ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi (551)

The ITS Giuseppe Garibaldi (551) is an Italian aircraft carrier, the first through deck aviation ship ever built for the Italian Navy, and the first Italian ship built to operate fixed-wing aircraft. She is equipped with short take-off and vertical landing aircraft (STOVL) aircraft and helicopters. The Garibaldi was involved in combat air operations off Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Libya.

She is the fourth ship of the Italian Navy to be named after the 19th century Italian General Giuseppe Garibaldi. All four ships, including the missile cruiser, together with an image of Garibaldi, are depicted in the crest.

Specifications

 * Type STOVL Aircraft Carrier
 * Service Period: 1985-Present
 * Characteristics:
 * Length: 591 feet 2.5 inches (180.2 meters)
 * Beam: 109 feet 7 inches (33.4 meters)
 * Draught: 26 feet 10.85 inches (8.2 meters)
 * Displacement: 11,135 tons (Standard); 15,270 tons (Full Load)
 * Crew: 830 (630 Crew, 100 Fleet Air Arm, 100 C4 staff)
 * Propulsion: 4 × General Electric/Avio LM2500 gas turbines providing 82,000 hp, 6 × Diesel generators (9.360 KW)
 * Range: 7,000 nautical miles (12,964 kilometers) at 20 knots (37.04 km/h)
 * Speed: 30 knots (55.56 km/h)
 * Sensor Suite:
 * MM/SPS-768 (RAN 3L) long-range radar
 * SPS-774 (RAN-10S) early warning radar
 * AN/SPS-52C early warning radar
 * SPS-702 CORA surface search radar
 * SPN-749 navigation radar
 * SPN-728 approach radar
 * RTN-30 fire control radar
 * RTN-10X fire control radar
 * DE 1160 LF hull sonar
 * Countermeasures:
 * SLQ-732 jamming system
 * SCLAR decoy launcher
 * SLAT anti-torpedo system
 * SLQ-25 Nixie towed torpedo decoy
 * Armament:
 * 2 x Mk.29 octuple launcher for Sea Sparrow/Selenia Aspide SAM
 * 3 x Oto Melara Twin 40L70 DARDO naval guns
 * 2 x 324 mm triple torpedo tubes
 * 4 x Otomat Mk 2 SSMs (removed)
 * Aircraft Carried: up to 18 AV-8B Harrier II fighter/bombers, Agusta SH-3D or AgustaWestland AW101 helicopters (ASW, ASH and AEW)