Page 476 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

476 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

often remembered, largely for two epic victories carried out under the leadership of one man,
Capt. Rizzo. On the night of 9/10 December 1917, Rizzo set out with two boats, MAS 9 and
13, to cut off the Austrian battleships Wien (launched 1895, 5600 tons, four 24-cm and six 15-
cm guns) and Budapest, then engaged in their nightly bombardment of Italian shore batteries.
To save time, fuel, and wear and tear on the boats’ highly tuned gasoline engines, destroyers
towed the MAS to a point near the Austrian naval base at Trieste. The battleships had beaten
them back, so Rizzo decided to enter the harbor itself. Using hydraulic shears brought for the
purpose, the Italians cut the three 60-mm steel booms that guarded the mouth of Muggia bay
and slipped into the harbor on electric power. at 200 meters, the boats salved their torpedoes
against the two pre-dreadnoughts. At 02:32 MAS 9 weapons hit the Wien amidships and
sank her almost immediately. MAS 13 missed her target. Both boats then slipped away unob-
served. On 10 June 1918, Rizzo and the MAS fought a still more spectacular action against
an Austrian battle fleet in daylight. Fearful of mutiny, Bolshevism, and revolution (all of
which in fact broke out within a matter of weeks), the Austrian navy decided to boost morale
with a sortie against the drifters and destroyers tending the Otranto barrage. A fast, unex-
pected sally might well destroy the blockade before Italian heavy units could react, allowing
German and Austrian U-boats free access to the Mediterranean for the first time in years. Two
dreadnoughts, the sister ships Tegethoff and Szent Istvan (launched 1914, 21,370 tons, twelve
30.5-cm and twelve 15-cm guns) set out with a strong escort of destroyers. Alerted by Italian
reconnaissance, Rizzo in MAS 15 led MAS 21 and an escort of torpedo boats to intercept
the raiders. The dead calm and haze let the MAS close the Austrian battleships unseen and at
high speed. at the last minute, Tegethoff managed to evade the torpedoes launched by MAS
21. But Rizzo’s torpedoes hit the brand-new Szent Istvan amidships. She immediately started
to list and, in minutes, rolled over and sank with all hands. Again favored by near perfect
conditions, the MAS easily out-ran pursuing destroyers despite having to weave through
heavy and accurate shell fire. What was to have been a morale builder thus proved to be an
absolute disaster. The Austrian ships fled back to their bases where mutineer sailors, Soviets
and Yugoslavian nationalists, seized them shortly after. 9

between twO wOrld wars
as impressive as Cattaneo’s front-wheel braking was, and its contribution to the De-
fense of Italy during World War 1, its significance was overshadowed shortly after, when
Isotta-Fraschini introduced the automobile Tipo 8/50. It is generally agreed that the Giustino
Cattaneo-designed engine powering this car was the world’s first production inline eight-
cylinder engine. The Tipo 8/50 marked a polar shift for Isotta-Fraschini: no longer were they
interested in producing a wide variety of vehicles and chasing success on the race track. In
a bold and deliberate move, Isotta-Fraschini put all its eggs in one basket and decided to be-
come a single model car company. This model would be unlike any other, as Isotta-Fraschini
had decided to start building the most luxurious cars in the entire world. their reasoning?
After the War, only the wealthy in Europe and America would be able to afford a new car.
The Tipo 8 was succeeded by the 8A, which by every measure proved successful in re-

9 Barry Taylor, Military History magazine, April 1996.