OLTERRA was a tanker that traded between Spain and Italy.

On 10 June 1940, while it was moored in the bay of Algeciras, the crew was informed that Italy was entering the war, consequently the Commander, Domenico Amoretti, decided to scuttle it near the port in order not to supply, in case of capture, an efficient means to the enemy.
In November 1940 she was recovered and moored at the dam of the port of Algeciras.

In the spring of 1942 it was decided to put it back in order to use it as a secret base for the Italian attackers, given the strategic position near Gibraltar in order to carry out attacks against British ships present in the English naval base. The idea came to Antonio Ramognino, a Piaggio technician incorporated into the 10th MAS Flotilla.
The 10th MAS Flotilla reused it as a secret base for attacks on British ships in the roadstead and port of Gibraltar, because submarine transport had become too risky for the Royal Navy’s increased surveillance after previous Sciré missions.

Inside OLTERRA, a workshop was set up to assemble the SLCs that arrived in pieces from Italy. Through a tank communicating with the sea, the operators astride the “Pigs” came out to attack.
Thus, starting in July 1942 in Gibraltar, operations therefore departed both from the steamship OLTERRA and from the Villa Carmela observatory, secret bases of the X ^ MAS Flotilla in neutral Spanish territory.

The attackers of the Royal Navy, grouped in a nucleus that became famous as “The seven of the Big Dipper”, achieved numerous successes.

In memory of these courageous enterprises, through the sponsorship and collaboration of the Arditi Incursori Marina Association, the “OLTERRA” automatic watch was created

• underwater up to 1,000 meters deep
• steel case
• 120 shots unidirectional rotating bezel
• double sealing o-ring
• automatic helium expulsion valve
• “torpedo” spheres