cm transmitting beacon on shore and a receiver in the chartroom, the windows of which had been covered, he successfully navigated the yacht between two buoys off Santa Margherita Ligure. A four-way contact was established in November 1936 – the stations concerned being Elettra (at Santa Margherita Ligure), New York and two aircraft flying over that city. Elettra sailed the seas of the world until, with the death of Marconi on 27 July 1937, she was acquired by the Italian Ministry of Communications for the sum of 820,000 lire. Fire on board Elettra On 25 November 1936, there was a fire on the yacht while she was lying in the harbour at Civitavecchia near Rome. It was fortunate that Elettra was not at sea at the time. Firemen were soon on the spot and after several hours were able to extinguish the flames. Damage to the yacht was slight. Destruction during service with the Kriegsmarine (German Navy) during World War Two At the outbreak of the Second World War the ship was moved to Trieste and in September 1943, following the Armistice of Cassibile, was requisitioned by the Germans and armed with five machine guns, one of 15mm and four of 20mm, mounted in twin turrets. Now part of the Kriegsmarine, she was brought into service first with the designation G-107 and then as NA-6. However, between September 1943 and the end of November of the same year, Professor Mario Picotti obtained permission from the Germans to dismantle and remove all of Marconi's wireless equipment. This was carried away in 19 large packing cases and deposited safely in the vaults of the Castello di san Giusto in Trieste. The equipment remained there until the end of 1947 before coming into the hands of the Milan Museum of Science and Technology where it was reassembled by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications. The vessel sailed from Trieste on 28 December 1943 for a patrol along the Dalmatian coast. On 21 January 1944 she arrived off Diklo, near Zadar. The following morning she was spotted and attacked by allied fighter-bombers. The captain decided to run her aground before she sank. Fate of Elettra after World War Two With the signing of the peace treaty, the wreck became the property of Yugoslavia and it was not until 1959 that authorisation was given for a survey to examine the possibility of recovery and return.