JAMES BOND - THE FACTS HIDDEN BEHIND THE FICTION

Welcome to part one of an occasional series where we look at the many fascinating - and true, incidents, gadgets and people that inspired both Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the movie series we all know and love.

THUNDERBALL/THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN – THE OLTERRA

 

Greek for “Land of Beer”, Olterra was an Italian auxiliary tanker, scuttled by her crew in 1940 in the Bay of Gibraltar. When a series of mysterious sabotage missions were conducted against Allied shipping, it was discovered to be the work of a highly-secret team of ‘Human Torpedo’ operators, using early versions of Swimmer Delivery Vehicles. Under the pretext of ‘repairs’, the Italian Navy had secretly converted Olterra as a fully-functional support base for the elite combat divers of the Decima Flottiglia Motoscafi Armati Siluranti . Within the Decima MAS itself, a sub-unit named for the constellation Ursa Major was specially selected for the missions.

 

The Olterra with secret hatch exposed at waterline

Diagram showing the Decima MAS teams exiting the Olterra

Launched from an underwater hatch, the Ursa Major teams wreaked havoc on Allied shipping, though the unit’s first mission was foiled by an underwater bomb disposal unit led by the legendary British diver Lieutenant Lionel ‘Buster’ Crabbe. Crabbe’s men killed the Italian commander and his co-pilot in the action.

Decima MAS team in training, cutting anti-submarine netting.

Lieutenant Crabbe was to gain notoriety when he went missing on a 1956 mission for UK-SIS (Popularly known as MI6) to inspect the hull of the Soviet cruiser Ordzhonikidze which was on a public relations visit to Portsmouth Harbour. A headless, handless body was later recovered and said to be Crabbe’s, although speculation remains about his true fate; Soviet sailors allege he was murdered by ship’s diver, whilst others make the unlikely claim he defected to the Soviets. 

 

In this scene from Thunderball (1965) Bond shows Felix Leiter a covert photograph taken of the secret hatch in the hull of Largo's yacht, the Disco Volante.

The Crabbe incident inspired the scene in Thunderball where James Bond inspects the hull of Largo’s hydrofoil Disco Volante (Flying Saucer) whilst the Olterra undoubtedly inspired the MI6 base concealed in the wrecked Queen Elizabeth in the movie The Man With The Golden Gun.  

 

Photo of the Queen Elizabeth (renamed Seawise University before a mysterious fire) Copyright Barry Loigman M.D.

Co-incidentally, Ian Fleming used the ship for his novel Diamonds Are Forever , while his private letters show he was a passenger on Elizabeth to New York, during which voyage he was correcting drafts of Live And Let Die, the second Bond novel. 

 

Royal Navy diver team on a Chariot, Mark One - developed from a captured Italian 'Human Torpedo'.

From a captured example of the Italian Maiale (Literally ‘Pig’ as they were hard to maneuver) ‘Human Torpedo’, British Scientists developed the Chariot. Swimmer Delivery Vehicles are still in use with the US Navy SEALS and British SBS today, with an actual Italian SDV starring in Thunderball (a modified Cos.Mo.S Seahorse-II SDV with a cowling attached)

 

Modified Cos.Mo.S Seahorse-II SDV in Thunderball (1965)