Dennis Bakhuis

Dive site · wreck · Istria and the Kvarner

🇭🇷 Giuseppe Dezza (TA35)

Premantura, Istria, Croatia

An Italian destroyer of 1916 that became a German torpedo boat in 1943 and was broken in two by a mine in 1944 — the halves seventy metres apart, guns still trained out.

Dives here
4
Deepest
34.4 m
Water
salt
First · last
2015 · 2015

Revision 1 · changed 10 Oct 2026

History
  1. r1 10 Oct 2026 Imported from the personal log · Dennis Bakhuis

Site data © divelog-sites contributors (ODbL), descriptions and maps CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf

1 map

Stern section, uprightBow section, on its port sideRudder; propellers in the mud↓34 mDepth-charge racks↓31 mAft 10.2 cm gun↓30 mMooring line to the aft gunDepth-charge throwers, both sides↓31 m20 mm quadruple flak↓30 mTorpedo tube, fallen off its mount↓32 mBreak: boiler and engine room↓33 mBreak just aft of the bridge↓33 mForward 10.2 cm gun↓32 mBow, lying on its port side↓33 mN10 m
  • Buoy
  • Wreck
  • Pipe / tube
  • Machinery
  • Other object
  • Wreck footprint
  • Depth
Site map · 10 objects · max 34 m

The torpedo boat TA35, ex Giuseppe Dezza (73 x 7.3 m), broken in two by a mine in 1944: the larger stern section upright and the bow section on its port side, about 70 m apart on a flat silty bottom at 34 m (published gaps range from 50 to 100 m). Position 44 58.599 N 13 40.732 E from reiseinfo-kroatien.com, in the Fazana channel between Rovinj and Brijuni, drawn at the stern section; features from Diving Center Shark (buoy on the aft gun, flak, depth-charge gear, fallen torpedo tube, boiler at the break), Caretta Diving and dive3d.eu (two 10.2 cm guns and two quadruple 20 mm mounts, one of which has toppled; which one is not published). No heading is published: both halves are drawn on one NNW axis and the positions along the hull are approximate.

Map © divelog-sites contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0 · 53edcaf

The ship

Launched in 1916 as the Italian destroyer Pilade Bronzetti, of the Rosolino Pilo class. In 1929 she was renamed Giuseppe Dezza. After the Italian armistice of September 1943 the Germans took her over, rebuilt her as a torpedo boat, and recommissioned her as TA35 in the Kriegsmarine.

The sinking

On 17 August 1944, in the Fažana channel between Pula and Rovinj, she hit a mine. She broke in two. Seventy-one men died.

The dive

The two halves lie about 70 m apart in around 34 m of water, far enough that it takes two dives to see both. The larger stern section sits upright on the flat bottom; the bow lies on its port side.

The armament is still there and is the reason people dive her: two 10.2 cm L/45 guns, and two 20 mm quadruple mounts — one gun platform has fallen over, the other is still in place with the barrels sticking out. She is shallow enough and open enough to be a straightforward dive.

Four dives across 28 and 30 May 2015 — two on each half, which is how she has to be done.

Dived here with

Kim

Nearby sites

4 dives at Giuseppe Dezza (TA35)

  1. 30 May 2015 with Kim wreckdecoboat date30 May 2015 depth33.6 m time68 min water—
  2. 30 May 2015 with Kim wreckdecoboat date30 May 2015 depth34.4 m time69 min water—
  3. 28 May 2015 with Kim wreckdecoboat date28 May 2015 depth31.1 m time52 min water—
  4. 28 May 2015 with Kim wreckdecoboat date28 May 2015 depth31.3 m time67 min water—

Sources