The minesweepers Rimini e Gaeta of the Navy, during an activity of surveillance of the seabed in the Tyrrhenian Sea near the island of Capraia, have located and identified the wreck of the submarine Alberto Guglielmotti, sunk in March of 1917.
The discovery of the wreck of the submarine took place on the part of Nave Gaeta at a depth of 400 meters, in a position that can be correlated with that known of its sinking which took place around 21:50 on 10 March 1917 by the English sloop HMS Cyclamen, who had mistaken him for a German boat. In the event, 14 crew members died.
The discovery was then validated by the subsequent investigation by Nave Rimini with the vehicle Multipluto which also allowed the first images of the submarine to be shown, irrefutably showing the identity of the wreck thanks to the correspondence with the constructive details of the boat that appears lying on its side showing, clearly recognizable, the bow cannon. The images also confirmed the ramming occurred by the English unit.
Previously, the minesweeper Gaeta he had located the HMS wreck SaracenEnglish submarine sunk by two Italian corvettes during the Second World War already identified during an underwater expedition by private individuals in the 2015.
The discovery of the submarine Guglielmotti confirms the operational effectiveness of the new underwater vehicles supplied to the Navy capable of operating at deep levels and which can also be used on new minesweepers that will have to replace the now-old units of the class Lerici/Gaeta. The activity carried out demonstrates how military capabilities can be made available to underwater research, also for purposes of historical reconstruction, in the context of the dual and complementary functions of the Armed Force.
This new methodology of investigation opens a new chapter on deep-sea surveys and expands the scenarios (military and otherwise) in which, the minesweeper of the Navy, can operate in the future by entering into a broader program of exploration and research of the new seabed .
The discovery finally gave voice to the courage and dignity of those men who served the country over a hundred years ago up to the extreme sacrifice.
ALBERTO GUGLIELMOTTI SUBMERSIBLE (1 °)
"Pacinotti" class
(Laurenti type)
FIAT-S construction site. Giorgio - Spezia
Set: 7.6.1914; launched: 4.6.196; delivered: 19.12.1916;
Sunk: 10.3.1917; radiated 9.8.1917
generality
This submarine, designed by Laurenti, represented together with the. Pacinotti, the first experiment in the field of diving units of high displacement. R. Marina ordered two copies of it in the 1913 when the German Imperial Navy had already under construction a unit of the same type at the La Spezia Yards.
This was a larger production of the small Fiat-S.Giorgio displacement units without major innovations in the construction sector.
The floodable compartments were made inside the central wall of the hull, while some combustible deposits were located outside, at the two ends of the hull, and others in a central inner case.
A particularity in the armament was the arrangement of three torpedo launchers, innovation that was not followed in the subsequent underwater units.
The two "Pacinotti" (A.Pacinotti and A.Guglielmotti) served for a short time and the evaluation of the services provided by them did not recommend their reproduction.
Activities
Il Guglielmotti, under the command of the frigate captain Guido Castiglioni, who had also taken care of the preparation, in the early days of March 1917 was ordered to reach the Brindisi headquarters, to operate in the southern Adriatic with the 2ª Flottiglia.
The 10 march sailed from La Spezia, escorted by the steamer Cyrenaica, at 21.50, navigating in the waters of Capraia, mistaken for enemy units by the British minesweeper Cyclamen escort troop escort Arcadia, it was cannonaded, rammed and sunk.
In the accident fourteen men of the crew lost their lives and among them the officer in 2ª, lieutenant of vessel Virgilio De Biase.
The 9 1917 was radiated by the unit.
Motto: In the defense of the oppressed and in the punishment of the wicked
