On the occasion of Christmas is my pleasure to post an article of our friend Niccolò Genovese, who visited the famous manger in Manarola, one of Cinque Terre in province of La Spezia. The famous manger bright, the world's largest, is made by Mr. Mario Andreoli, a fan who wanted to make the hills of Manarola precisely this beautiful installation. Here are some pictures made by Niccolò with some of the most picturesque of the crib. Thanks to Niccolò for the photos and the news that I hope, for Christmas, make pleasure to many.
All the best wishes for happy holidays from HMS with the famous wine "Sciacchetrà" of Cinque Terre.
Manarola Church

Sunset in Manarola

A view of the manger







Our friend Niccolò Genovese and Mr. Mario Andreoli in his wine cellar

BEST WISHES!

Dear friends I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy 2010 with the hope that many will help "The Historical Maritime Society" with its mission to preserve the history and traditions of maritime and diving and to protect the water environment.
Each of you in your home town and in his own state can help achieve this goal with a little work: to signals an important piece of the heritage of maritime and diving, collecting news, collecting information about objects and things that are being lost because of time and neglect of men.
Each piece of the history and traditions of the maritime and diving must be preserved to be sent to those who come after us.
Join "The Historical Maritime Society" this will be important to protect the memory of men and things which on the sea have lived, worked, traveled transmitting knowledge and advancing our civilization.
BEST WISHES!!

Gianfranco VECCHIO
HMS Chairman

HELP US! JOIN TO THE HISTORICAL MARITIME SOCIETY

The maritime and underwater history are essential for the recognition of the evolution of our civilization. Many people think that the sea has always divided people; many others and me think instead that it was for centuries a vehicle of meeting: on the routes traveled by thousands of ships or through connections for communications and transmission of electricity on backdrop, this great element has united the different peoples who have lived on its shores and live. Above and below the surface, the sea was and is today the greatest means of imparting and sharing not only commercial but also and above all cultural. Seaside has grown our civilization through the sea and the sea that our peoples have met, but also clashed in epic battles over the centuries, filled with the blood of losers and winners. The maritime and underwater history are primary they should preserve and pass on to all those who come after us. A story of ships, boats, submarines, port facilities, lighthouses, maritime arsenals. A history full of traditions that were handed down from father to son and can not be left to oblivion of time. The Historical Maritime Society wants to be a landmark and meeting place between those who are passionate about the history and traditions of maritime and diving, all those who believe it is necessary and proper to preserve this great heritage to be passed on to those who come after us. Our Association wants to aggregate all these people and it wants to create a network among the many organizations that, like herself, seek to achieve this great goal.
Each piece ships, boats, boat ride, every architectural element that is linked to the story that was lived by the sea, and every single archaeological find, every diving equipment, the story of every man and the sea has had should be preserved and enhanced. We have an obligation also to protect the sea where this history and these traditions were experienced, the sea, today, is increasingly in danger because of our hands and we must protect in order for it to continue to ensure that our civilization a long and constructive progress.
Join "The Historical Maritime Society is easy to contact info@historicalmaritimesociety.org. We need many who, together with us, wants to preserve the history and traditions of maritime and diving and protect the aquatic environment.

The greatest sea lover

My passion for the sea comes probably from the fact that we are born in front, by the fact that the sea I took my father when I was too young to suffer and, despite this, the love I feel for this element is enormous.
The great passion for sailing and diving brought me to the story that these two elements guard and it seemed only right to do homage to a man who has lived in the sea and has been able to grasp and convey the essence.
A small tribute to a great man, a great explorer, a great lover of the sea.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau (11 June 1910 – 25 June 1997) was a French naval officer, explorer, ecologist, filmmaker, innovator, scientist, photographer, author and researcher who studied the sea and all forms of life in water. He co-developed the aqua-lung, pioneered marine conservation and was a member of the Académie française. He was commonly known as "le Commandant Cousteau" or "Captain Cousteau".
Cousteau was born on 11 June 1910, in Saint-André-de-Cubzac, Gironde, to Daniel and Élisabeth Cousteau. He had one brother, Pierre-Antoine. Cousteau completed his preparatory studies at the prestigious College Stanislas in Paris. In 1930 he entered the Ecole Navale and graduated as a gunnery officer. After an automobile accident cut short his career in naval aviation, Cousteau indulged his interest in the sea.
In Toulon, where he was serving on the Condorcet, Cousteau carried out his first underwater experiments, thanks to his friend Philippe Tailliez who in 1936 lent him some Fernez underwater goggles, predecessors of modern diving masks. He later worked his way up the ranks as he became more famous and more useful to the navy. Cousteau also belonged to the information service of the French Navy, and was sent on missions to Shanghai and Japan (1935–1938) and in the USSR (1939).
On 12 July 1937 he married Simone Melchior, with whom he had two sons, Jean-Michel (born 1938) and Philippe (1940-1979). His sons took part in the adventure of the Calypso. In 1991, one year after his wife Simone's death from cancer, he married Francine Triplet. They already had a daughter Diane Cousteau (born 1980) and a son Pierre-Yves Cousteau (born 1982), born during Cousteau's marriage to his first wife. Pierre-Yves is currently in training to become a professional diving instructor, completing his divemaster certification in Santorini, Greece in 2009.
The years of the Second World War were decisive for the history of diving. After the armistice of 1940, the family of Simone and Jacques-Yves Cousteau took refuge in Megève, where he became a friend of the Ichac family who also lived there. Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Marcel Ichac shared the same will to reveal to general public unknown and inaccessible places: for Cousteau the underwater world and for Ichac the high mountains. The two neighbors took the first ex-aequo prize of the Congress of Documentary Film in 1943, for the first French underwater film:Par dix-huit mètres de fond (18 meters deep), made without breathing apparatus the previous year in Embiez (Var) with Philippe Tailliez and Frédéric Dumas, without forgetting the paramount part played, as originator of the depth-pressure-proof camera case, by the mechanical engineer Léon Vèche (engineer of Arts and Métiers and the Naval College).
In 1943, they made the film Épaves (Shipwrecks): for this occasion, they used the aqua-lung, which continued the line of some inventions of the 19th century (Rouquayrol's and Denayrouze's Aerophore) and of the early 20th century (Le Prieur). When making Épaves, Cousteau could not find the necessary blank reels of movie film, but had to buy hundreds of small still camera film reels the same width, intended for a make of child's camera, and cemented them together to make long reels.
Having kept bonds with the English speakers (he spent part of his childhood in the United States and usually spoke English) and with French soldiers in North Africa (under Admiral Lemonnier), Jacques-Yves Cousteau (whose villa "Baobab" at Sanary (Var) was opposite Admiral Darlan's villa "Reine"), helped the French Navy to join again with the Allies; he assembled a commando operation against the Italian espionage services in France, and received several military decorations for his deeds. At that time, he kept his distance from his brother Pierre-Antoine, a "pen anti-semite", who wrote the collaborationist newspaper Je suis partout (I am everywhere), and was condemned to die in 1946. However this was later commuted to a life sentence, and Pierre-Antoine was released in 1954.
During the 1940s Cousteau is credited with improving the aqua-lung design which gave birth to the open-circuit scuba technology used today. According to his first book, The Silent World: A Story of Undersea Discovery and Adventure (1953), Cousteau started snorkel diving with a mask, snorkel, and fins with Frédéric Dumas and Philippe Tailliez. In 1943, he tried out the first prototype aqua-lung — designed by Cousteau and Emile Gagnan — which made lengthy underwater exploration possible for the first time.
In 1946, Cousteau and Tailliez showed the film "Épaves" to Admiral Lemonnier, and the admiral gave them the responsibility of setting up the Groupement de Recherches Sous-marines (GRS) (Underwater Research Group) of the French Navy in Toulon. A little later it became the GERS (Groupe d'Études et de Recherches Sous-Marines, = Underwater Studies and Research Group), then the COMISMER ("COMmandement des Interventions Sous la MER", = "Undersea Interventions Command"), and finally more recently the CEPHISMER.
In 1948, between missions of mine clearance, underwater exploration and technological and physiological tests, Cousteau undertook a first campaign in the Mediterranean on board the sloop Élie Monnier of Group of Study and Underwater Research (GERS) of the National Navy, with Philippe Tailliez, Frédéric Dumas, Jean Alinat and the scenario writer Marcel Ichac. The small team also undertook the exploration of the Roman wreck of Mahdia (Tunisia). It was the first underwater archaeology operation using autonomous diving, opening the way for scientific underwater archaeology. Cousteau and Marcel Ichac brought back from there the Carnets diving film (presented and preceded with the Cannes Film Festival 1951).
Cousteau and Élie Monnier then took part in the rescue of Professor Jacques Piccard's bathyscaphe, the FNRS-2, during the 1949 expedition to Dakar. Thanks to this rescue, the French Navy was able to reuse the sphere of the bathyscaphe to construct the FNRS-3.
The adventures of this period are told in the 2 books The Silent World (1953) by Cousteau and Plongées Sans Câble by Philippe Tailliez.
In 1949, Cousteau left the French Navy.
In 1950 he founded the French Oceanographic Campaigns (FOC), and leased a ship called Calypso
Thomas Loel Guinness for a symbolic one franc a year. Cousteau refitted the Calypso as a mobile laboratory for field research and as his principal vessel for diving and filming. He also carried out underwater archaeological excavations in the Mediterranean, in particular at Grand-Congloué (1952).
With the publication of his first book in 1953, The Silent World, he correctly predicted the existence of the echolocation abilities of porpoises. He reported that his research vessel, the Élie Monier, was heading to the Straits of Gibraltar and noticed a group of porpoises following them. Cousteau changed course a few degrees off the optimal course to the center of the strait, and the porpoises followed for a few minutes, then diverged toward mid-channel again. It was evident that they knew where the optimal course lay, even if the humans did not. Cousteau concluded that the cetaceans had something like sonar, which was a relatively new feature on submarines.
Cousteau won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1956 for The Silent World co-produced with Louis Malle. With the assistance of Jean Mollard, he made a "diving saucer" SP-350, an experimental underwater vehicle which could reach a depth of 350 meters. The successful experiment was quickly repeated in 1965 with two vehicles which reached 500 meters.
In 1957, he was elected as director of the Oceanographical Museum of Monaco. He directed Précontinent, about the experiments of diving in saturation (long-duration immersion, houses under the sea), and was admitted to the United States National Academy of Sciences.
In October 1960, a large amount of radioactive waste was going to be discarded in the Mediterranean Sea by the Commissariat à l'énergie atomique (CEA). The CEA argued that the dumps were experimental in nature, and that French oceanographers such as Vsevelod Romanovsky had recommended it. Romanovsky and other French scientists, including Louis Fage and Jacques Cousteau, repudiated the claim, saying that Romanovsky had in mind a much smaller amount. The CEA claimed that there was little circulation (and hence little need for concern) at the dump site between Nice and Corsica, but French public opinion sided with the oceanographers rather than with the CEA atomic energy scientists. The CEA chief, Francis Perrin, decided to postpone the dump.[5] Cousteau organized a publicity campaign which in less than two weeks gained wide popular support. The train carrying the waste was stopped by women and children sitting on the railway tracks, and it was sent back to its origin.
A meeting with American television companies (ABC, Métromédia, NBC) created the series The Underwater Odyssey of Commander Cousteau, with the character of the commander in the red bonnet inherited from standard diving dress) intended to give the films a "personalized adventure" style.
In 1973, along with his two sons and Frederick Hyman, he created the Cousteau Society for the Protection of Ocean Life, Frederick Hyman being its first President; it now has more than 300,000 members.
Three years after the volcano's last eruption, on December 19, 1973, the Cousteau team was filming on Deception Island, Antarctica when Michel Laval, Calypso's second in command, was struck and killed by a propeller of the helicopter that was ferrying between Calypso and the island.
In 1976 Cousteau uncovered the wreck of HMHS Britannic.
In 1977, together with Peter Scott, he received the UN International Environment prize.
On 28 June 1979, while the Calypso was on an expedition to Portugal, his second son, Philippe, his preferred and designated successor and with whom he had co-produced all his films since 1969, died in a PBY Catalina flying boat crash in the Tagus river near Lisbon. Cousteau was deeply affected. He called his then eldest son, the architect Jean-Michel Cousteau, to his side. This collaboration lasted 14 years.
In 1980, Cousteau traveled to Canada to make two films on the Saint Lawrence River and the Great Lakes, Cries from the Deep and St. Lawrence: Stairway to the Sea.
In 1985, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan.
On 24 November 1988, he was elected to the French Academy, chair 17, succeeding Jean Delay. His official reception under the Cupola took place on 22 June 1989, the response to his speech of reception being given by Bertrand Poirot-Delpech. After his death, he was replaced under the Cupola by Érik Orsenna on 28 May 1998.
In June 1990, the composer Jean Michel Jarre paid homage to the commander by entitling his new album Waiting for Cousteau. He also composed the music for Cousteau's documentary "Palawan, the last refuge".
On 2 December 1990, his wife Simone Cousteau died of cancer.
In June 1991, in Paris, Jacques-Yves Cousteau remarried, to Francine Triplet, with whom he had (before this marriage) two children, Diane and Pierre-Yves. Francine Cousteau currently continues her husband's work as the head of the Cousteau Foundation and Cousteau Society. From that point, the relations between Jacques-Yves and his elder son worsened.
In November 1991, Cousteau gave an interview to the UNESCO courier, in which he stated that he was in favour of human population control and population decrease. The full article text can be found online.
In 1992, he was invited to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, for the United Nations' International Conference on Environment and Development, and then he became a regular consultant for the UN and the World Bank.
In 1996, he sued his son who wished to open a holiday center named "Cousteau" in the Fiji Islands.
On 11 January 1996 Calypso was rammed and sunk in Singapore harbor by a barge. The Calypso was refloated and towed home to France.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau died on 25 June 1997 in Paris, aged 87. He was buried in the family vault at Saint-André-de-Cubzac in France. An homage was paid to him by the city by the inauguration of a "rue du Commandant Cousteau", a street which runs out to his native house, where a commemorative plaque was affixed.
During his lifetime, Jacques-Yves Cousteau received these distinctions:
 Commandeur de la Légion d'Honneur
 Grand-Croix de l'Ordre national du Mérite
 Croix de guerre 1939–1945
 Officier de l'Ordre du Mérite Maritime
 Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
 Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia.

Jaques-Yves Cousteau superimposed the geonymic vision of the sea and Earth elaborated in the 1930s by Jacques Grob and Philippe Tailliez with a conqueror's mentality. A cultivated explorer in the spirit of Jules Vernes, he fed the public's taste for wonder. "One protects what one likes.", Cousteau repeated, "and one likes what enchanted us." As Cousteau's oceanographic and cinematographic campaigns took place over more than 50 years (1945–1997), he was able to measure the degradation of the in-situ mediums: the conqueror-explorer, sure of his technical prowess and finding it natural to drive out marine animals gradually morphed into an ardent conservationist who leveraged his worldwide notoriety to promote the idea of the Earth as a limited and fragile spaceship that needed to be preserved. He was the only non-politician to take part in the 1992 Rio Summit.
After 1975, he briefly considered founding worldwide 'Cousteau Clubs' for young people, but eventually abandoned this idea in its original form (which would have involved significant work with few direct rewards) and instead published a few fanzines (Calypso Log, Le Dauphin) and made a documentary film about a trip to the Antarctic with children. Towards the end of his life, he became pessimistic and even misanthropic: An ideal planet, he confided to Yves Paccalet, would be one in which humanity is limited to 100,000 people who are both educated and respectful of nature.
Jacques-Yves Cousteau's star power rested not only on his personal image, but on the image of a united team striving towards a common goal. Late in his life, however, highly-publicized intra-family conflicts, internal divisions, and consequent lawsuits chipped away at this image, and that of his successors: son Jean-Michel and grandson Fabien on one side, and the Cousteau Team with his third wife Francine and their children of the other, do not have the public standing of the 20th century Cousteau Team.
On the other hand, the kind of underwater and adventure film that Jacques-Yves Cousteau launched has never been more popular: each year, hundreds of increasingly beautiful documentaries are produced, thanks to improvement of photographic techniques. The idea of a fragile planet and sea has not only made its way into the public consciousness, but also affects the political class who were slower to come to environmental awareness.

Thanks to Wikipedia for historical notes.

MONUMENTO AGLI UOMINI DEI MEZZI D'ASSALTO

I'M SORRY FOR OUR FOREIGN FRIENDS WILL NOT INCLUDE BUT I'M FORCED TO WRITE THIS POST IN ITALIAN LANGUAGE BECAUSE IT IS REFERS TO AN ARGUMENT OF ITALIAN HISTORY THAT HAS DISCUSSED MANY PEAOPLE AND THAT SHOULD BE UNDERSTAND FROM THE ITALIAN PEOPLE, MAINLY.
FOR THOSE WISHING CAN USE "GOOGLE TRANSLATE" COPYING AND PASTING THE ENTIRE TEXT IN THE TRANSLATOR. THANKS!


Mi sento in dovere di utilizzare il nostro blog per cercare di fare un po’ di chiarezza sulla vicenda del “Monumento agli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto della Regia marina militare italiana” che, congiuntamente all’Associazione Nazionale Arditi Incursori di Marina (ANAIM), abbiamo proposto di realizzare nel paese di Le Grazie, in Provincia della Spezia.
Come prassi vuole, nello sviluppo di un progetto di questo tipo, è stato deciso di presentarlo alle Autorità locali: in primo luogo siamo stati ricevuti dal Comando del Raggruppamento subacquei ed incursori della Marina militare italiana, agli ordini del C. Amm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone che, insieme ad alcuni suoi collaboratori, ha valutato con noi l’adeguatezza del progetto e considerato l’elevata importanza dal punto di vista storico e culturale nonché il rilievo dal punto di vista sociale, sottolineando il forte legame che, nel tempo, si è concretizzato tra il Comando militare e la popolazione della frazione. L’incontro con il Comando subacquei ed incursori della Marina militare italiana del Varignano (COMSUBIN) era fondamentale in quanto, proprio da questi luoghi, hanno mosso i primi passi alcune delle più importanti operazioni degli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto.
Il passo successivo è stato quello di interessare la municipalità locale: richiedere un appuntamento con il Sindaco Massimo Nardini non è stata cosa semplice in quanto molteplici impegni ostacolavano la calendarizzazione dell’incontro; finalmente l’appuntamento è stato fissato ma, dopo la consueta anticamera, il Sindaco risultava impegnato in altre faccende e, fortunatamente, si è reso disponibile il Vice Sindaco, il dott. Giovanni Pistone. Ci siamo accomodati in un ufficio e la nostra delegazione, composta dal sottoscritto e dal Presidente e dal Segretario nazionali dell’ANAIM, ha iniziato a presentare il progetto: l’idea è quella di installare un cubo di marmo portoro, materiale lapideo di altissimo valore e conosciuto in tutto il mondo che si estrae unicamente sulle colline al confine tra i Comuni di Portovenere e La Spezia, dove verranno incise le rappresentazioni stilizzate delle tre specialità caratteristiche i reparti degli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto della Regia marina italiana; sulla quarta ed ultima faccia del cubo una scritta commemorativa che, oltre ai loghi del Comune di Portovenere e delle due Associazioni promotrici il progetto, vedrà inciso: Agli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto 1915-18 / 1940-43”. L’idea è quella d’installare il cubo al posto della fontana dei giardini pubblici di Le Grazie: una vasca di forma ovale ormai da tempo mal funzionante, esteticamente riprovevole ed igienicamente inadeguata.
Il Vice Sindaco ha ascoltato attentamente e, almeno è sembrato a tutti i tre componenti la nostra delegazione, ha espresso giudizi positivi sull’idea, sul fatto che potrebbe essere una soluzione a risolvere il problema di quella “vasca” e sul fatto che sarebbe stato un importante testimonianza del legame tra il COMSUBIN e la cittadinanza delle Grazie e ci ha prospettato, comunque, che l’iter per la gestione di un progetto di questo tipo avrebbe richiesto molto tempo. Questo è un elemento importante, in quanto il presidente di ANAIM, Sig. Antonio Brustenga, ha prospettato la speranza di vedere realizzata la cosa per il prossimo raduno biennale degli “Arditi incursori di marina”, nel Maggio del 2010. Il Vice Sindaco ha valutato che, con i tempi della politica, sarebbe stato un obiettivo di difficile raggiungimento, ma che comunque il tentativo poteva valere l’impegno. Si è discusso della possibilità di reazioni contrarie e ostative al progetto, soprattutto da parte della cosiddetta sinistra radicale incarnata dalle frange più estreme del Partito della Rifondazione comunista, componente politica comunque in fortissimo calo di consensi, ma si è comunque valutato che era decisamente comprensibile, per quanto riguarda l’intero progetto, l’importante valenza storica e la completa assenza di aspetti o interessi di natura politica..
E’ proprio su questo elemento che si deve concentrare l’attenzione di questo post: infatti la reazione c’è stata ed è stata piuttosto intensa; in un comunicato congiunto della Federazione provinciale della Spezia e del locale circolo di Portovenere, il Partito della Rifondazione comunista ha espresso un giudizio fortemente negativo al progetto sottolineando: ”Un monumento alla X° MAS è inaccettabile in quanto l’unico monumento (ricordo) che noi serbiamo di questo corpo militare è quello delle stragi nazifasciste del nostro entroterra ed i rastrellamenti dei quartieri cittadini”.
Risulta evidente la strumentalizzazione che queste persone vogliono dare all’iniziativa non conoscendo, o facendo finta di non conoscere, ne il progetto ne la storia del nostro paese.
Su questo è necessario spendere alcune parole: l’epopea degli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto inizia sul finire del primo conflitto mondiale, quando Rossetti e Paolucci dopo aver superato le barriere di protezione del porto di Pola con la “mignatta”, un apparecchio autopropulso dotato di due cariche esplosive, le collocarono e le fecero esplodere sotto la chiglia della corazzata austro-ungarica “Viribus unitis” causendone l’affondamento in breve tempo. Quest’azione può definirsi la prima vera azione degli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto, anche se ritengo doveroso precisare una cosa molto importante: sempre durante il primo conflitto bellico, il nostro paese lamentava un gravissimo deficit dal punto di vista dei mezzi navali nei confronti dell’avversario austro-ungarico; fu cosi che vennero sviluppati le motobarche armate siluranti “M.A.S.” che, in particolare quelle al comando del C.C. Luigi Rizzo, hanno compiuto azioni che hanno segnato l’esito della guerra nel Mare Adriatico: l’impresa di Premuda, dove con il suo M.A.S. lo stesso Rizzo ha affondato la corazzata Santo Stefano causando al contempo la perdita di pochissime vite umane avversarie; la cosiddetta “Beffa di Buccari”, dove Gabriele Dannunzio, Costanzo Ciano e lo stesso Rizzo al comando dei loro MAS compirono un audace impresa dimostrativa varcando le ostruzioni di quel porto e, in ultimo, la citata azione di Rossetti e Paolucci che ha portato all’affondamento della corazzata Viribus unitis.
Passarono gli anni, la “Grande guerra” era quasi dimenticata ed in Europa iniziò a diffondersi il virus di preoccupanti totalitarismi: il nazismo in Germania, il fascismo in Italia ed in Spagna ed il comunismo totalitario di Stalin in Russia. Ci si avvicinava a grandi passi verso la Seconda guerra mondiale, la pagina di storia più triste dell’intera umanità.
L’Italia ripose le sue più convinte speranze belliche in una flotta eccezionale per armamenti e professionalità, ma non certo quanto a tecnologia; il radar lo avevo solo e soltanto inglesi ed americani, ed ecco che agli inizi del conflitto arrivarono, anche in mare, le prime gravi sconfitte della flotta italiana: Taranto e Matapan, con il prezzo pagato, in termini di vite umane, elevatissimo.
L’ingegno italico sovrastò, come spesso è accaduto, le avversità e le sperequazioni tecnologiche: da Le Grazie, in Provincia della Spezia, ed in particolare dalla base del Varignano iniziò ad essere intuito che la guerra sul mare deve essere affrontata in modo diverso. Parallelamente alle grandi imprese dei sommergibili italiani, proprio dal Varignano presero vita le imprese degli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto: un gruppo di valorosi che, sulla spinta di innovative armi subacquee e non, sfidarono il grande nemico britannico infliggendo lui importanti perdite in termini di naviglio.
Le imprese dei barchini esplosivi, piccoli motoscafi dotati di carica esplosiva sulla prua che venivano lanciati contro le navi nemiche mentre il pilota si lancia in mare, nella baia di Suda a Creta; le imprese dei nuotatori, uomini che, spesso dalla riva, raggiungevano a nuoto le navi nemiche ormeggiate alla fonda e le minavano sotto la chiglia e l’epopea dei leggendari “maiali”, i siluri a lenta corsa inventati dal Maggiore del Genio navale Teseo Tesei e dal Capitano medico Elios Toschi, che, trasportati dai sommergibili in acque nemiche, percorrevano diverse miglia in immersione per poi lasciare il loro carico esplosivo sotto le navi nemiche; le azioni più leggendarie di questi mezzi e dei loro equipaggi furono compiute a Gibilterra, partendo dalla stiva della nave spia “Olterra”, ad Alessandria d’Egitto, scaricati dal mitico sommergibile “Scirè” e a Malta dove peri lo stesso Teseo Tesei.
Uno degli elementi che di rado viene citato è l’effetto che, nell’ambito del panorama comunque bellico, le azioni degli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto hanno avuto importanti ripercussioni negative sulla flotta avversaria facendo comunque registrare un infinitesimale sacrificio di vite umane. Tutte le azioni di questi uomini hanno puntato più al danneggiamento ed alla distruzione dei mezzi piuttosto che all’eliminazione di uomini. Questo aspetto è riconosciuto e “certificato” da coloro che in quell’epoca erano i nostri avversari, gli inglesi, che non hanno avuto difficoltà a dedicare, in alcuni loro importanti musei, spazi al ricordo di questi uomini e delle loro imprese riconoscendo l’inventiva, l’audacia, il valore ed il grande senso dell’onore di quei pochi italiani che tanti danni hanno causato alla loro flotta, tanto che lo stesso Churchill in un suo discorso disse “…sei Italiani equipaggiati con materiali di costo irrisorio hanno fatto vacillare l'equilibrio militare in Mediterraneo a vantaggio dell'Asse. “
L’armistizio dell’8 Settembre 1943 pose fine all’epopea dei mezzi d’assalto e segnò l’inizio di una delle pagine di storia più tristi e drammatiche della nostra nazione: la guerra civile. Italiani contro italiani in una lotta fratricida che vide il sacrificio di moltissime vite, perse per la difesa dei diversi ideali.
Questo progetto, la realizzazione del monumento agli uomini dei mezzi d’assalto, si limita al riconoscimento delle imprese belliche degli italiani che sopra e sotto il mare hanno portato con onore la nostra bandiera. Un monumento di carattere storico e culturale che si affranca in modo inequivocabile da tutto ciò che è successo dopo l’armistizio dell’8 Settembre. Ogni differente interpretazione non può certamente essere riconosciuta; ogni strumentalizzazione politica non può assolutamente essere accettata. Un monumento che vuole affidare a noi ed ai posteri la storia di questi uomini e delle loro imprese e che vuole riconoscere il forte legame che, da allora, la Marina militare italiana e la sua base del Varignano hanno con la cittadinanza delle Grazie.


Spero mi sia concesso, in calce a questo post, una considerazione che deve intendersi assolutamente personale: sono profondamente ferito dalla ignoranza e dalla stupidità di alcune persone, anche miei concittadini, che approfittano di qualsiasi pretesto per cassare ogni idea di sviluppo e di valorizzazione del territorio anche in termini storici; forse lo fanno unicamente per dimostrare o dimostrarsi che contano ancora qualcosa. Ritengo che con questo atteggiamento autolesionista evidenzino solo la loro inadeguatezza politica e sociale. Sono un uomo di sinistra, di profonde e radicate tradizioni della più nobile cultura comunista italiana. Ho iniziato a far politica attiva nel Partito comunista italiano già dal 1985 e ancor prima prestavo la mia attività di volontariato politico a Feste de l’Unità e ad attività della sezione locale del partito; ho fatto parte del Partito comunista italiano, del Partito democratico della sinistra e, successivamente, del Partito dei comunisti italiani, in un’evoluzione politica che riconosco mia e mi ha fatto crescere rendendomi fiero di tutto ciò che ho fatto ed orgoglioso di poter trasmettere a mio figlio. Sono profondamente consapevole e porto dentro di me i più alti valori della resistenza antifascista italiana che deriva dalla coscienza di una famiglia antifascista. Da Assessore al Bilancio del Comune di Portovenere ho sostenuto e permesso il finanziamento, per la quota spettante, del “Monumento alla Resistenza” della Spezia. Quella Resistenza che ha permesso alla nostra nazione di diventare e di essere oggi quella che è, ma che è così anche grazie alla sua storia, complessa e controversa, ma pur sempre sua ed innegabile. Sono anche un uomo appassionato di storia, di tutta la storia, ed in particolare di quella legata alle mie radici personali e professionali, quella della marineria e della subacquea.
Sono un uomo che non accetta ricatti da parte di nessuno, soprattutto se stupido ed inadeguato, ed ho deciso di portare avanti questo e molti altri progetti, nel rispetto di quella storia che tanto amo e con la consapevolezza di fare bene e di fare del bene a tutta la mia gente.

Gianfranco VECCHIO

Roberto Bajano, a friend of mine!!!!

A few years ago in a forum for enthusiasts of submarines I met someone from the nick name very unusual: BOB NAPP!
He’s a young architect from Genoa, and we immediately made friends. This friendship is strengthened during a visit to the naval navy base of La Spezia where we got to talk about a big project that was following: turn the submarine "N. Sauro" of the Italian Navy into a museum.
This project today is becoming a reality, because the submarine is moored at the Museum of the Sea "Galata" in Genoa (see previous post) also thanks to Roberto.
The same Roberto allowed us to visit the boat with a group of friends including the writer Alberto Cavanna that will do an article about the submarine museum.
Thanks Roberto for your work and thanks for your friendship!

"N. Sauro" submarine visit in Genoa

Saturday, October 30th we made a visit to the Submarine "N. Sauro "being preserved at the Museum of the Sea" Galata "in Genoa. Along with me were Alberto Cavanna, a writer of sea and, on this occasion, editor of the magazine "Arte navale", the architect Gianfranco Ricco, curator of the exhibition on the submarines built in La Spezia in recent years and a farm worker.
With the kind cooperation of Dr.Eleonora Errico, Head of Communication of the Museum "Galata". We got to visit the boat, already at an advanced stage of work, but still far from being open to the public will be provided March 1st, 2010.
Under the supervision of a responsible kind of Fincantieri, The shipyard built the submarine in 1980, we got to see the changes made to the vessel: first the type of mooring characterized by four steel rods fixed overhead platform, other major changes are made on the deck openings to allow access to visitors: one is made in the stern, at the MEP (the electric motor of the boat), the other at the bow, where once stood the door of the boarding torpedoes. The tour will go from stern to bow just going through the whole boat. To promote access and inclusion of the stairs were "sacrificed" some elements of the boat: aft removed one management console of the MEP and ahead were removed the saddles of the torpedoes on the left.
The conditions of the vessel are discreet, and was made a major restyling; important element was the installation of a roof cement to level the floor, as originally presented many obstacles. And the floor is then completed with the traditional coverage Gray rubber.
Inside the boat will be installed several multimedia components to make the visit as real as possible: they will change the console management of navigation and launch torpedoes, with LCD display, within the same console, to make it more realistic .
Other highlights include work on the hull: the exterior has been completely sandblasted and painted with original colors, giving the whole a good outcome, and about the trim of the boat, instead of batteries, landed for obvious security reasons, were shipped 140 tons of cement, also.
The result is truly amazing and not just have to wait until next March for official visits.
A greeting and a heartfelt thanks to Dr. Campodonico, director the “Galata” Museum, for the hospitality and patience.

Gianfranco VECCHIO

Google translation added

The Historical Maritime Society is an association at the international level and I believe it was right, just as was done for the website, to use the system online translation "Google translations.
From this moment all the posts will be made in English and every visitor to our blog can, link on their own language, read carefully the content of each post.

Monumento agli uomini dei mezzi d'assalto / Monumento to WW1 and WW2 italian navy seals

Nei giorni scorsi una delegazione composta da me, in rappresentanza di The Historical maritime society, e da alcuni membri dell'Associazione nazionale arditi incursori di marina ha presentato il progetto per la realizzazione del monumento "Agli uomini dei mezzi d'assalto" della Regia marina italiana che, nel primo e nel secondo conflitto mondiale, hanno effettuato imprese subacquee eroiche e rimaste nella storia. Il progetto è stato presentato al Comando del COMSUBIN (Comando subacquei ed incursori della Marina militare italiana), alla presenza dell'Ammiraglio comandante, C. Amm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone ed all'Amministrazione comunale di Portovenere, alla presenza del Vice Sindaco, il Dott. Giovanni Pistone.
Il progetto è stato accolto con molto interesse anche se, da parte dell'Amministrazione comunale, è stato ribadito che sarà necessario molto tempo per la sua approvazione e realizzazione.

In recent days, a delegation composed by me, rappresenting The Historical maritime society, and some members of the National Association of italian navy seals presented the project for construction of the monument "To the WW1 and WW2 italian navy seals" who, in the WW1 and WW2, have made heroic diving business has remained in history. The project was presented to the COMSUBIN Command (Italian navy divers and navy seals command) in the presence of the admiral commanding, C. Adm. Giuseppe Cavo Dragone and the Municipal Administration of Portovenere, the presence of Deputy Mayor, Dr. Giovanni Pistone.
The project was greeted with much interest even though, by the local authority was reiterated that it will take much time for its approval and implementation.


Gianfranco VECCHIO

Il primo post / The first one post

Salve a tutti!
Mi cimento, non è comunque la prima volta, nella realizzazione di un blog. Questa volta con un obiettivo sicuramente più interessante rispetto a tutte le mie esperienze di blogger precedenti. Mi chiamo Gianfranco Vecchio e sono il Presidente di "The Historical maritime society" , un'Associazione nata nel 2008 con l'obiettivo di preservare la storia e le tradizioni della marineria e della subacquea nonchè la protezione dell'ambiente acquatico a livello internazionale.
Relativamente al concetto di "internazionale", questo blog sarà, almeno per il momento, in due lingue, grazie al fantastico Google translate, in modo da garantire un'adeguata comprensione dei temi anche a chi non è italiano. In seguito, sempre grazie a Google translate, i post saranno esclusivamente in inglese.
Parlerò di marineria e di subacquea e della loro storia e tradizioni nonchè di ambiente acquatico, quindi non necessariamente solo quello marino.
Spero che questo mio contributo sia condiviso e utile a tanti e spero che molti contribuiscano, con i loro commenti, a far si che questo blog diventi oggetto di discussione.
Un saluto.

Gianfranco Vecchio

Hello everyone!
I struggle, however, is not the first time in the creation of a blog. This time with a goal certainly more interesting than all my previous experiences of bloggers. My name is Gianfranco Vecchio and i'm President of "The Historical Maritime Society", an association founded in 2008 with the objective of preserving the history and traditions of maritime and diving and the protection of the aquatic environment at international level.
Regarding the concept of "international", this blog will be, at least for the moment, in two languages, thanks to the fantastic Google translate, so as to ensure adequate understanding of the issues to those who are not Italian. Later, thanks to Google Translate, the post will be exclusively in English.
I will talk about marine and diving and their history and traditions and to the aquatic environment, though not necessarily only what marine environment.
I hope that my contribution is shared and useful to many and I hope that many will contribute through their comments, to get this blog becomes a subject of debate.
Hello.

Gianfranco Vecchio