Luigi Faggioni

Luigi Faggioni (born November 9, 1909 in La Spezia , † May 23, 1991 in Chiavari ) was an Italian naval officer.

After graduating from the technical college for seafaring in Camogli ( Liguria ) he joined the Regia Marina in 1928 and became a temporary officer in 1929 . He served first on torpedo boats and then as a teacher at naval schools.

Attack on Suda (Crete)

During the Second World War Faggioni came to a special unit , the Decima Flottiglia MAS , which attacked allied ships in the Mediterranean with explosive boats . A team led by Lieutenant Faggioni reached the waters off the British naval base in the Bay of Suda, Crete on the destroyers Crispi and Sella at night on March 25, 1941 . The aerial reconnaissance had announced the arrival of a convoy of 12 merchant ships and three destroyers. Around 11:30 p.m., six nautical miles from Akrotiri near Suda, six MT-type boats were launched , which, under Faggionis' orders, slowly approached the bay and overcame three barriers. By 5:00 a.m., all six boats were gathered in the middle of the bay and Faggioni assigned the targets. Two boats were put on a cruiser, two others on a tanker, Faggioni remained in reserve with another boat so that in the event of an initial failure, one of the attacks could be repeated or a final attack carried out.

Shortly afterwards, the first two boats rushed into the British cruiser HMS York , which almost capsized. The tanker Pericles (20,000 GRT) also went up in flames. Immediately after the first explosions, British searchlights searched the sky, assuming an air raid, and the air defense system also opened fire.

The heavily damaged HMS York (8,250 ts, 6x 203 mm) was first set on the ground and then completely destroyed by an air attack. In addition to the tanker, which was definitely lost on April 14th, a small troop transport was also sunk. Faggioni discovered another cruiser during the operation, which he attacked without success, as his boat exploded shortly before the target because of an undetected object.

All crews jumped off board shortly before their boats collided with the targets and tried to swim to an agreed meeting point. Around 7:00 am, all were captured by British forces. They returned to Italy in January 1945 .

After the war, Faggioni commanded a. a. nor the COMSUBIN combat swimmer unit of the Navy . He retired as a rear admiral from active service, but made it to the reserve as a vice admiral .