Italian Navy’s Nave Federico Martinengo visited Malta between the 19th and 22nd September. The ship was open for the general public in her stop in Valletta. Horizon took the opportunity to join the general public and visit the vessel.
ITS Martinengo, identified as a General-Purpose Military ship is the seventh unit of the Italo- French FREMM programme. Commissioned in March 2017, the ship was built by Fincantieri Riva Trigoso. Following Completion was transferred to Muggiano shipyard`s floating dock.
The ship`s based home port is in La Spezia in Italy`s north western port in the Liguria Region. The Ship is named after Real Admiral Federico Martinengo, who was decorated by the State with a Gold Medal for his Military Service. The Ship`s Motto is ‘Sufficit Animus’ meaning Boldness is enough and bears the Hull number F596. The Crest is surmounted by the Towered and Rostral Crown of the Italian Navy.
The ship, which has a capability for 7000 Nautical Miles, serves as an escort for capital Ships and high value units mainly merchant vessels. It also acts as a predominant presence, surveillance and Contribution to Maritime Situational Awareness mainly through deployment on behalf of NATO and the European Union outside home territorial waters.
The ship is equipped with different onboard armament guns together with the PAAMS Missile System with both Aster 15 and Aster 30 Missiles Respectively, together with 2 MU-90 Torpedo Launchers. Onboard, the ship can accommodate two Helicopters in two respective hangars. The helicopters of the Marina Militare that can be deployed on board are the SH-90A and or EH101 Merlin. When the Frigate visited Valletta it had an SH-90A helicopter embarked.
