Today he took off on his last ship trip Boldness (D 551, 1973-2006) bound for the Aliaga site in Turkey where it will reach the destroyer Ardito (D 550, 1973-2006).
The two naval units, true icons of history not only of the Navy, for more than 35 years of service have represented a flagship of the country, in Italy and abroad by participating in numerous operational missions in different basins of the world ensuring, at the same time, great consensus and prestige to the armed force and to the nation.
After leaving active service in 2006, after more than ten years of mooring at the docks of the La Spezia base, in December 2017 the two ships were sold, by the Agenzia Industrie Difesa (AID), by means of an international public auction. in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), at the Turkish shipyard Istanbul Shipyard.
The physiological "start of recycling" of the two former Navy ships certainly represents a loss of a piece of our maritime history, however the sale to the wrecking yard has ensured an influx of resources for maintenance on the Naval Units of the Navy which they will be carried out by the national industrial plants.
To date, in the various sources of the Armed Forces, an ever-increasing number of vehicles that are being abandoned due to objective aging are awaiting the start of recycling and / or concrete proposals for "recovery" for other purposes - such as "museum installations" .
In June, further decisions will have to be taken, therefore, for the possible "start of recycling" of other naval units with a glorious past, symbols of the history of the Italian navy and naval industry for many years in disarmament, which have often been associated with museum projects.
The Military Navy has always expressed itself favorably for this solution but at the same time it has always been clear that, not having the resources available for this purpose, the relative costs of reclamation, safety, transfer and museum preparation must necessarily be borne by the Administrations / Proposing institutions.
Unfortunately, as of today, the Armed Forces have not received any financially and technically concrete initiatives for these disused units and the conditions have now been reached that the Navy can not continue to support their maintenance in safety conditions, subtracting financial resources. intended for the needs of the operational units.
