From 16 to 17 September 2017 the Navy Commander and Incursion Operators of the Navy Command (Ancona Operational Group) detained at the SDAI Ancona Headquarters (Dismissal of Anti-Insemination Defense) have conducted a delicate and complex underwater operation in the waters of the Adige River in Porto (Legnago, VR) to remove two hazardous explosive ordnance, which was then handed over to the 8 ° destroyer genius artificials of Legnago's "Folgore" for subsequent actions for their desolation.
Following a report made on 21 April 2017 by a citizen at the local Carabinieri station, about the presence in the river of two probable large explosive artifacts, the prefecture of Verona requested the GOS operators to conduct an underwater inspection for make the recognition.
The 29 April 2017 Navy divers, accompanied on the site by the Army blasters, have plunged into the waters of the Adige confirming the presence of two explosive devices, identified as US plane bombs from 1.000 pounds (454 Kg each) at the second world war. At the end of the inspection the operators of Comsubin have removed and concealed in deeper and safer waters one of the two bombs because found in a vertical position, partially re-emerged and then in unstable equilibrium.
The Verona Prefecture therefore acquired all the information necessary to draw up a coordination plan between the Entities and the Administrations that would be involved in the reclamation activities which, by virtue of the size of the ordnance and their proximity to the inhabited nuclei, would have provided numerous interventions needed to protect public safety, including the removal of many people.
The 16 September 2017, on the basis of the cited coordination plan, the divers of Comsubin have carried out the underwater activities preliminary to start the operations, eliminating the obstacles present in the portion of the river in which they would have had to tow the bombs to the containment works realized Army.
Concluding these arrangements, and as soon as the 10.000 people were removed from the buildings and the streets in accordance with the ordinances adopted by the Statutory Auditors of Legnago, Villabartolomea and Terrazzo, 17 September 2017 at 9, the operations of the Group Diving Navy Operations that allowed to harness explosive ordnance, gently lift them from the river bed and tow them to the shore where they were handed over to the 8 ° grenade destroyers "Folgore" of Legnago, who provided their positioning inside the containment structure and the despolation and shaking activity that took place later in an area located in the nearby hamlet of Vigo.
The reclamation operations carried out by the Army and the Navy ended at 16 17 September, thus allowing to return to their homes the people who had been evicted for security reasons.
This intervention represents one of the many high-risk activities that the defense bombers conduct to safeguard public safety whenever an explosive remnant of war is detected, in order to restore the security conditions of our territory, our ports and coasts, in sea or in inland waters.
Last year the divers of the Navy have recovered and destroyed a total of 12.400 explosive remnants of war residuals, while from 1 January 2017 have already neutralized 16.320 from Italian seas, rivers and lakes.
With a history of 168 years behind, the Palombari represent national excellence in the field of underwater activities, being able to conduct diving work up to 1.500 meters of depth and in any operational scenarios, within the scope of its school tasks (relief to the crews of the underwater divers and the neutralization of explosive ordnance found in maritime environments) and in favor of the community.
For these peculiarities, divers from other Armed Forces and Armed Forces of the State may be formed exclusively by the Comsubin School Group, which, through dedicated training courses, enables them to conduct bottom dives according to their respective skills.
