Italian MAS boats penetrate Trieste

Wien and Budapest were supporting operations around the Gulf of Trieste when two Italian MAS boats penetrated the harbor undetected. The coastal-defense ships carried heavy armor and numerous guns suitable for defeating small attackers, but those defenses could not compensate for surprise. Torpedoes aimed at Budapest missed, while two hits killed 46 men aboard Wien and sank her in less than five minutes. Budapest survived and was later fitted with a 380 mm howitzer for coastal bombardment, although the weapon never saw action. Luigi Rizzo's command links this raid with his later MAS attack on Szent Istvan.