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Further Reading

Marina Militare Italiana (Italian Navy)

The Marina Militare (the Italian Navy) is one of the four branches of the military forces of Italy. It was born in 1946, as the Navy of the Italian Republic, from the ashes of the Regia Marina. Today's Marina Militare is a modern navy with a strength of 35,261 and ships of every type, such as aircraft carriers, destroyers, modern frigates, submarines, amphibious ships and plenty of other smaller ships, including oceanographic research ships. The Marina Militare equipped herself with a bigger aircraft carrier (the Cavour), new destroyers, submarines and multipurpose frigates. In modern times, the Marina Militare, being a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), has taken part in many coalition peacekeeping operations. The Marina Militare is considered the sixth strongest navy of the world.

The Italian Navy was founded in the year 1861 and always had powerful fighting warships. By the mid-1980s the Italian Navy was undergoing an extensive modernization and reconstruction program. The Navy was capable of adequately accomplishing its assigned mission. Any added burden placed upon it by a change in NATO's strategy (a decrease in regional forces) or a sudden down-turn of the economy, would probably degrade its capabilities considerably.

In a simple ceremony attended by the Chief of Staff of the Italian Navy, Admiral Angelo Mariani, the Italian navy 25 November 1997 accepted the 13th and final AV-8B Harrier II Plus assembled at Alenia's Aeronautics Division here. This brings to 16 the total number of Harrier II Plus aircraft and two TAV-8B two-seat trainers flown by the Italian navy. Italy, Spain and the United States collaborated to develop and produce the radar-equipped Harrier II Plus, which also features night-attack capabilities. AV-8B prime contractor Boeing worked with Alenia in Turin and with Construcciones Aeronauticas, S.A. (CASA) in Seville, Spain, to set up final assembly lines for their nations' respective aircraft.