LSS Vulcano Delivered to the Italian Navy
The Italian Navy has taken delivery of the newly built logistics support ship LSS Vulcano from Fincantieri's Naval Integrated shipyard in Muggiano, Italy.
The 193-meter LSS Vulcano is part of the FLOTLOG (Flotte Logistique) program, which includes the construction of four LSS destined to the French Navy, by the temporary consortium between Chantiers de l’Atlantique and Naval Group under the Italian-French LSS Program led by OCCAR (Organization for Joint Armament Cooperation). The construction of the forward sections of these ships has been commissioned to Fincantieri, which last month laid the keel of the first vessel at its shipyard in Castellammare di Stabia, Naples.
LSS Vulcano is classified by RINA pursuant international conventions about prevention of pollution regarding the more traditional aspects, like the ones of the MARPOL Convention, as well as those not yet mandatory, as the Hong Kong Convention about ship recycling.
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 that will be capable of hosting up to 17 seriously injured patients. The ship combines 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. The defense systems are related to the capacity of command and control in tactical scenarios, communications and dissuasive, non-lethal defense systems. The vessel is also capable of embarking more complex defense systems and becoming an intelligence and electronic war platform.
Capable of speeds of about 20 knots, the LSS Vulcano has accommodations for 235 persons, including crew and specialists, plus four replenishment stations abeam and one astern. The ship has capacity to supply drinking water to land, as well as electricity to land with 2500 kw of power. It can embark up to eight residential and healthcare modules. The vessel also offers the capacity to perform rescues at sea, through recovery and seabed operations (the ship is equipped with an 30 tons offshore stabilized crane stabilized), and can serve as a base for rescue operations through helicopters and special vessels.
The multi-year program for the renewal of the Italian Navy’s fleet foresees the construction, besides the LSS, of the transport and landing unit LHD (or Landing Helicopter Dock) Trieste – under construction in this same shipyard with delivery in 2022 – as well as seven Multipurpose Offshore Patrol Ships (PPA), which will enter the fleet starting this year.
According to Fincantieri, a fundamental characteristic common to all three classes of ships is their high level of innovation providing them with a considerable degree of efficiency and flexibility in serving different mission profiles. In particular, these are dual use vessels, meaning that they may be used for both standard military purposes and those in favor of the community (as for example for civil protection), and they also have a low environmental impact thanks to a state-of-the-art auxiliary propulsion system generating a low level of pollution emissions (electric engines).