SUBMARINE DESTROYER "V.A.S."


The Sinking

As Italy joined Germany with the declaration of war, on June 10th 1940, the Italian Navy owned some 46 MAS units ("Motobarca Anti Sommergibile", which roughly means Motorboat Anti Submarine), of recent construction, that yet were supported by another bunch of 15 units: these were a bit older and not technically updated, and their weaponry was out of standard as well.
In November 1940 the Italian Navy High Command ordered to the technical naval commission to working out a study regarding a possible making of a new advanced kind of Submarine Destroyer: this should range around 100 Tons tonnage, it would be able to reach a max speed of about 18/20 knots and should be of easy end cheap construction: beside this it had to be possible to proceed with a large scale production of this new model as well.
So the famous V.A.S. units ("Vedetta Anti Sommergibile", which roughly means Sentinel Anti Submarine) had been designed and came out in the fighting scenery of the Mediterranean sea. Between 1941 and 1943, under extraordinary financial efforts and great engagement (if one considers the wretched state of the Italian army of that time) some more than 100 VAS units had been built in Italy.

On September 9th 1943, that is the day after which the historical armistice had been signed by the Italian governement, 2 VAS units (Vas 301 and Vas 304) were docked at the quays of Genova harbour under repairment. These were immediately expropriated by the German troups, and then marked each with the new code of "R.A. 254" (VAS 301) and "R.A. 255" (VAS 304). The first one (VAS 301) sunk during the evacuation of Sampierdarena harbour; the second (VAS 304) followed the same destiny on August 21st 1944, having been destroyed in action during clashes against British troups in the Gulf of Genova.
The VAS 306 was also under trimming works in Genova, during the armistice days; it was captured by the Germans as well, and then assigned to the German Navy with the name of "R.A. 251"; this unit should also have been sunk by British surface troops off Genova harbour, on August 22nd, 1944.

The VAS 302 was given the code of "R.A. 257"; it seems that this unit should have been hit and sunk off Genova on August 2nd 1944 by allied aircrafts: there is a considerable chance that this unit could be indeed the wreck at stake. The VAS 303 was instead marked by the Germans as "R.A. 256"; yet it came out that this should have been also sunk by allied bombers on March 30th 1944 off Livorno (which deed should also exclude any possibility of coincidence with our wreck).

So the wreck lying off Genova could be indeed that of a VAS 304, 306 or even of a VAS 302.
This unit could have been produced by one of the Ligurian workshops (the Baglietto workshops in Varazze or the Ansaldo of Genova, which were among the major building centers of many of those 100 units produced). The VAS had generally a tonnage of about 90 Tons; it was some 115 ft. (34 m.) long and about 17 ft (5 m.) wide. The unit could reach a speed of about 20 knots and had a crew of 26 men on board.
This unit was armed with a considerable amount of submarine bombs (especially torpedos); it was supplied with several naval devices, like hydrophones for submarine detection and 2 torpedo launchers (450 mm.). Besides, it bore on the front side a Breda 6,5 mm machine gun.

The Dive

The wreck of the VAS remained unexplored under the Italian sea for nearly 60 years, until in recent times (2002) an Italian dive expedition has targeted it in order to detect, recover and document a good amout of information and private photographic material.
The VAS lies on the seaground, at a depth about 170 fsw (51 m.) and in perfect navigation trim too. The stern blasted off during the fighting action, since it was precisely hit by the allied bombers: the ship is partly embedded in the muddy bottom with the hull: on board a large amount of military material and naval equipment has still remained untouched (naval compass, telegraph and the like...).

Some protections for the cannon astern are still in evidence, like some rests of submarine bombs, now flooded and leaned on one side of the ship.
From the narrow entrance of the engine room one can still observe the serial engines, which are connected with 2 compressors: these were probably engaged for starting up the propulsion engines. On each side of the ship there are many lights that still bear inside their little lamps; all windows and glasses are still safe and untouched (since, as said, this ship hasn' t been visited for more than half a century, it hasn' t been plundered at all...).
Around the area of the command bridge many navigation instruments are still at their original place (like a compass, a second compass, 2 way lights, a signal lamp a machine telegraph).

The Breda machine gun is still visible: it lies nearby its rack and is surrounded by the bullets recharger with its typical banana form.
Out of the foreside of the ship one can still be looking at the big capstan, which was used for lifting the anchor .

For a traditional AIR dive the dive plan is a bit short in time, but still feasible; a typic Normoxic Trimix dive would be here more indicated (21%O2; 60%N2; 20%He).
With i.ex. an END (Equivalent Narcotic Depth) of about 115 fsw (34 m), deco stop in EAN 50-80 and/or O2 (for a bottom time around 20-25 min.), and, of course, a standard technical equipment the dive will be safe and very exciting.
Possible variables in the dive plan can be though some streams and low visibility (yet sometimes, on the contrary, this latter can be very good, especially during the winter season).