The launching ceremony of the frigate "Federico Martinengo", seventh in a series of 10 FREMM units, took place today at the Riva Trigoso (Genoa) plant European Multi Mission Frigates, commissioned to Fincantieri by the Italian Navy under the Italian-French international cooperation agreement, coordinated by OCCAR, the joint organization for European cooperation in the field of armaments.
Godmother of the launch was Mrs. Mina De Caro, widow of Giuseppe Porcelli, commander of the Frigate "Scirocco", who lost her life in the 1997 during an operational activity conducted within the NATO Naval Force in the Mediterranean.
The ceremony was attended by, among others, gen. Claudio Graziano, Chief of Defense Staff, adm. team Valter Girardelli, Chief of Staff of the Navy, Giovanni Toti, President of the Liguria Region and Giuseppe Bono, CEO of Fincantieri.
Following the launch, the unit will continue the set-up activities at the Integrated Naval Military Shipyard at the Muggiano site in La Spezia, and will be delivered in the early months of the 2018. Nave "Federico Martinengo" will be characterized, like the others, by a high flexibility of use and will have the ability to operate in all tactical situations. It has a length of 144 meters, a width of 19,7 meters and a full load displacement of about 6.700 tons. It can reach a speed higher than 27 nodes with a maximum capacity of personnel transported equal to 200 people.
The FREMM program, which represents the state of the art of Italian and European defense, stems from the need to renew the line of units of the Navy class Wolf (already radiated) and Mistral (close to reaching the operating life limit), built by Fincantieri in the 1970s.
During the 2013 "Carlo Bergamini" and "Virginio Fasan" were delivered, in the 2014 "Carlo Margottini", in the 2015 "Carabiniere", while in the 2016 it was the turn of "Alpino". With the exercise of the option, in April 2015, for the construction of the ninth and tenth units, whose delivery is scheduled after the 2020, the Italian program was fully implemented.
The initiative sees the participation as prime contractor for Italy of Orizzonte Sistemi Navali (51% Fincantieri, 49% Finmeccanica) and for France of Armaris (DCNS + Thales).
This cooperation has capitalized on the positive experience of the previous Italian-French "Orizzonte" program which led to the creation of two destroyers for the Italian Navy, the "Andrea Doria" and the "Caio Duilio".
