Italy

Overview: MAS 451 was an Italian Motoscafo Armato Silurante (MAS), a small, fast motor torpedo boat of the Regia Marina. She is best known as one of the two MAS boats (with sister MAS 452) that towed and escorted "Maiale" human torpedoes during the Decima Flottiglia MAS raid on Malta's Grand Harbour in July 1941, an action in which her flotilla commander, Vittorio Moccagatta, embarked aboard her. Specifications: MAS boats of this era were petrol-engined planing hulls of roughly 20 tonnes displacement, built for speed rather than durability, typically carrying two 450mm torpedoes and machine-gun armament. On the Malta raid, MAS 451 and 452 were used as transports/tow craft for the assault force's "Maiale" and explosive motorboats rather than in a pure torpedo-attack role; MAS 451 spent part of the operation towing the MTL (a support motorboat carrying two human torpedoes) after a mechanical mishap fouled her propeller in the tow line. Service History: On the night of 25–26 July 1941, MAS 451 and MAS 452 carried Maiale slow-running torpedoes and their pilots from the support ship Diana toward Valletta as part of Operation "Malta 2." After her propeller became entangled in the tow line, the tow was transferred to MAS 452 and MAS 451 was ordered back toward Sicily, but as dawn broke and roughly 30 Hawker Hurricanes joined the defense of the harbour, the two MAS boats were located and attacked; MAS 451, raked by cannon fire, blew up and sank, killing four of her thirteen-man crew, including Moccagatta. Notable Facts: The raid was a costly failure for the Italians, costing the 10th Light Flotilla its commander and several senior officers killed, with further men killed or captured in the action. Her sister boat, MAS 452, was also damaged in the same action but was later recovered by the British and put into service as a tender under the name XMAS, giving modelers a rare surviving reference for the class's general appearance since no equivalent fate befell MAS 451 herself. Image Note: No photograph of MAS 451 herself is known to survive. The image on file shows salvaged remnants of Decima Flottiglia MAS material recovered after the Grand Harbour raid, now displayed at the National War Museum, Malta — included here as the closest directly event-related reference image, not a photo of the vessel itself.