Italian Navy - Marina Militare Italiana

 

 

Impavido class Guided Missile Destroyer - DDG

 

 

 

Ships:

unit

in service

builder

decommissioned

 

D 570 ITS Impavido

1963

Cantiere Navale di Riva Trigoso, Italy

1992

 

D 571 ITS Intrepido

1964

Cantiere Ansaldo di Livorno, Italy

1991

 

 

 

Specifications:

 

Length:

130,90 meters

 

Beam:

13,60 meters

 

Draft:

4,50 meters

 

Displacement:

2830 tons (normal) / 3940 tons (full load)

 

Speed:

34 knots (63 km/h) maximal

 

Range:

3300 Nm (6100 km) at 20 knots (37 km/h) / 5000 Nm (9260 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)

 

Crew:

335

 

Aviation:

1 helicopter

 

Propulsion:

4 x boilers
2 x geared steam turbines

70000 shp
2 shafts / 2 propellers

 

Armament:

1 x Mk-13 single-arm missile launcher with 40 RIM-24 Tartar SAM

2 x 5”/38 caliber (127mm) guns (1x2)

4 x 3”/62 caliber (76mm) guns (4x1)

6 x 21” (533mm) torpedo tubes (2x3)

 

Systems:

AN/SPS-12 air search radar

AN/SPS-39 3D radar

AN/SPG-51 fire control radar

AN/SQS-23 sonar

 

The Impavido class were the second group of destroyers built for the Italian Navy (Marina Militare Italiana / MMI) after World War II and the first Italian Guided Missile destroyers.

Similar in performance to the American Charles F. Adams class, these ships were essentially improved Impetuoso class vessels, with the after gun-turret being replaced by a Mk-13 guided missile launching system (GMLS) for RIM-24 Tartar SAM and associated radar. Apart from the same main armament as that of the 'Adams', the emphasis of the weaponry was focused on anti-aircraft equipment, so the secondary armament was a battery of 76mm automatic guns fitted midships, not the ASROC missile. The 127mm guns remained. Torpedoes were the same as the wartime Mk 38, while the Adams had the newer Mk 42 which covered all the horizon thanks to their disposition, fore and aft.

These ships were important because they represented the first missile destroyers in the MMI and lasted in service for many years, even if they had not had any important update (making them progressively obsolescent). A characteristic of these ships were the superstructures, having a much less clean layout than other classes, with a double line of windows in the main turrion, similar to the Alpino frigates.

 

 

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