HMMS 117 - Naples & Campania
The HMMS 117 is a little corker of a wreck, a minesweeper that met its end back in 1944. It sits upright and intact at a very diveable 20 metres, making it one of our favourite wartime relics in the Naples area. We love how light filters down onto the deck, illuminating sections of the superstructure that are still surprisingly defined. You can swim through a few open compartments, giving you a real sense of the vessel’s working life, and the visibility here often pushes past 15 metres, so you get a good, long look. Look closely in the darker corners for scorpionfish, always lurking, and the deck itself is a blanket of colourful sponges and small anemones. It’s a site that suits divers who appreciate history and don't need huge pelagics to enjoy a dive. The HMMS 117 is more about the quiet exploration of a piece of the past, and we reckon it’s all the better for it.
- Location
- Naples & Campania, Italy, Mediterranean & Europe
- Coordinates
- 42.000000, 11.916667
- Type
- wreck
- Maximum Depth
- 20m
Marine Protected Area: Fondali antistanti S. Marinella
Nearby Dive Sites in Naples & Campania
- A. MAVONA - 6m (wreck)
- AMELIA S - 17m (wreck)
- ANNA MARIA JEVOLI - 10m (wreck)
- ANNUNZIATA MADRE - 14m (wreck)
- ASHANTI PALM - 5m (wreck)
- Baia Underwater Archaeological Park
- Banco di Santa Croce - 31m (reef)
- BETTOLINA (POSSIBLY) - 33m (wreck)
- BOA (Secche di Tor Paterno - 24m (reef)
- BOMBARDIERE - 30m (wreck)
- BONACCIA - 48m (wreck)
- Bracciano - 11m
- BRODNESS (PROBABLY) - 58m (wreck)
- Cala dei Turchi
- Cala della pergola
Nearest Dive Centres to HMMS 117
Marine Life in Naples & Campania
Home to 142 recorded species including 91 reef fish, 20 sharks & rays, 5 hard corals, 5 other, 4 crabs & lobsters, 4 whales & dolphins.
Notable Species
- mauve stinger (Pelagia noctiluca) - Jellyfish
- Red coral (Corallium rubrum) - Soft Corals
- pilchard (Sardina pilchardus) - Reef Fish
- European fan-worm (Sabella spallanzanii) - Worms
- Bushy Coral (Cladocora caespitosa) - Hard Corals
- anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus) - Reef Fish
- Mediterranean tapeweed (Posidonia oceanica) - Seagrass & Algae
- Herring (Sardinella aurita) - Reef Fish
- Wrasse (Coris julis) - Reef Fish
- Common Spiny Lobster (Palinurus elephas) - Crabs & Lobsters
- Scarlet Coral (Balanophyllia (Balanophyllia) europaea) - Hard Corals
- Blue-white Dolphin (Stenella coeruleoalba) - Whales & Dolphins
- Garrick (Lichia amia) - Reef Fish
- Common torpedo (Torpedo torpedo) - Sharks & Rays
- Damsel fish (Chromis chromis) - Reef Fish
- Sunset cup coral (Leptopsammia pruvoti) - Hard Corals
- Spotted Dragonet (Callionymus maculatus) - Reef Fish
- Pink Sea Fan (Eunicella verrucosa) - Soft Corals
- eel (Anguilla anguilla) - Reef Fish
- Corkwing (Symphodus melops) - Reef Fish