Marquis Luigi Durand de la Penne (11 February 1914 – 17 January 1992) was an Italian Navy admiral who served as naval diver in the Decima MAS during World War II.

The air attack happened during an exercise, in shallow water, when four human torpedo squads were around, including officers Teseo Tesei and Luigi Durand de la Penne.

In December 1941, he was one of a team of six (Emilio Bianchi [it], his second; Antonio Marceglia with Spartaco Schergat; Vincenzo Martellotta with Mario Marino) that attacked Alexandria harbour.

A few minutes before the detonation, De la Penne informed Captain Morgan of the imminent explosion, in order to allow him to evacuate the ship, but continued to refuse to disclose where the mine had been placed.

As all six frogmen were eventually captured and both vessels appeared to be operational, the success of the attack in neutralising the targeted ships became known by the Italian Navy only after some days.

In May 1945, at the end of the war, Morgan, by now at the rank of admiral, asked if he could himself confer the medal on de la Penne in a ceremony in Taranto; which he did so.

In his honour, the Marina Militare (Italian Navy) named its new series of destroyers of 1993 as the Durand de la Penne class.