The keel laying ceremony of the Logistic Support Ship (LSS) was held today at Fincantieri’s shipyard in Riva Trigoso (Sestri Levante, Genoa).
Construction works continue on the first unit of the renewal plan of the Italian Navy’s fleet, which has been commissioned to Fincantieri. The vessel will be delivered in 2019.
The LSS is a vessel that provides logistics support to the fleet, endowed with hospital and healthcare capabilities thanks to the presence of a fully equipped hospital, complete with operating rooms, radiology and analysis rooms, a dentist’s office and hospital rooms capable of hosting up to 12 seriously injured patients.
The ship is capable of combining capacity to transport and transfer to other transport vessels used for liquids (diesel fuel, jet fuel, fresh water) and solids (emergency spare parts, food and ammunitions) and to perform at sea repairs and maintenance work for other vessels. At this time defense systems are limited to the capacity of command and control in tactical scenarios, communications and dissuasive, non-lethal defense systems.
The vessel is also geared toward embarking more complex defence systems and becoming an intelligence and electronic war platform.