Italian Navy takes delivery of its new logistic support ship

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has delivered the logistic support ship (LSS) Vulcano (A5335) to the Italian Navy.

The delivery ceremony took place at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Muggiano, La Spezia, on 12 March 2021.

Work on the 193-meter-long ship started in February 2016, while the launching ceremony was held in June 2018.

Although Vulcano had been originally slated for delivery in 2019, a fire that broke out on the vessel’s stern superstructure in July 2018, is believed to have affected the delivery schedule.

The ship has been built under the Italian Navy’s fleet renewal plan and is replacing the old Stromboli-class fleet replenishment oilers. Its total cost has been estimated at EUR 374.6 million.

The multi-year program for the renewal of the Italian Navy’s fleet foresees the construction, besides the LSS, of the transport and landing unit LHD Trieste – under construction at this same shipyard with delivery in 2022 – as well as seven multipurpose offshore patrol ships (PPA), which will enter the fleet starting this year.

The fundamental characteristic common to all three classes of ships is their high level of innovation providing them with a considerable degree of efficiency and flexibility in serving different mission profiles. In particular, these are dual use vessels, meaning that they may be used for both standard military purposes and those in favor of the community and they also have a low environmental impact thanks to an advanced auxiliary propulsion system generating a low level of pollution emissions (electric engines).

Vulcano is part of the wider Franco-Italian alliance in the naval surface ship domain. It underlines FLOTLOG (Flotte Logistique) program, consisting in the construction of four LSS destined to the French Navy, by the temporary consortium between Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Naval Group under the Italian-French LSS Program led by OCCAR.

The construction of the forward sections of these ships has been commissioned to Fincantieri, which last month laid the keel of the first vessel at its shipyard in Castellammare di Stabia (Naples).

The vessel Vulcano is classified by RINA pursuant international conventions about prevention of pollution regarding the more traditional aspects, like the ones of the MARPOL Convention, as well as those not yet mandatory, as the Hong Kong Convention about ship recycling.

The LSS is a vessel that provides logistics support to the fleet, endowed with hospital and healthcare capabilities. The ship combines capacity to transport and transfer to other transport vessels used for liquids (diesel fuel, jet fuel, fresh water) and solids (emergency spare parts, food and ammunitions) and to perform at sea repairs and maintenance work for other vessels.

The defense systems are related to the capacity of command and control in tactical scenarios, communications and dissuasive, non-lethal defense systems. The vessel is also capable of embarking more complex defence systems and becoming an intelligence and electronic war platform.