Sparviero-class patrol boat

The Sparviero (Eng. " Sparrowhawk " ) or Nibbio class (Eng. " hawk ") was a hydrofoil class of the Italian Navy. The class consisted of seven built in the 1970s boats:

• Sparviero (P 420) (prototype)
• Nibbio (P 421) (type of boat Nibbio class)
• Falcone (P 422)
• Astore (P 423)
• Grifone (P 424)
• Gheppio (P 425)
• Condor (P 426 )

History

The hydrofoil Sparviero was developed based on the American USS Tucumcari ( PGH -2) and a set NATO hydrofoil project in the early 1970s in collaboration with the U.S. Navy and placed in service in 1974. On the basis of Sparviero Draft then emerged from 1977 to 1984 six more, somewhat modified boats, which made up Nibbio class. The term " Sparviero class" are often all boats above seven meant in the strict sense it is but this is a single boat, which was followed by the separate Nibbio class. Around the same time, the U.S. Navy built the larger boats of the Pegasus class.

The boats of the Sparviero and Nibbio class had an enormous firepower for their small size. They had an Oto Melara 76 mm gun and two rocket launcher for Otomat anti-shipping missiles. They could reach up to 50 knots, had at this speed but only a range of 500 kilometers and caused the relatively high operating costs. All boats were stationed in Brindisi (Puglia ), and operated mainly in the Adriatic Sea and in the Strait of Otranto and in similar straits. The tactics of the hydrofoil Command ( Comando Squadriglia Aliscafi - COMSQUALI ) imputed boats consisted, inter alia, on the high seas to mingle with fishing boats and then launch surprise attacks against much larger warships. A disadvantage of the hydrofoils was that they could be used effectively only in relatively calm seas.

Of special interest was the Sparviero class in the Japanese Navy, who wanted to make nine similar boats of the type PG 01 in service originally. It was a variant of the Sparviero class. After they had made ​​from 1991 to 1993 three Japanese-built boats in service, was abandoned later in favor of conventional units on additional copies. The Italian Navy put their boats mid-1990s for reasons of cost and because of the new world situation out of service and was limited to conventional patrol boats and corvettes.