Fincantieri launches 10th and last FREMM Class Frigate for Italian Navy

According to the press release of the Italian Navy on January 25, the launching ceremony of the tenth European Multi-Mission Frigate took place at the Riva Trigoso shipyard , which bears the name of the chief diver “Emilio Bianchi”, who awarded the gold medal for military valor for the heroic action in the Alexandria port of Egypt during World War-II.

Frigate Bianchi (F 589), is the last unit of the FREMM Italian-French international cooperation program, created to compensate for the growing age of the Navy fleet. This program provided for the acquisition of 10 multi-mission frigates of which 6 of the “General Purpose” type (characterized by high flexibility of operational use) and 4 of the anti-submarine type (characterized by greater capacities in this particular form of operational use).

Emilio Bianchi, with 144 meters in length and 6900 tons of displacement at full load, is the sixth FREMM in General Purpose (GP) configuration. In this version, the most relevant features concern the caliber of the 127/64 forward cannon and the presence of a stern slide necessary for launching fast dinghies for special forces operations .

The FREMM, the national shipbuilding avant-garde, represent the backbone of the Navy for the next decades and are designed to perform a multiplicity of functions and activities not only distinctly military but also to support the community .

Emilio Bianchi will begin her “operational life” in 2021 after a further year of preparation and preparation of the crew which will be completed in the Fincantieri del Muggiano plant in La Spezia.