Marina Militare

From Freepedia

Marina Militare (Italian Navy) is one of the four divisions of the military forces of Italy. It was born in 1946, as the Navy of the Italian Republic, from the ashes of the Regia Marina. Marina Militare celebrates on 10 June, on the anniversary (1918) of the sinking of the Austro-Hungarian battleship SMS Szent István.

Contents 1 Structure 2 Ensign 3 Ships 3.1 Currently Active 3.1.1 Aircraft carriers 3.1.2 AA Destroyers 3.1.2.1 Luigi Durand De la Penne class 3.1.3 Frigates 3.1.3.1 Maestrale class 3.1.4 Corvettes - Patrol Ships 3.1.4.1 Soldati class 3.1.4.2 Minerva class - 1st series 3.1.4.3 Minerva class - 2nd series 3.1.4.4 Comandanti class (NUMC) 3.1.4.5 Cassiopea 2 class (NUPA) 3.1.5 Submarines 3.1.6 Training ships 3.1.6.1 Corsaro class 3.2 Decommissioned Ships 3.3 Under Construction 4 External links

Structure

Marina Militare is divided into six corps:

• Stato Maggiore (the actual Navy);
• Genio Navale (naval combat engineering)
• Commissariato Militare Marittimo (commissariat)
• Armi Navali (tecnical/gunnery specialist)
• Corpo Sanitario (sanitary service)
• Capitanerie di Porto (coast guard).

Ensign

Image:Marina Militare Ensign.png The ensign of the Marina Militare is the Italian tricolour with Marina Militare emblem on the white third. The emblem is composed by a shield, whose four parts are reference to Mediaeval Italian Thalassocracies (Italian: Repubbliche Marinare):

• 1st quarter: on red, a golden winged lion wielding a sword (Republic of Venice);
• 2nd quarter: on white field, red cross (Republic of Genoa);
• 3rd quarter: on blue field, white cross (Republic of Amalfi);
• 4th quarter: on red field, white cross with twelve Medici balls (Republic of Pisa).

The shield has a golden crown, that distinguish military vessels from merchant.

Ships

Currently Active

Aircraft carriers

• Giuseppe Garibaldi (C 551)

AA Destroyers

Luigi Durand De la Penne class

• Luigi Durand De la Penne (D 560) (formerly Animoso)
• Francesco Mimbelli (D 561) (formerly Ardimentoso)

Frigates

Maestrale class

• Maestrale (F 570)
• Grecale (F 571)
• Libeccio (F 572)
• Scirocco (F 573)
• Aliseo (F 574)
• Euro (F 575)
• Espero (F 576)
• Zeffiro (F 577)

Corvettes - Patrol Ships

Soldati class

• Artigliere (F 582)
• Aviere (F 583)
• Bersagliere (F 584)
• Granatiere (F 585)

Minerva class - 1st series

• Minerva (F 551)
• Danaide (F 553)
• Urania (F 552)
• Sfinge (F 554)

Minerva class - 2nd series

• Driade (F 555)
• Chimera (F 556)
• Fenice (F 557)
• Sibilla (F 558)

Comandanti class (NUMC)

• Comandante Cigala Fulgosi (P 490)
• Comandante Borsini (P 491)
• Comandante Bettica (P 492)
• Comandante Foscari (P 493)

Cassiopea 2 class (NUPA)

• Sirio (P 409)
• Orione (P 410)

Submarines

• Sauro (S518)
• Di Cossato (S519)
• Da Vinci (S520)
• Marconi (S521)
• SPelosi (S522)
• Prini (S523)
• Longobardo (S524)
• Gazzana (S525)

Training ships

• Palinuro (A 5311)
• Amerigo Vespucci (A 5312)

Corsaro class

• Stella Polare (A 5313)
• Corsaro II (A 5316)

Decommissioned Ships

• Andrea Doria class cruisers (1964 - 1991): 2 vessels
• Vittorio Veneto class cruisers (1969 - 2003): 1 vessel
• Audace class destroyers: 2 vessels
• Lupo class frigates: 4 vessels

Under Construction

• Cavour aircraft carrier: 1 vessel (Cavour), 2007
• Orizzonte class AA destroyer: 2 vessels, (Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio), to replace destroyers Audace and Ardito, 2008 and 2010
• U212A class submarines: 2 vessels (C.te Salvatore Todaro and Sciré), 2005 and 2006
• "Rinascimento (FREMM)" class frigates: 10 vessels, to replace class frigates Maestrale and Lupo (decommisioned)

External links

• Marina Militare homepage
• Italian Navy from www.battleships-cruisers.co.uk - 10 pages of photos