KT Eros UJ-2216

The dive

Divers off Sestri Levante call this one the KT; her actual name was UJ-2216, and before that she was Eros, a 65 m yacht launched in 1926 for the French banker Baron Henri de Rothschild. She was requisitioned by the French Navy in April 1939 and renamed A.D.227, and after the Germans took Toulon in 1943 she was converted into a submarine chaser and assigned to the 22nd U-Jager flotilla based in Genoa. On the evening of 13 September 1944, returning from an escort mission, she was spotted by an aircraft and then engaged by four Allied motor torpedo boats. A torpedo into the stern set off the shells and ammunition she was carrying; the stern was destroyed outright and she went down fast. Six of the crew were killed and seventeen are recorded as missing.

She sits upright on the bottom with her anchors still in place. The Diving Group Portofino, who run the dive, put the range at 45 m minimum, 58 m maximum and 54 m average; relittiliguria.it gives about 58 m on mud, and Scubaportal about 60 m. The obvious feature is the large twin anti-aircraft gun still mounted on the main deck, with more armament and machine-gun mounts along the internal walls, and a metal lattice mast that reaches up to about 35 m. Engine rooms, ammunition lockers and portholes are all visible from outside. Going inside is explicitly not recommended: the operator cites unstable wooden and iron structure and a lot of tangled line.

As a dive it is technical and unforgiving. Trimix is the recommended gas, 18/45 in the operator's own description, and the wreck is deep enough that most of the dive is spent getting off it. Conditions are the second problem. Relittiliguria say the frequent currents here keep the surrounding water very turbid, Scubaportal say suspended particles limit visibility, and the operator calls visibility only fairly good and current moderate. Take the conservative reading: expect poor water and moving water, and do not plan on seeing the whole ship at once.

The position needs care. Our catalogue pin is at 44.2360N 9.3743E; Scubaportal publish 44 15.856N 9 21.960E, roughly 3 km to the north-east, and describe the wreck as about a mile off Sestri Levante. Use the operator's numbers, not ours, to find it. And treat the site as a grave: seventeen of the crew were never accounted for, and under the Italian heritage code anything of cultural interest lifted from the seabed belongs to the State.

• The large twin anti-aircraft gun still mounted on the main deck
• Machine-gun mounts still in place along the internal walls
• A metal lattice mast rising to about 35 m
• The hull sitting upright with her anchors intact
• Engine rooms, ammunition lockers and portholes visible from outside

Conditions

A boat dive off the Sestri Levante coast onto a wreck standing upright on mud. Sources agree the water here is often loaded with suspension and that current is a regular feature, so visibility is variable rather than reliable. The mast top around 35 m gives an early reference on the way down; the deck and the gun are the working depth.

On current: Depth figures disagree: 45 to 58 m with a 54 m average from the operator, about 58 m from relittiliguria.it, about 60 m from Scubaportal. Plan on the deeper end. Visibility is contested in the other direction: the operator calls it fairly good, while relittiliguria.it says frequent currents keep the water very turbid and Scubaportal says suspension limits it. Take the pessimistic reading, and expect moderate current.