In these days the Comsubin divers, embarked on a ship Antaeus parked in Messina, they inspected the wreck of the torpedo boat Knot, which sank in the port of the city on 25 May 1943.
Il Knot it belonged to a class of ships built to escort convoys along the dangerous routes to North Africa. The ship entered service in the summer of 1942 and operated intensively on the routes between Italy, Libya and Tunisia.
In its short operational life it was involved in many clashes with allied aircraft, ships and submarines, including the sinking of the British submarine utmost, the 25 November 1942 about forty miles east / northeast of Capo San Vito.
The last mission of the Knot it is linked to the escort of the tanker Carnaro, used to supply the bases of the Luftwaffe and the Regia Aeronautica in the Mediterranean, moving from Syracuse to Naples. On 22 May 1943 the convoy was attacked in the Strait of Messina by the Polish submarine boar which damaged the tank truck, forcing it to enter the port of Messina as a trailer from the torpedo boat Clio. Knot, instead, he remained in the sea to hunt the submarine, and then went into port at the 09.30 of 25 in May, two hours before the city was devastated by B-24 raids Liberator and B-17 Flying Fortress of the US Air Force.
Moored near the torpedo boat dock, today used by the patrol boats of the First Patrol Squadron, Knot it was hit by two armor-piercing bombs which caused it to sink to over 50 meters deep.
From that moment his wreck lies a few meters from the ships moored in the quay of the Fort of the military port of Messina and has been the destination of many Navy divers who, over time, have monitored its state of conservation, as if to maintain that fil rouge dictated by the fact that, at the time of the sinking it was commanded by the frigate captain Ernesto Forza, commander of the X Flotilla MAS until May 3, 1943 and of Maricentrosub from October 28, 1943, the command from here was born the Underwater and Incursori Grouping of the Navy.
The last of these inspection activities took place during a recent stop in Messina by ship Antaeus, specialized in deep-sea underwater operations. From 15 to 17 June numerous dives were carried out on the wreck which, in addition to training the operators of the Diving Operations Group to diving at considerable depths, have allowed us to see how fascinating it is to immerse yourself in one of the many stories of the Navy ships that, every now and then, re-emerge from the past to excite our divers.
With the stop in Messina ofAntaeus an important naval campaign has begun which, during the summer, will take the ship to Ancona, Salerno and Civitavecchia to carry out other important underwater operations for some dicasteries and public bodies in a dual use perspective.
