GARIBALDI PROJECT CROATIA



In August this year Dragor Lux - ANDI facility in Croatia, organized a diving expedition that resulted in finding the wreck of the famous Italian armoured cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi, several miles from the coast of Dubrovnik, at the depth of -122 metres! This is the deepest shipwreck in Croatia found so far.

 The cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi was the pride of the Italian navy. It was over 111 meters long and armed with 29 guns. Built in 1901 at the Ansaldo shipyards in Genoa the ship was 112 metres long and 18 metres wide. On 17 July 1915, a group of battleships commanded by admiral Tifari, who sailed on the "Garibaldi", went to destroy a part of the railway between Sarajevo and Bay of Kotor, an important base of the Austro-Hungarian Empire at the time. In the night of 18b July  the "Garibaldi" was hit by a torpedo launched from an Austrian U4 submarine. Some reports say that the cruiser went down in only three minutes. There were more than 550 crew members on board, 53 of them died in the attack and the rest of the fleet returned to Italy.

                                                                                   



                                          
                                                                                                    
                                 


The diving expedition to Garibaldi was led by ANDI instructor Drazen Goricki, director of Dragor Lux, and included a team of Croatian divers. Two divers went to the shipwreck, Drazen Goricki and Damir Mlinaric, also ANDI instuctor, both CCR Megalodon users. Drazen filmed the ship and the recorded material leaves no doubt as to whether this is the Garibaldi. The news of this expedition were reported by the Croatian TV and newspapers but also by international press.

                      


http://www.hrt.hr/index.php?id=137&tx_ttnews[tt_news]=46723&tx_ttnews[backPid]=136&cHash=5a38943847
 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSl-R-JfFpI

http://www.javno.com/foto.php?id=13&rbr=15201&idrf=706026

 As the divers witnessed, the wreck itself lies at one side and there are no fishermens' nets that cover it which allows better exploration. However, a part of its superstructure is in silt. Its steel armour is still in good shape, you can see the damage done by the torpedo. As you go down, you can see canons at the edge of the deck which looks awesome and magnificent at the same time. It is even possible to enter the wreck through the holes on the deck. A very good visibility allowed the guys to enjoy the experience of exploring a true war shipwreck.

On the basis of Drazen's video the Garibaldi is now protected as a cultural heritage by the Croatian Ministry of Culture and will be further researched. There is also a plan to make a documentary movie in cooperation with the Ministry and possibly an ANDI deep wreck expedition to 4 shipwrecks of the area - Ardor -82m, D2 -85m, Taranto -55m and Garibaldi -122,