The 8 October 2019 the divers of the Diving Operations Group (GOS) of the Diving and Raiders Command of the Italian Navy (Comsubin), seconded to the SDAI Unit (Sminamento Difesa Antimezzi Insidiosi) conducted a delicate operation within the Maritime Military Arsenal of La Spezia, aimed at removing and neutralizing an explosive device dating back to World War II, found during some excavation works.
The 7 October 2019, during maintenance work on the quay of the northern Arsenal, a private company identified a metal artifact attributable to a probable war remnant, which was inside the pier, at 70 centimeters deep, in the position where the ship is moored Vespucci when it is in the Naval Base of La Spezia.
Once the work had been suspended as a precaution, Comsubin was asked to verify the object that had been discovered through the support of the staff located at the SDAI Nucleus of La Spezia who, immediately intervened, identified him as a Italian airplane bomb from 100 Kg dating back to World War II.
In order to restore safety in the construction site area within the military establishment and in accordance with the provisions in force, on the first morning of 8 October Diving Operations Group Comsubin has started the removal operations from the bomb from the site where it was found. At 08.00 they could resume work at the quay of the north dock of the Arsenale, as the aircraft bomb had been removed and placed in a safety area indicated by the competent Maritime Authority.
The operations of destruction of the bomb, authorized by the Prefecture of La Spezia, took place the same day according to the consolidated procedures of intervention, aimed at preserving the marine ecosystem.
Also thanks to this last emergency intervention the quantity of neutralized bombs was exceeded last year, already very significant, leading to 49.464 the explosive artifacts neutralized by 1 January 2019. An impressive number of operations conducted by divers of the Italian Navy to safeguard public safety in Italian seas, rivers and lakes.
