Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi (551)
- 4 × starter for Teseo Mk -2 anti-ship missiles
- 2 × starter for Albatros / Aspide air defense missile
- 4 × 4.0 cm Flak L/70
- 6 × torpedo tube ∅ 32.4 cm
- 16 Harrier or
- 18 helicopter
- Radar SPN -728 SPN -749, RTN 30 X PLC -744
- Air search radar SPS - 52C and PLC -768
The Giuseppe Garibaldi ( ID: 551 ) is an Italian aircraft carrier. She is since 1985 in the service of the Marina Militare, her home port of Taranto. She is the fourth ship, which was named after the Italian national hero Giuseppe Garibaldi.
History
The ship was given in 1979 as a flight deck cruiser commissioned and should mainly be used for submarine hunting. Following the example of the British carrier HMS Invincible was built in STOVL design. As a control of the postwar period of the Italian Navy forbade to use aircraft, the ship was never officially declared as aircraft carriers. By repealing this ban in 1989, the ship was therefore used as a helicopter carrier and experienced only during some maneuvers with the Royal Navy the use of British fighter aircraft Hawker Siddeley Harrier type. As of 1994, the Italian Navy procured 18 aircraft of the modern type AV -8B Harrier II and put this one on the Giuseppe Garibaldi. The launch of the V / STOL aircraft is via the rising by 6.5 ° forward flight deck ramp. The flight operation is conducted on a 173 m long and 28 m wide flight deck with two elevators.
As flight deck cruiser, the ship is not only a platform for combat aircraft and helicopters, which are regarded as part of an integrated weapon system. This philosophy explains the very strong armament of the ship. In addition to guns for self-defense, it has torpedo tubes, anti-ship missiles and anti-aircraft missiles.
The Giuseppe Garibaldi was between 1995 and 1999 regularly in the Adriatic Sea in use. From the end of 2001, the ship was operating as part of Operation Enduring Freedom repeated in the Indian Ocean and took its combat aircraft also participated in air strikes against targets in Afghanistan. In spring 2011, the support for the international military operation in Libya was provided.
2008 was the Italian Navy with the Cavour a new, larger aircraft carriers. The Giuseppe Garibaldi intended for modernization work until about 2020 remain in service and are then replaced by an amphibious assault ship with a full flight deck. Since the end of 2012 Garibaldi is used in a new role as a helicopter carrier for amphibious operations. Aircraft it takes on only when the Cavour is not available due dockyard periods or for other reasons. In her new role, the Garibaldi complements the landing ships of the San Giorgio class and thus the amphibious forces of the San Marco Brigade.