Italian Navy hones minesweeping skills in Gulf of Taranto, Italy

ITS Vieste and ITS Chioggia, two minesweepers of the Italian Navy conducted submerged object recovery operations in the waters of the Gulf of Taranto, Southern Italy, February 23.

The recent operation was exceptional because of the depths of underwater interventions, the size of objects recovered, and the cooperation with Gay Marine, a private company specialized in design and manufacture of underwater vehicles.

Minesweepers ITS Vieste and ITS Chioggia have been deployed in the Gulf of Taranto for seabed mapping using a Hugin 1000 vehicle, in search of an object of interest lying on the seafloor at a depth of over 1,000 metres.

Once detected and identified the object has been recovered. This phase of the operation was implemented in synergy with Gay Marine, a specialised company which has been deploying – for the first time with the Italian Navy – the “Pluto Palla” ROV, embarked on ITS Chioggia.

The dual capabilities, sea mapping and recovery, of the Italian minesweepers have enabled several cooperation opportunities with the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, the judiciary and other government agencies, for the performance of a great variety of activities of common interest, including deep sea exploration for the location and recovery of ship or aircraft wrecks, archaeologic finds or any other object lying on the sea bottom, as was the case with Battleship Roma.

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