The National Maritime Museum in Cornwall has taken delivery of a replica 1930s Italian Mark 1 human torpedo - an underwater craft used for covert operations to attach explosives to warships during World War Two.
The torpedo is to take pride of place in a major exhibition at the museum, entitled ‘Under The Sea’, which explores man's quest to explore life under the ocean waves.
Siluro a lenta corsa, or slow speed torpedoes (as the manned torpedoes were also known), were used in one of the most daring raids on the British fleet in WW2.
In 1941, Italian frogmen disabled two of the most powerful ships in the British Fleet by navigating the torpedoes through mine fields outside Alexandria harbour in Egypt.
Incredibly, on the earliest model, two pilots sat with their heads out of the water in extremely vulnerable situations.
Following the attack, Winston Churchill recognised the potential of the new stealth tool and ordered a British fleet of them be made.
Jenny Wittamore, assistant curator at the museum, said: “Although never intended for suicide missions, the human torpedo was a formidable force. It’s a great privilege to bring what is a relatively unknown element of Britain’s history to Falmouth”.
‘Under The Sea’, opens on January 28 2008 at the National Maritime Museum in Falmouth.
