VAS (motorboat)

Class overview
Operators	Regia Marina; Italian Navy;
Built	1942
In service	1942–1956
General characteristics (as built)
Type	Motor torpedo boat/Submarine chaser
Displacement	Type 1&2: 68.8 t (67.7 long tons; 75.8 short tons); Type 3: 90 t (89 long tons; 99 short tons);
Length	Type 1&2: 28 m (92 ft); Type 3: 34.1 m (112 ft);
Beam	Type 1&2: 4.3 m (14 ft); Type 3: 5 m (16 ft);
Draft	Type 1&2: 1.35 m (4 ft 5 in); Type 3: 2.1 m (6 ft 11 in);
Propulsion	Type 1:; 3 shafts; 2 Fiat + 1 Carraro petrol engines; 1,500 hp (1,100 kW)/300 hp (220 kW);
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h)
Range	up to 1,100 nautical miles (2,000 km) at 12 knots (22 km/h)
Crew	26
Armament	2 × 450mm torpedo tubes or a 37mm AA gun (type 3); 26-30 depth charges; 1 or 2 × 20mm Breda AA; 2 × 6.5mm machine guns;

Vedetta anti sommergibile (anti-submarine picket boat), commonly abbreviated as VAS and also known in Italy as VAS Baglietto (from the name of the shipyard that designed VAS and built a number of them), was a class of motor torpedo boats that served as coastal anti-submarine patrol boats in the Regia Marina (Italian Royal Navy) during World War II. Several boats that survived the war later served in the post-war Italian Navy.

The boats were officially classified as "anti-submarine patrol boats"^[2] and the first 30 boats were ordered by the Regia Marina at the Baglietto shipyards on 3 September 1941,^[2] entering service between March and November 1942.^[2]

The concept had first appeared in

Axis invasion of Yugoslavia

.

For all that the VAS were derived from MTBs, they were ultimately far closer in performance and intended role to the British Fairmile B motor launch, being both far slower & more defensive in nature than true MTBs.

References

^ Gardiner, Robert. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946.
^ ^a ^b ^c Capitolo XXXIII de: Erminio Bagnasco, I MAS e le motosiluranti italiane, collana Le navi d'Italia, Vol. 6°, 2ª Edizione, Marina Militare, Stato Maggiore - Ufficio Storico, Roma, 1969

[1] Gardiner, Robert. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946.

[MAS-XXXIII-2] Capitolo XXXIII de: Erminio Bagnasco, I MAS e le motosiluranti italiane, collana Le navi d'Italia, Vol. 6°, 2ª Edizione, Marina Militare, Stato Maggiore - Ufficio Storico, Roma, 1969

[1]

[2]