The official launching ceremony of the sixth Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Boat (PPA) of the class took place on Friday 6 October 2023 at the historic Fincantieri naval establishment in Muggiano. Thaon de Revel, in the presence of the highest civil and military authorities and the ship's godmother, Prof. Ilaria Lazzareschi. The solemn event, which took place in the splendid setting of the Gulf of Poets, saw the participation of the Chief of Staff of the Navy, Team Admiral Enrico Credendino, accompanied by the director of the Naval Support and Experimentation Center Inspector Admiral Cristiano Nervi, the director of OCCAR -EA, Mr. Joachim Sucker and Chief Inspector Admiral Giuseppe Abbamonte, director of the Naval Armaments Directorate (NAVARM). For the Fincantieri company (Prime Contractor of the PPA naval program for the armed force), Gen. was present. Claudio Graziano president and Dr. Dario Deste, general director of the military ships division of the Italian shipbuilding industrial group.
Set up on 20 October 2021, 143 meters long, with a width of 16,5 meters and a maximum reachable speed of over 31 knots, the Offshore Multipurpose Patrol Boat, the third of the series of ships in the "mid-level" version LightPlus, bears the name of the famous Lucanian leader and admiral of the 1249th century Ruggiero di Laurìa (b. 1305 ca. - d. XNUMX), a great man of valor and military genius, to whom victory always smiled and who served under the flag of the king of 'Aragona, remembered as one of the greatest men of sea and war in the history of Italy, true "soul" of the Sicilian Vespers; it is named, for the second time, after a type battleship pre-dreadnought of the homonymous class of 3 battleships employed by the Royal Navy.
The godmother of the ship, Prof. Ilaria Lazzareschi, was accompanied during the ceremony by the designated commander of the unit, frigate captain Giovanni Saverino, and is the sister of the lieutenant captain Lorenzo Lazzareschi, Gold Medal for Valor of the Navy (in memory), officer belonging to the divers and raiders group command of the Navy "Teseo Tesei" and died in the waters of the island of Saseno (Albania) on 9 February 1998 as part of a delicate and risky underwater reclamation operation of the seabed in foreign waters.
At the beginning of his speech, Chief of Staff Admiral Enrico Credendino underlined that “This class of unit, the multipurpose offshore patrol vessels, are a success of our national shipbuilding industry. The facts say it: the wide range of operations that the two units already in line (Thaon de Revel and Morosini) have carried out with great effectiveness, the unanimous appreciation and interest that all the navies of the world, starting from the most advanced ones , continue to testify to us and the enormous flexibility of use that these ships have already proven to have. All this was made possible thanks to the excellent teamwork involving the entire national defense industry chain, which has invested the best resources in this project with conviction, to satisfy the challenging and stringent operational requirements dictated by the Navy. We are therefore convinced that we have made a farsighted choice with the PPAs, ships that have a strong personality and are a real enabling factor for the renewal of the fleet and our international credibility". And turning to the Godmother he concluded “The Navy is proud to unite this splendid ship with the history and reputation of Lieutenant Commander Lorenzo Lazzareschi, gold medal for naval valor in memory, a valiant raider diver who tragically disappeared in the Albanian waters of the island of Saseno in February '98, while working underwater in a delicate search, neutralization and removal of explosive devices at the bottom. The courage, seriousness, generosity, altruism and extraordinary dedication of his brother Lorenzo will be a solid reference and enlightening inspiration for the crew of this ship".
The Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Boats (PPA) are the tangible and significant expression of the "Naval Program for the protection and safeguarding of maritime defense capacity", pursuant to law 147/2013 (2014 Stability Law), developed together with the LHD Landing program Helo Dock (1 unit, Ship Trieste, under construction at Muggiano), LSS Logistic Support Ship (1 unit in service in the MM from 2021, Ship Volcano, 1 under construction at the Castellamare di Stabia shipyard, Nave Atlas, and finally 1 as an option), UNPAV High Speed Multipurpose Naval Unit (2 units delivered to the MM in 2019 and 2020, Ships Cabrini e Tedeschi) and is aimed at the acquisition of a newly developed naval instrument, mission modularity with high adaptive capacity to support operations as well disaster relief and with capacity requirements dual use very advanced, units for surveillance and national maritime security, capable of expressing flexibility of use, resilient operational capabilities, technologically cutting-edge and designed in three different set-up versions: Light, LightPlus e Full. The PPA units, whose program is managed by the international organization OCCAR-EA (contracting authority), are built, similarly to the larger FREMM units of the Bergamini class, at the Riva Trigoso (Genoa) and Muggiano (La Spezia) shipyards. .
Today's ceremony constitutes a fundamental step towards the delivery of the Unit to the Navy scheduled for the summer of 2025.
Long live Italy!
