Italians discover long lost cruiser Giovanni delle bande nere

Commissioned 1 January 1931, the Giussano-class light cruiser Giovanni delle Bande Nere (John of the Black Bands) was a sleek warship of the Regia Marina, though not quite up to the same quality as her three sisters. The 7,000-ton, 555-foot cruiser had a lot of speed– 37 knots– and eight 6-inch guns, but had razor thin armor (less than an inch at its thickest) as an Achilles heel.

When WWII came, Bande Nere managed to escape much damage at in the Battle of Calabria and follow-up Battle of Cape Spada in 1940 but hit HMAS Sydney in turn, and went on to survive another close call at the Second Battle of Sirte in 1942. As such, she was much luckier than her three sisters– Alberico da Barbiano and Alberto da Giussano, sunk December 1941, by Royal Navy and Dutch destroyers during the Battle of Cape Bon; and Bartolomeo Colleoni, sent to the bottom at Cape Spada.

Her luck ran out on 1 April 1942 when she came across HM Submarine Urge who fired a pair of torpedoes at the Italian cruiser, one of which broke the Bande Nere into two sections, and she sank quickly with the loss of more than half her crew in 1,500m of water some 11 miles from Stromboli. In a cruel twist of fate, Urge, a Britsh U-class submarine was lost just three weeks most likely near Malta as a result of a loss to a mine.

Bande Nere was discovered over the weekend by the now-Marina Militare, and her crown of Savoy clearly seen on a released video.

Italian Navy Press release
Da 77 anni negli abissi del mare a 1500 metri di profondità
Immaginate di essere con noi sul fondo del mare a circa 1500 metri di profondità. Non vi raccontiamo la storia di un antico tesoro sommerso, ma vi mostriamo un autentico “pezzo” della #MarinaMilitare.
Questa corona è apparsa davanti alla telecamera di un nostro mezzo subacqueo in esplorazione sul fondale marino a circa 11 miglia nautiche a sud dell’isola di Stromboli. Si tratta della poppa dell’incrociatore leggero “Giovanni delle bande nere”, affondato nel 1942 da un sommergibile britannico.
Un destino infelice per la nave lunga 169 metri e per quasi tutti i 507 uomini del suo equipaggio.
La nave era stata varata 12 anni prima, nel 1930, presso i cantieri navali di Castellammare di Stabia, proprio dove un anno dopo sarebbe stata varata nave Amerigo Vespucci.
#NoiSiamolaMarina

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Imagine being with us on the bottom of the sea about 1500 meters deep. We don’t tell you the story of an ancient submerged treasure, but we show you an authentic “Piece” of the #marinamilitare.
This crown appeared in front of the camera of our underwater Medium Exploring the seabed at about 11 nautical miles south of Stromboli Island. This is the stern of the light cruiser “Giovanni of black bands”, sank in 1942 by a British submarine.
An unhappy fate for the 169 meter long ship and for almost all 507 men of his crew.
THE SHIP WAS LAUNCHED 12 years earlier, in 1930, at the shipyards of castellammare di stabia, just where a year later it would be launched ship amerigo vespucci.
#NoiSiamolaMarina