Here is another article that I copied and translated (Bablefish) from a gen forum.
Situation of the Italian Navy in the beginning of the war and the reasons for the appearance of the first Panerai clocks.
This it is first of a series of articles in which it will be tried to be explaining a series of historical facts that they gave rise to the appearance of the clocks with the Panerai mark, and the use of such by elite units of Italian Navy during World War II.
Image property of Italian Navy
The X Flottiglia MAS was an elite unit of Italian Navy military and we could say that she is the authentic culprit of which a company of Florence began the manufacture of clocks innovating and different from which existed at that time, and if it hurries to me to which exists at the present time.
The first store of the company/signature was located in this florentino bridge
The Company Guido Panerai & Figlio, counted on the confidence of Italian Navy from World War I and during years he was the official provider for the Italian Navy of diverse mechanical instruments of precision between which were mechanical computers of trajectory of torpedoes, luminous devices car for nocturnal firing, torches, sights of aim, mechanisms of retardation for torpedoes, depth gauges, etc.
Already in World War I, before the poor warlike resources of Italian Navy, one began to think about how to replace this inferiority with the talent and one began to outline the use of a torpedo manned with the purpose of attacking units of great size, approaching them in immersion and having to sail a small distance. In addition this attack had to be coordinated with other similar units.
.
In order to carry out the coordination of those actions, it was necessary to equip the submariners with a clock that trustworthy, submersible and outside visible in the dark. They carried out tests with the existing clocks at that time but the results were not satisfactory, for that reason they went to the Company Guido Panerai & Figlio so that they created what they needed and who at those moments did not exist.
The Radiomir was a used luminescent material, by this Company, in the compasses and the depth gauges that made, and thus this product ended up giving name to the first clock made by Panerai in order to equip to the Xª Flottiglia MAS. One is the first prototype of Radiomir of 1938. This clock took a machinery signed by Rolex although really the mechanism was a Cortebert 618.
In 1943 they appear evolutions of the Radiomir in which the movement stops being Rolex, and is replaced by Angelus 240, with 8 days of march reserve.
The characteristic protective mechanism of the crown with the levy that presses the same one, appears already after it finishes to the war and continuous Panerai his activities. (In future articles one will be with more detail the appearance about the first clocks and the evolution such)
Divers of the Gamma group of the X MAS
The members of the Xª MAS were made famous harass to the allied boats, specially famous were "incursore" that went on board of devices denominated in Italian "maiale" (pigs) which they were possible to be manned to little depth, carrying out several actions in the Mediterranean with the collapse of diverse allied boats, among them covered with armor two British.
Aerial attack to a convoy of merchant boats
The Mediterranean one was a naval battlefield of extreme interest during this warlike conflict, since through him, the troops of the axis transported the provisions for the Africa Korps, that was gaining the game to the British pushing to them towards Egypt, and by the side of the allies they needed it, to supply to its army in North Africa, and mainly, to transport by him the raw materials coming from the east colonies that could come through the Suez Channel, controlled by the British. On the paper, the power of Italian Navy very important era and the forces of the axis enjoyed aerial superiority in the Mediterranean and North Africa and for that reason it is no wonder during the first months military (until the 27 of November of 1940), the British preferred to give all the return to Africa by the South Atlantic before to stop by the Suez Channel and the Mediterranean in order to supply of raw materials their industry military in the United Kingdom and thus to avoid the dangers that watched to them in the Mediterranean. This roundup was not free of risk since in the South Atlantic Germans roamed the raiders (camouflaged ships military as merchant ships) and in North Atlantic the submarines German massacreed the merchant marine that put prow to the British islands.
Typical silhouette of the U Boat German
To the beginning of the hostilities the Italians had 6 acorzados, 30 cruises, 61 destroyers, 117 submarines (42 South Sea islanders) and 75 torpedo units.
Italian Navy was the villa floats military as far as number of tons (620,000 t.) when the 10 of June of 1940 entered war. First she was the Briton with 2.100.000 t., the second U.S.A. with 1.700.000 t., the third Japan with 1.150.000 t. and the fourth France with 800,000 t.
In those beginnings the British had 17 battleships, 6 aircraft carrier, 46 cruises, 168 destroyers and 57 submarines.
If we paid attention to these data we will see that the Italian fleet is decompensated by the lack of aircraft carrier and on the other hand we can see that the British did not have much faith in the submarines. In the course of the war the Germans made change them of idea.
German submarine sailing in surface
Since we have seen, at the beginning of the conflict, the British had a fleet muy.superior.a the one of the Italians, and even together Italian Germans and, but they had to cover much territory and he forced to disperse his cash to them, since their colonies and sources of raw materials had good part of their fleet in the Pacific protecting, essential for his industry military, that were threatened by the formidable Japanese fleet and on the other hand, an important part of his fleet had it in the Atlantic proving to contain the Germans who in spite of having few units of spread, were very effective and active.
Scheme of the interior of a German submarine.
In addition to mentioned, one it leaves considerable from the British boats of pierced minor, that are essential tactical for the escort of covered with armor and aircraft carrier, were protecting the British merchant marine because to the being their country an island, all received it by sea and the submarines German were making damage. In 1939 the British lost in the Atlantic 335 merchant boats with a total of 1.177.393 tons of displacement and in 1940 they sank 1,530 ships to them with a total of 6.177.799 tons. There were moments at which the losses were so serious and the so little supplying that the British were on the verge of losing the war and if they managed to heave this situation went thanks to the aid of the U.S.A..
Convoy with American air escort
Yet the related thing, previously, we can see the importance that had for the British the supplying by sea and the necessity to assure the routes and like no, of trying to make them shorter. It is for that reason, which the destroyers, and even light cruisers that needed next to their greater boats, were escorting their merchants that began to group themselves in convoys, to protect itself better. They even armed to the merchants with tubes so that they were tried simultaneously to defend of the submarines German whom they liked to attack at night and in surface, being taken advantage of the little visibility, of their low silhouette in the dark, and with several units, in which herds of wolves denominated themselves.
Convoy in the bay of Bedford
The convoys were of many unfolded units and in many kilometers. The submarines German attacked in several points simultaneously and normally beginning by the tail of the convoy, retiring in order to avoid the destroyers, and returning to attack to them later after to them to have followed at a distance. The British took much in developing effective tactics to defend itself of these attacks in herd and many losses cost to them.
Covered with armor German Bismarck
.
As far as German Navy it was concentrated mainly in the Atlantic, with his modern ships military that used to be faster and with more firepower by ton of displacement that those of the allies, since the boats of these were, in many cases, previous to World War I, with some modifications or adaptations to the new technologies of the time.
Yet that, the Mediterranean, was almost in exclusive right, the side of the axis, under the responsibility of Italian Navy. This one had modern and powerful boats, but neither Italian nor the British, knew a clearly naval superiority on their enemy in this scene military, and during months the prudence was the factor common of the fleets in the Mediterranean when they left to pavonear itself, always maintaining the distances and once in a while maintaining artillery duels with its opponents who did not give rise to significant results, because neither sides risked in the combat and the distances between both fleets to the limit of the reach of their artilleries stayed almost, where these lacked precision. Neither sides could risk to give the sea superiority to the other part.
Swordfish Biplane
This stays thus until the 12 of November of 1940, when the British attack the Italian fleet anchored in Tarento with airplanes Swordfish biplane armed with torpedoes of 455 mm obtaining to sink the armored Cavour very seriously and damaging other two battleships, among them Littorio, one of the best ones acorzados of their moment.
Scheme of the armored Cavour
Armored Littorio
With the three acorzados Italians outside combat, the equilibrium of forces in the Mediterranean is broken and evidently the moral raises in a side and it sinks in the other, fruit of this situation the 27 of November of 1940 the British, in the battle of the Cabo Teulada, obtain for the first time from the beginning of the war, to pass a convoy through the Mediterranean. The result of the battle was practically of tie as far as suffered damages, that in addition were very few, but the moral of the British was very high and put more tenacity than the Italians in this battle that returned to open the Mediterranean to the allies.
Vista the described situation, the Italians very was needed to restore the naval balance and mainly to recover the moral of Navy. In 1941, at the algidest moment of the conflict there was the most memorable action, of the Xª MAS, was the collapse of three boats of Real British Navy, among them two battleships, in the port of Alexandria, a pair of days after the Japanese attacked the Americans in Pearl Harbour.
Pearl Harbour after the Japanese attack to the island of Hawaii
A the three submarine transported to maiale and to the submariners until the environs of the port of Alexandria and it left them in the water. The three torpedoes with their two submariners, each one, ingeniaron them to arrive until the boats military and to leave their explosive charges there. All the crew of said maiale were dead or captured.
Covered with armor British Valiant, one from which was sunk in Alexandria
This action, together with that they finished carrying out the Japanese devastating the American fleet located in Pearl Harbour (excepting to its aircraft carrier), left to the allies with a moral by grounds and in naval inferiority in the Mediterranean. The British could not think that so many damages with so few means had become. The British attack to Tarento had leaned, for its success, in the used value and means (aircraft carrier). In the Italian attack to Alexandria the means (submarine) were irrisorios, if we compared both actions, but the value, the talent and the improvisation, compensated the deficiencies.
Commemorative picture from the attack to Alexandria
But in the end all this effort did not serve as anything. Italian Navy, lacked an espionage network that facilitated trustworthy information to him of the damages caused in the port of Alexandria and at first Regal Navy was very skeptical as far as the profits of that action and it did not know to remove advantage from all this. When they wanted to realize, or they had spent months and the British had repaired sunk the damaged boats since to the being in port, the waters are little deep and allow to be able to repair and to reflotar the ships in 5 or 6 months of work.
Scheme of maiale
The X MAS conducted other battles in ports as the one of Sweats or the one of Gibraltar, and were even espabilaron to anchor a boat in the Spanish port of Algeciras, whose interior they left maiale manned to attack the British ships anchored in Gibraltar.
Olterra Ship. This ship was modified during its stay in algeciras so that his interior they could leave maiale to attack the British port of Gibraltar.
In next deliveries they will be described the most outstanding actions of the Xª MAS and in some cases transcribing the narrations of the own crew, will be described as they were and they operated maiale and everything what it is possible to be compiled that it can be of interest to relate the history that goes bound to the Panerai mark.
Situation of the Italian Navy in the beginning of the war and the reasons for the appearance of the first Panerai clocks.
This it is first of a series of articles in which it will be tried to be explaining a series of historical facts that they gave rise to the appearance of the clocks with the Panerai mark, and the use of such by elite units of Italian Navy during World War II.
Image property of Italian Navy
The X Flottiglia MAS was an elite unit of Italian Navy military and we could say that she is the authentic culprit of which a company of Florence began the manufacture of clocks innovating and different from which existed at that time, and if it hurries to me to which exists at the present time.
The first store of the company/signature was located in this florentino bridge
The Company Guido Panerai & Figlio, counted on the confidence of Italian Navy from World War I and during years he was the official provider for the Italian Navy of diverse mechanical instruments of precision between which were mechanical computers of trajectory of torpedoes, luminous devices car for nocturnal firing, torches, sights of aim, mechanisms of retardation for torpedoes, depth gauges, etc.
Already in World War I, before the poor warlike resources of Italian Navy, one began to think about how to replace this inferiority with the talent and one began to outline the use of a torpedo manned with the purpose of attacking units of great size, approaching them in immersion and having to sail a small distance. In addition this attack had to be coordinated with other similar units.
.
In order to carry out the coordination of those actions, it was necessary to equip the submariners with a clock that trustworthy, submersible and outside visible in the dark. They carried out tests with the existing clocks at that time but the results were not satisfactory, for that reason they went to the Company Guido Panerai & Figlio so that they created what they needed and who at those moments did not exist.
The Radiomir was a used luminescent material, by this Company, in the compasses and the depth gauges that made, and thus this product ended up giving name to the first clock made by Panerai in order to equip to the Xª Flottiglia MAS. One is the first prototype of Radiomir of 1938. This clock took a machinery signed by Rolex although really the mechanism was a Cortebert 618.
In 1943 they appear evolutions of the Radiomir in which the movement stops being Rolex, and is replaced by Angelus 240, with 8 days of march reserve.
The characteristic protective mechanism of the crown with the levy that presses the same one, appears already after it finishes to the war and continuous Panerai his activities. (In future articles one will be with more detail the appearance about the first clocks and the evolution such)
Divers of the Gamma group of the X MAS
The members of the Xª MAS were made famous harass to the allied boats, specially famous were "incursore" that went on board of devices denominated in Italian "maiale" (pigs) which they were possible to be manned to little depth, carrying out several actions in the Mediterranean with the collapse of diverse allied boats, among them covered with armor two British.
Aerial attack to a convoy of merchant boats
The Mediterranean one was a naval battlefield of extreme interest during this warlike conflict, since through him, the troops of the axis transported the provisions for the Africa Korps, that was gaining the game to the British pushing to them towards Egypt, and by the side of the allies they needed it, to supply to its army in North Africa, and mainly, to transport by him the raw materials coming from the east colonies that could come through the Suez Channel, controlled by the British. On the paper, the power of Italian Navy very important era and the forces of the axis enjoyed aerial superiority in the Mediterranean and North Africa and for that reason it is no wonder during the first months military (until the 27 of November of 1940), the British preferred to give all the return to Africa by the South Atlantic before to stop by the Suez Channel and the Mediterranean in order to supply of raw materials their industry military in the United Kingdom and thus to avoid the dangers that watched to them in the Mediterranean. This roundup was not free of risk since in the South Atlantic Germans roamed the raiders (camouflaged ships military as merchant ships) and in North Atlantic the submarines German massacreed the merchant marine that put prow to the British islands.
Typical silhouette of the U Boat German
To the beginning of the hostilities the Italians had 6 acorzados, 30 cruises, 61 destroyers, 117 submarines (42 South Sea islanders) and 75 torpedo units.
Italian Navy was the villa floats military as far as number of tons (620,000 t.) when the 10 of June of 1940 entered war. First she was the Briton with 2.100.000 t., the second U.S.A. with 1.700.000 t., the third Japan with 1.150.000 t. and the fourth France with 800,000 t.
In those beginnings the British had 17 battleships, 6 aircraft carrier, 46 cruises, 168 destroyers and 57 submarines.
If we paid attention to these data we will see that the Italian fleet is decompensated by the lack of aircraft carrier and on the other hand we can see that the British did not have much faith in the submarines. In the course of the war the Germans made change them of idea.
German submarine sailing in surface
Since we have seen, at the beginning of the conflict, the British had a fleet muy.superior.a the one of the Italians, and even together Italian Germans and, but they had to cover much territory and he forced to disperse his cash to them, since their colonies and sources of raw materials had good part of their fleet in the Pacific protecting, essential for his industry military, that were threatened by the formidable Japanese fleet and on the other hand, an important part of his fleet had it in the Atlantic proving to contain the Germans who in spite of having few units of spread, were very effective and active.
Scheme of the interior of a German submarine.
In addition to mentioned, one it leaves considerable from the British boats of pierced minor, that are essential tactical for the escort of covered with armor and aircraft carrier, were protecting the British merchant marine because to the being their country an island, all received it by sea and the submarines German were making damage. In 1939 the British lost in the Atlantic 335 merchant boats with a total of 1.177.393 tons of displacement and in 1940 they sank 1,530 ships to them with a total of 6.177.799 tons. There were moments at which the losses were so serious and the so little supplying that the British were on the verge of losing the war and if they managed to heave this situation went thanks to the aid of the U.S.A..
Convoy with American air escort
Yet the related thing, previously, we can see the importance that had for the British the supplying by sea and the necessity to assure the routes and like no, of trying to make them shorter. It is for that reason, which the destroyers, and even light cruisers that needed next to their greater boats, were escorting their merchants that began to group themselves in convoys, to protect itself better. They even armed to the merchants with tubes so that they were tried simultaneously to defend of the submarines German whom they liked to attack at night and in surface, being taken advantage of the little visibility, of their low silhouette in the dark, and with several units, in which herds of wolves denominated themselves.
Convoy in the bay of Bedford
The convoys were of many unfolded units and in many kilometers. The submarines German attacked in several points simultaneously and normally beginning by the tail of the convoy, retiring in order to avoid the destroyers, and returning to attack to them later after to them to have followed at a distance. The British took much in developing effective tactics to defend itself of these attacks in herd and many losses cost to them.
Covered with armor German Bismarck
.
As far as German Navy it was concentrated mainly in the Atlantic, with his modern ships military that used to be faster and with more firepower by ton of displacement that those of the allies, since the boats of these were, in many cases, previous to World War I, with some modifications or adaptations to the new technologies of the time.
Yet that, the Mediterranean, was almost in exclusive right, the side of the axis, under the responsibility of Italian Navy. This one had modern and powerful boats, but neither Italian nor the British, knew a clearly naval superiority on their enemy in this scene military, and during months the prudence was the factor common of the fleets in the Mediterranean when they left to pavonear itself, always maintaining the distances and once in a while maintaining artillery duels with its opponents who did not give rise to significant results, because neither sides risked in the combat and the distances between both fleets to the limit of the reach of their artilleries stayed almost, where these lacked precision. Neither sides could risk to give the sea superiority to the other part.
Swordfish Biplane
This stays thus until the 12 of November of 1940, when the British attack the Italian fleet anchored in Tarento with airplanes Swordfish biplane armed with torpedoes of 455 mm obtaining to sink the armored Cavour very seriously and damaging other two battleships, among them Littorio, one of the best ones acorzados of their moment.
Scheme of the armored Cavour
Armored Littorio
With the three acorzados Italians outside combat, the equilibrium of forces in the Mediterranean is broken and evidently the moral raises in a side and it sinks in the other, fruit of this situation the 27 of November of 1940 the British, in the battle of the Cabo Teulada, obtain for the first time from the beginning of the war, to pass a convoy through the Mediterranean. The result of the battle was practically of tie as far as suffered damages, that in addition were very few, but the moral of the British was very high and put more tenacity than the Italians in this battle that returned to open the Mediterranean to the allies.
Vista the described situation, the Italians very was needed to restore the naval balance and mainly to recover the moral of Navy. In 1941, at the algidest moment of the conflict there was the most memorable action, of the Xª MAS, was the collapse of three boats of Real British Navy, among them two battleships, in the port of Alexandria, a pair of days after the Japanese attacked the Americans in Pearl Harbour.
Pearl Harbour after the Japanese attack to the island of Hawaii
A the three submarine transported to maiale and to the submariners until the environs of the port of Alexandria and it left them in the water. The three torpedoes with their two submariners, each one, ingeniaron them to arrive until the boats military and to leave their explosive charges there. All the crew of said maiale were dead or captured.
Covered with armor British Valiant, one from which was sunk in Alexandria
This action, together with that they finished carrying out the Japanese devastating the American fleet located in Pearl Harbour (excepting to its aircraft carrier), left to the allies with a moral by grounds and in naval inferiority in the Mediterranean. The British could not think that so many damages with so few means had become. The British attack to Tarento had leaned, for its success, in the used value and means (aircraft carrier). In the Italian attack to Alexandria the means (submarine) were irrisorios, if we compared both actions, but the value, the talent and the improvisation, compensated the deficiencies.
Commemorative picture from the attack to Alexandria
But in the end all this effort did not serve as anything. Italian Navy, lacked an espionage network that facilitated trustworthy information to him of the damages caused in the port of Alexandria and at first Regal Navy was very skeptical as far as the profits of that action and it did not know to remove advantage from all this. When they wanted to realize, or they had spent months and the British had repaired sunk the damaged boats since to the being in port, the waters are little deep and allow to be able to repair and to reflotar the ships in 5 or 6 months of work.
Scheme of maiale
The X MAS conducted other battles in ports as the one of Sweats or the one of Gibraltar, and were even espabilaron to anchor a boat in the Spanish port of Algeciras, whose interior they left maiale manned to attack the British ships anchored in Gibraltar.
Olterra Ship. This ship was modified during its stay in algeciras so that his interior they could leave maiale to attack the British port of Gibraltar.
In next deliveries they will be described the most outstanding actions of the Xª MAS and in some cases transcribing the narrations of the own crew, will be described as they were and they operated maiale and everything what it is possible to be compiled that it can be of interest to relate the history that goes bound to the Panerai mark.
