The early years weren’t entirely successful for the Scirè. It received its first special mission in September 1940 to attack some ships in the Port of Gibraltar. However, things didn’t go as planned. The first time around, in what was dubbed Operation BG1, none of the ships the Italians expected to be there were docked. They had all set sail to accompany two different missions to protect other ships.
So, in October of the same year, they tried again with Operation BG2. This time, SLC crews got as far as disembarking from the mothership before they were plagued with technical difficulties, forcing them to scrap the entire mission. One team even had to abandon its SLC. Although SLC pilot Lieutenant Birindelli got within 230 feet of his target, he was forced to detonate his warhead from a safe distance before the British could confiscate the device and ended up being captured and held prisoner for the next three years.
While its first few missions were wildly unsuccessful, the crew and Italian Navy did learn a thing or two that allowed them to make progress in future missions. First, they managed to see that they could in fact breach enemy territory and enter a harbor unnoticed. After another subsequent aborted mission, they also decided to start dropping the divers in by plane to get even closer to the target.
