Today there was the ceremony at Fincantieri’s Muggiano (La Spezia) shipyard to mark the handover to the Italian Navy of the frigate “Caio Duilio” which had been launched in October 2007 at Riva Trigoso.
The handover follows intensive sea trials and there will be further testing of the communication, command and control systems so that the “Caio Duilio” may become fully operational.
The key feature of the ceremony was the raising of the flag of the Italian Navy on the Duilio.
The “Caio Duilio”, together with her sister ship, the Andrea Doria, which is already in service and was also built at Riva and Muggiano shipyards and delivered to the Navy in December 2007, were ordered by the Italian Navy from Fincantieri within the “Orizzonte” (Horizon) programme, which involves cooperation between Italy and France for the construction of two vessels for the fleet of each national Navy.
At 153 metres long with a beam of 20 metres, the “Caio Duilio” has a displacement at full load of 7,050 tonnes. Her maximum speed is 29 knots and the ship can accommodate a crew of 230.
This is the fourth vessel that the Italian Navy has named “Caio Duilio”, in memory of the Roman consul who distinguished himself in the first Punic war when his fleet won the battle of Milazzo in 260 B.C.
