Rizzo Sinks the Wien
An Italian Lieutenant Braves Batteries and Mines and Harbor Wire in Novel Feat
The Germans and Austrians, knowing that it would be folly for them to risk a naval battle, kept their navies cooped up in harbors and rivers to the intense disgust of real jackies, who thought it quite unbearable at times that while the Allied fleets were roaming about the high seas begging for a fight the enemy was shutting itself up. English and French and American sailors were so hungry for action that they occasionally took unwarranted chances for the sake of getting at the enemy, and more than once these daring leaders were at the same time rebuked for their recklessness and rewarded for their bravery and success.
One of the most brilliant and picturesque of naval adventures fell to the credit of a young Italian who achieved a plan that startled the Austrians and Germans as much as it delighted the Allies.
Lieut. Rizzo is really a Sicilian, strong and handsome. He is about thirty years old—young enough to go through with a daring feat, old enough to be careful. Moreover, there were two boats that carried out the plan, and the second boat was in charge of an elderly man, sixty-two years old, a fire-eater though.
The task was quite definite. In the Trieste harbor the Austrians kept several ships which were a source of great annoyance to the Italians. Especially hateful was the Wien and her sister the Monarch. She carried four 10-inch guns and six 6-inch guns and a crew of 441 officers and men. A month before the Wien had shelled the lower Piave line and Italian motor boats had tried their torpedoes on her. She had a narrow escape. Then she was stored at Trieste. She must have felt herself quite safe with her sister ship, the Monarch, drawing by her. They were behind steel nets fringed with mines. And all day and all night sentries watched.
Lieutenant’s Rizzo’s plans were all laid. But he had no false hopes. He knew of the Austrian combination of nets and mines, and knew that at best he had great chances of being blown to pieces. He started out, though, with his two little launches—really not much bigger than a ship’s lifeboat.