![]() ![]() In March 1939, the Navy Department ordered a further 12 explosive boats, increasing the total number to 18. The naval command demanded the addition of a solid wooden deck and a larger freeboard of 0.9 m (later enlarged to 1.1 m) and sent the boats and machine parts back to the manufacturer so that they could implement the requirements. ![]() ![]() The deck was made of tarpaulins, which exposed the hull to leakage from splashing at high speed. The MT explosive motorboat revealed some weaknesses. The first six boats were delivered in early 1939, immediately after which test trials were conducted off La Spezia. The small vessels were used by the Italian Navy in at least two major operations in the Mediterranean theatre during World War II. The one-pilot vessels were built by the companies Baglietto of Varazze and CABI of Milan, which was also to supply the engines. By the end of September 1938 the Navy Department ordered six explosive boats. At impact, the hull would be broken amidships by a small explosive charge, sinking the boat and the warhead, which was fitted with a water-pressure fuse set to go off at a depth of one metre. Explosive motorboats were designed to make a silent approach to a moored warship, set a collision course and run into full gear until the last 200 or 100 yards to the target, when the pilot would eject after blocking the rudder. The explosive motorboat MT ( Motoscafo da Turismo) also known as barchino (Italian for "little boat"), was a series of small explosive motor boats developed by the Italian Royal Navy, which was based on its predecessors, the prototype boat MA ( Motoscafo d'Assalto) and the MAT ( Motoscafo Avio Trasportato), an airborne prototype. Manually piloted with gyroscopic stabilisation and automatic running ![]()
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