The Italian Navy has been reinforced with a new Trieste multipurpose amphibious assault ship.

This is reported by the official page of the Italian Navy on X.

The commissioning ceremony took place on December 7, 2024, in the port of Livorno, with President Sergio Mattarella participating. Fincantieri officially transferred the ship to the Italian Navy.

Trieste’s entry into the fleet made it the largest surface ship of the Italian Navy since World War II.

The ship was built at the Castellammare di Stabia and Muggiano shipyards owned by the Italian shipbuilding giant Fincantieri.

The order for the construction of the Trieste was placed in 2015, and the keel was laid in 2018, after which the ship was launched in 2019 and entered the completion stage afloat.

The Trieste amphibious assault ship has a gross displacement of 38,000 tons, providing a large area for amphibious operations and deployment of military equipment and personnel. In addition, the ship is equipped to accommodate F-35B fighter jets, which can be located both on the flight deck and in hangar facilities.

The F-35B aircraft will replace the US-British AV-8B Harrier II in the Italian Navy and will become the main deck aircraft of the Italian Navy.

When developing the project, the Italian Navy sought to create a ship capable of autonomous operations at sea. Therefore, Trieste was equipped with two Sylver A-50 vertical launcher modules, each with eight cells. They can be loaded with:

• up to 16 Franco-Italian Aster-30 anti-aircraft missiles for long-range air defense,
• or up to 64 British-Italian CAMM-ER missiles, which provide short- and medium-range air defense.

The main means of radar detection is the Leonardo Kronos Power Shield active phased array radar, which is capable of detecting air targets at long distances. In addition, the ship is equipped with the Leonardo Kronos Dual Band multifunctional radar, which provides guidance for anti-aircraft missiles and monitors the situation surrounding the vessel.

For direct defense of the ship, there are installed:

• Three automatic 76-mm Oto Melara Strales guns, which use programmable projectiles to engage air and surface targets,
• Three remotely controlled 25-mm OTO Melara RCWS artillery pieces, suitable for engaging small surface targets and air threats at close range.

The ship’s standard air group comprises 12 aircraft but can be expanded. The ship’s air group generally consists of F-35B fighter jets and AW101, SH90A, and AW129D helicopters.

Militarnyi previously reported that the second Atlante new generation support ship was laid down for the Italian Navy.