Night between 9 and 10 December 1917: forcing of the port of Trieste and sinking of the Wien

(To Marina Militare)
09/12/19

After having arrested, on November 16, the enemy offensive in Cortellazzo, thus preventing the Germans and Austrians from arriving in Venice and winning the European war on the wave of Caporetto, the Italian Navy returns to the offensive, continuing the its traditional strategy with the addition, this time, the precise intention to underline in the eyes of all the Nation's will to recover.

Already on November 18 a destroyer squadron, composed of Boldness, Abba, Ardente e animoso beats, early in the morning, the Austrian trenches at Revedoli with 600 cannon shots from 102 mm. The action, which raises the enthusiasm of the Italian troops and the ire of the Habsburg generals, is renewed the day after by the fighters Stocco, Orsini, Sirtori e Ardito, who shoot 100 shots per piece against the enemy lines between Revedoli and Caorle; November 20 is the turn of the opposing positions at Grisolera. This target was attacked again on the 23rd, this time by 8 destroyers. The enemy reaction, entrusted to the coastal batteries and the planes, proved ineffective.

To add, as the British say, insult to injury, the 25 November gunboats Captain Sauro e thunderbolt - two small former Habsburg merchantmen captured in the 1915 - they even date the Piave for 5 kilometers, cannonading and strafing all the Austrian landmarks sighted one by one.

For its part, the Austro-Hungarian navy, in order to support the advance of its army from the sea, had transferred the battleships to Trieste Vienna e Budapest. These battleships are both damaged in the November 16, in front of Cortellazzo, from the precise 152 mm coastal battery shot commanded by the vessel lieutenant Bruno Bordigioni; although forced to withdraw from the subsequent intervention of the Italian naval units, they still continue to represent, to all effects, a constant potential threat to the Italian sea front on the Piave.

On the night between 9 and 10 December 1917 the MAS 9 (commander lieutenant Luigi Rizzo, creator of that long-studied enterprise since the spring) and 13 (chief helmsman 1st class Andrea Ferrarini) set sail from Venice, under the escort of the 9PN and 11PN torpedo boats. After almost two hours of hard and silent cutting, by hand, of the cables of the obstructions, the two MASs penetrate the Vallone di Muggia, sailing slowly and without noise on the electric motors. After a last reconnaissance, destined to confirm the lack of torpedo nets in the port basin, the MASs launch at close range.

Il Vienna, hit amidships, sinks in a few minutes. The opposing reaction does not prevent the small torpedo boats from leaving that port and returning unharmed to the base.

The sinking of this battleship is the first great Italian success on the sea of ​​the Great War, achieved after years of tenacious efforts. The action, well planned, is cleverly communicated and valorised in such a way as to underline the trend inversion of the nation after almost two months of crisis.

The creator and convinced supporter, since 1915, of the "battle in port" strategy is Admiral Paolo Thaon di Revel, Chief of Staff of the Navy in 1915 and again in 1917-1919. Always at the forefront, the future Grand Admiral it proves to be constantly open to new ideas, from naval aviation to submarines to MAS and armed trains, and encourages the initiative of its own sailors, not hesitating to personally verify the "scene" of forcing the opposing ports, such as when a September night 1917, goes aboard a motorboat a few hundred meters from the Trieste obstructions during the final drafting of Rizzo's plan.