Italian Auxiliary Ship Olterra - Second Incursion

Second Incursion

After the death of Visintini, Lieutenant Ernesto Notari took charge of the Ursa Major unit onboard the Olterra. Replacements of personnel and materials were also sent from Italy. Owing to the improvements in the boom defenses, the next missions were planned against transport and cargo ships in the anchorage area around the naval base. The end of the war in North Africa and the subsequent Allied landings on Sicily also made the attacks on logistic ships a priority. In May 1943, Commander Borghese, of Scire, was appointed commander of the Decima. The night of the 8th was chosen for the next assault, taking advantage of the bad weather and the phase of the moon. Lieutenant Notari, along with his second, Petty Officer Ario Lazzari, was the head of another three-"pig" wave heading for Gibraltar. The second human torpedo was manned by Lieutenant Tadini and Petty Officer Mattera, and the third by Second Lieutenant Cella and Petty Officer Montalenti. In order to divert any British suspicion from the Olterra, the selected targets were merchant ships at anchor in the farthest point from Algeciras. The gale that was raging at the time hampered the mission, because the current forced them to dive around the targets before they could attach the limpet mines to the hulls. At dawn, all the Italian craft reached their mother ship safely. They had mined three vessels, the American Liberty ship Pat Harrison (7,000 tons), and the British freighters Mahsud (7,500 tons) and Camerata (4,875 tons). When the charges exploded, the American transport was heavily damaged and became a total loss. One American sailor was killed by the blast. The Mahsud rested on the bay’s bottom with much of the ship still above the water line, while the Camerata sank outright. To mislead the British into thinking of combat swimmers instead of manned torpedoes, members of the Italian secret service scattered diving equipment along the shore. The second attempt from the Olterra had been a stunning success.