The Italian navy is testing its promising flagship. Yesterday, August 13, the portal aresdifesa.it He reported that the landing ship L 9080 Trieste has entered its first sea trials.
Trieste was launched in Castellammare di Stabia in May 2019. In January 2020, it arrived in Cantiere del Mugiano for retrofitting. Now the ship has entered the first sea trials, within the framework of which the operation of its power plant and the build quality will be checked.
Landing ship L 9080 Trieste on sea trials
Image source: aresdifesa.it
The construction of a universal landing ship-helicopter carrier is provided for by the Law on the Fleet (Legge Navale) adopted at the end of 2014. Initially, it was planned to build a ship with a length of up to 190 m and a total displacement of up to 20,000 tons, but during the design work, its dimensions increased significantly. It is planned that the Trieste will become a replacement for the light aircraft carrier (aircraft carrier cruiser) Giuseppe Garibaldi, which has been in service since 1985.
In the final version, the Italians got a ship with a length of 245 m with a flight deck of 230 m. The Trieste is able to accommodate a team of 1064 people, including 600 paratroopers with amphibious armored vehicles, boats and an air group. The ship is equipped with a hybrid power plant that can accelerate it to 25 knots, and if necessary, give a low speed on electric traction, meeting environmental standards (Green Fleet). According to unofficial data, Trieste will be able to carry F-35B fighters, while only helicopters are officially declared as part of the air wing.
