Night between 29 and 30 September 1917, waters of Punta Maestra, near the Po delta. A formation of Austrian torpedoes composed of fighters Streiter, Velebit, Turul e Huszár and from the torpedo boats Tb 90 F, 94F, 98 M e 99 M she left Pola. They must support (in practice guide) a squadron of seaplane of the Hapsburg Navy sent to bomb, with the favor of darkness, Ferrara.
Surfing at night with the darkened headlights to project, from time to time, all together, a sort of arrow visible from above is not the best form of discretion there is, but the dominion of the air achieved for some time by aviation hydrocaches Italian naval does not leave alternatives to those slow Austro-Hungarian light bombers.
The Habsburg ships are sighted and attacked, shortly before midnight, by the light explorer sparrowhawk (flag unit of Rear Admiral Mario Casanuova Jerserinch) soon followed, in line of detection, by fighters Stocco, Abba, Audace, Orsini, Acerbi, Ardente e Ardito. The experience, in those times with the radar still to be invented, teaches us that there is not a minute to lose. At night a thin unit masks fires in an instant and becomes indistinguishable in the moonless darkness.
The action, carried out at full speed and continued up to the height of the Austrian defensive barriers laid in front of Porec, in Istria, was divided, as always happened at that time, into a series of short individual clashes carried out at the distance of 1.000-2.000 meters at most. The Velebit he was struck at the helm and burned; tracked down some time later and taken in tow, with a little luck, by Streiter he succeeded, after a further brief clash in cannon shots against two other Italian fighters (led a thousand meters away and interrupted by the arrival of the four Austrian torpedo boats, called on the spot by the cannon and by the blasts) to return to Pula, where he remained to work until October 30 1917 to repair the damage suffered. Even it Huszár he was hit, while shrapnel damage was recorded on board the fighter Turul bird statue in Tatabánya and of the torpedo boat Tb 94 F. On the Italian side, they were hit sparrowhawk, who lamented three wounded, andOrsini.
It was a small forgotten success, one of many, of the Regia Marina during the Great War.
(photo: slider Boldness, opening Ardente, following Stocco e Ardito)
