Nave Gaeta from 8 to 10 September, before taking part in Operation "Noble Shield" (formerly SNMCMG2), represented Italy by participating in the commemoration of the sinking of the battleship Roma in the Spanish port of Mahon on the island of Menorca, on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the sad event.
On September 8, the ship and its crew were welcomed by Mr. Mario Cappa, member of the "Menorcamica" association and passionate popularizer of this page of national history.
On 9 September, in the presence of the Italian ambassador to Spain and Andorra, Giuseppe Buccino Grimaldi, military honors were paid to the fallen of the battleship Roma and a wreath of flowers was placed in the Mahon cemetery.
In fact, 80 years ago, following the sinking, the survivors at sea were recovered by the other naval units in the area and a few hundred were disembarked in the neutral port of Mahon to receive the necessary care. Unfortunately, 26 seriously injured sailors did not survive and were buried in the cemetery of the Spanish city. On 10 September the crew of the Gaeta ship together with some family members of the fallen, accompanied by Mr. Mario Cappa, visited the hospital on the island of Rey, a historic building built in the early 700th century, the same one that hosted the wounded Italian sailors in 1943, and which was subsequently converted into a memorial, managed by the "Menorcamica" association .
