the most daring getting stuck 100 metres from . The crew were forced to withdraw and the explosion of the torpedo's only achievement was to tip off the defenders of Gibraltar Harbour. They organised for boats to drop small charges into the water each night that would have proved fatal to any diver in range of the shock wave. Scirè entered the Bay of Gibraltar again in September 1941 with better results than the previous time. On September 20, 1941 three tankers were attacked and Fiona Shell (2444 GRT, 1892) was sunk whilst other two ships, RFA Denbydale (8154 GRT / 17 000 t) and MS Durham (10893 GRT) were damaged. The Italians decided to create a permanent base in Spain eventually converting a ship called that was moored off Algeciras into a permanent base for naval sabotage. Scirè accomplished many missions inside enemy waters. Among these, the most important was the raid on Alexandria launched on 3 December 1941. Scirè left La Spezia carrying three manned torpedoes. At the island of Leros in the Aegean Sea, it secretly loaded six crew for them: Luigi Durand de la Penne and Emilio Bianchi (maiale 221), Vincenzo Martellotta and Mario Marino (maiale 222), Antonio Marceglia and Spartaco Schergat (maiale 223). On 19 December, Scirè reached Alexandria in Egypt and its manned torpedoes entered the harbour. They sank the British battleships and Queen Elizabeth in shallow water and damaged the tanker Sagona and the destroyer Jervis. All six torpedo-riders were captured and the battleships returned to service after several months of repairs. During a mission to launch manned torpedoes, on 10 August 1942, Scirè was depth charged by the British naval trawler in Haifa bay, about from the harbour. Scirè surfaced briefly before sinking during which time she was also shelled by 300 Coast Battery, Royal Artillery. Islay was captained by Lieutenant Commander John Clements Ross of North Shields, Tyne and Wear who was later awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions. The wreck of Scirè, lying at a depth of , became a popular diving site and Shayetet 13 training location. In 1984 a joint Italian-Israeli Navy ceremony was performed, in which the forward section was removed from the submarine and sent to Italy to become part of a memorial. Italian Navy divers also welded the access hatches shut to prevent divers from entering the wreck. References External links SUB.net Italia