ABSTRACT

Honorary Ammiraglio di Squadra, and holder of the Gold Medal for Valour (the Italian equivalent of the VC). He was the senior officer leading the attack by ‘human torpedoes’ (nicknamed ‘maiali’) on the British fleet in Alexandria in 1941, when he and his diver Bianchi successfully attacked the battleship Valiant, severely damaging her, so that the balance of naval power was radically altered.