Fincantieri cuts steel for Italian Navy’s 2nd LSS

Italian shipbuilder Fincantieri has held a steel cutting ceremony for the second logistic support ship (LSS) for the Italian Navy.

As informed, the ceremony took place on 20 July at the Castellammare di Stabia shipyard, where the LSS will be entirely built and delivered in 2025.

The value of the contract is approximately €410 million including the combat system.

As part of the multi-year program aimed at safeguarding Italy’s Defence at-sea capacity (known as the Naval Act), Fincantieri is currently building seven multi-purpose offshore patrol vessels (PPA).

Last March, the firm delivered the LSS Vulcano, a vessel launched in 2018 at the Castellammare di Stabia shipyard.

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 LSS project was also acquired by the French Navy for the definition of the FLOTLOG program, a series of units built in partnership with the same shipyard.

The basic characteristic common to all three classes of ships is innovation, which makes them extremely flexible in their various profiles of usage, according to Fincantieri.

The firm emphasized that it will be possible to use these units in a complementary way even for non-military-related activities, such as supporting civil protection in humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Moreover, their environmental impact is low, thanks to advanced low pollution emission generators and electric-drive propulsion motors and biological waste control systems.