"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