The project, initiated in the early 2000s by SDSS in collaboration with the Museum of the Sea in Palermo and the Superintendent of the Sea of the Sicily region, focuses primarily on the census and documentation of aircraft and naval wrecks connected to the Battle of the Mediterranean Convoys, which took place during the course of the Second World War.
The project aims to use the fascination and interest generated by submerged wrecks as a means to tell their stories and bring these events back to collective memory. Over eighty years after the events, it seeks to pay tribute to the tens of thousands of young men from many nations around the world who were involved, suffered, and lost their lives during this battle.
Furthermore, wrecks constitute a phenomenal historical heritage that, although submerged and hidden from view, deserves to be known, considered, and protected from the threats it faces. SDSS and the Superintendent of the Sea therefore aim to document the wrecks as the first fundamental step towards their preservation and protection, and to promote policies and measures to ensure that their natural decay and gradual transformation are not accelerated by external events.
In order to perpetuate the memory of the events and protect the historical heritage represented by the wrecks, the project also aims to promote the formal establishment of “submerged places of memory” and “war cemeteries” for wrecks of particular historical significance.
Over the years, dozens of naval wrecks connected to the Battle of the Mediterranean Convoys have been located, at depths ranging from 34 to 137 meters, most of which have been identified. Some form of video documentation has been produced for all visited wrecks, ranging in quality from mediocre to fair, and is stored in the SDSS archive. However, it has been decided to publish on this site only the material of wrecks for which photogrammetry and three-dimensional models have also been produced.
The project is still ongoing, with plans to continue, year after year, conducting photogrammetry of as many ships as possible and updating the website by adding new wrecks once their photogrammetric models have been created.
We invite you to support the project by purchasing the products offered in the store area of this site or by making a donation. SDSS is a non-profit association, and proceeds from the site and donations are solely dedicated to exploration, documentation, and dissemination activities.
The Battlefield
Most convoys bound for Libya departed from Naples, a port where materials and supplies from industrial centers throughout German-occupied Europe and Italian territories were brought together and loaded onto merchant ships. Convoys traveling on southern routes then descended towards Sicily, passing off Marettimo and “landing” near Cap Bon, Tunisia. They then followed the African coast, maintaining varying distances from the Tunisian coast and the series of buoys marking the shallows of the Kerennah shoals, before finally reaching Tripoli.
Convoys traveling along the “northern routes“, on the other hand, mostly crossed the Strait of Messina and then followed a more or less direct route to the ports of Tripoli or Benghazi in Libya. These routes traverse the Ionian Sea, characterized by depths of several hundred meters and up to 3000 meters.
The search for wrecks mostly takes place in international waters along what were known as the “southern routes” followed by convoys heading to Libya. The seabeds along these routes are extensions of the African continental shelf, which extends for several tens of miles from the African coast and is also characterized by numerous banks that reduce the depth to a few tens of meters, gradually descending towards the abyssal plains. Much of the seabed in this area is characterized by depths reachable with SCUBA diving systems, allowing wrecks to be explored and documented.
Operations
Since 2006, SDSS has been engaged in campaigns to research and document wrecks in the Central Mediterranean. For most research campaigns, the base is located on the island of Lampedusa, from where excursions are made into open sea towards the routes followed by the convoys. For some campaigns, the project’s base has instead been established in Tunisia, on the Sicilian coast, or on research vessels.
The explored area is located between 50 and 100 miles from Lampedusa, in the North, West, and South sectors of the island.
The main means used to locate wrecks are the information obtained from fishermen from Lampedusa, Sicily, and Tunisia who, although not knowing exactly what they are, know the positions of the wrecks on the seabed. Different types of fishing are practiced directly on the wrecks, which are rich in marine life and highly fishable, while for other forms of fishing, such as trawling, it is important to know the position of the wrecks on the seabed to avoid entangling nets.
In most cases, offshore expeditions are carried out aboard a fishing vessel, expertly commanded by Mario Brischetto, one of the most experienced sailors and fishermen in the Central Mediterranean. The excursions typically last for two or three days during which a certain number of wrecks are visited, explored, and documented. Upon return to Lampedusa, the collected materials are then organized, and preparations are made for the next expedition.
Dozens of technical divers from many nations around the world have participated and continue to participate in research campaigns every year. Volunteers include skilled underwater photographers, cameramen, photogrammetry experts, computer engineers, and marine biologists.
Acknowledgments
The project benefits from the collaboration and support of a significant number of individuals, organizations, companies, and institutions that make the operations possible, contribute to historical research, and process the collected materials. Among the many, we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude to:
Lorenzo Colombo, conlapelleappesaaunchiodo.blogspot.com with his invaluable and excellent work compiled and continuously updated by Mr. Lorenzo Colombo, which probably constitutes the main collection of information available on Italian merchant and military ships sunk during the Second World War, and which has accompanied us throughout these years of research and operations as a primary reference for the identification of wrecks and the reconstruction of their stories.
Andreas Biermann – rommelsriposte.com, another inexhaustible source of valuable information and excellent articles. Andreas has been essential for the identification of wrecks and German vehicles and for obtaining the cargo manifests of some of the ships found.
Professor Timmy Gambin, archaeologist, director of the Underwater Virtual Museum project and the excellent website underwatermalta.org, which has been a source of inspiration and reference for us in creating this site, and for indirectly convincing us of the possibility of creating photogrammetric models of large wrecks.
The Marinara Aldebaran Association and in particular President Dario Tedeschi, for their great availability and patience in helping us to find vintage photographs and ship construction plans.
The Agrigento Superintendent’s Office for providing us with their base on the island of Lampedusa during our campaigns.
The Ghost Divers and Healthy Seas organizations for their financial support for some of our campaigns and for their collaboration in operations to remove nets caught on wrecks.
Professor Edmund Maser and Jennifer Strehse of the Institute of Toxicology and Pharmacology for Natural Scientists – University Medical School Schleswig-Holstein Campus, Kiel, for their collaboration on the project to assess the environmental impact of wrecks in the Central Mediterranean.
SUEX srl, for always providing us with indispensable underwater scooters on favorable terms.
DAN Europe, for assisting us in developing safety plans for offshore diving and providing consultancy and first aid materials.
The Global Underwater Explorers – GUE – for the quality of diver training. All SDSS divers come from GUE training.
The Pelagos Diving Center in Lampedusa for their support during operations on the island.
Claudio Di Franco, Professor Ferdinando Maurici, Dr. Roberto La Rocca, and Salvo Emma of the Superintendent of the Sea of the Sicily Region for their continuous support and collaboration on the project.