A ship moored in the port of La Spezia, a common scene for a seaside town. But now that the alert threshold in European cities has risen, even a ship can be considered a sensitive target.
To be able to intervene quickly and restore the security of port infrastructures, ships and maritime communication routes Diving and Inshore Pools “Teseo Tesei” trains and trains the divers of the Diving Operations Group (GOS) which, among the many unique underwater abilities of its kind, is able to neutralize any explosive threat in a maritime environment or under water.
In this context, the realistic EOD-NAVY (Explosive Ordnance Disposal) course conducted by the instructors of the Diving School of Varignano.
This formative moment, lasting 4 months, represents the highest level of specialization of the Navy divers in the field of neutralization of any explosive device, conventional or improvised, that can be found in water or on board naval units.
The final exercise of the course took place in two phases on board a ship Sirocco of the ship Antaeus and made it possible to show the local Authorities who intervened to show the operational skills acquired by the men of the GOSdel Comsubin.
The six diver-goers have faced different scenarios in very realistic contexts. On board ship Sirocco the presence of two bombs and the activation of a procedure for immediate intervention was simulated.
The team was transferred on board with an EH-101 helicopter of the 1st Luni Helicopter Group while the ship was navigating through a rapid descent carried out with the Fast-Rope technique (barbettone), to minimize intervention times . The team simulated to neutralize an unexploded grenade thrown on board during a terrorist attack, and then intervened on a suspicious bag similar to a probable IED (Improvised Explosive Device).
On board ship Antaeus, in the presence of the prefect of La Spezia, dr. Mauro Lubatti and the president of the port authority, Mr. Lorenzo Forcieri, as well as the commander of the Port Authority of La Spezia, vessel captain Francesco Tomas, the course-goers and the already qualified divers of the Ready Employment Department of the GOS intervened to remove an underwater explosive device on the propeller axis and to neutralize a suspect package discovered with a Wheelbarrow, a cutting-edge technological robot supplied with the divers.
With the end of the course Navy EOD and the achievement of the qualifications, the naval corps of divers have enriched the skills of their operators in professionalism to guarantee the country a quick, flexible and effective tool against potential explosive threats in the maritime environment.
