''San Marco'' (L 9893) is the second ship of the ''San Giorgio''-class

landing platform dock An amphibious transport dock, also called a landing platform dock (LPD), is an amphibious warfare ship, a warship that embarks, transports, and lands elements of a landing force for expeditionary warfare missions. Several navies currently operat ...

of the

Italian Navy "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...

Development and design

The ''San Giorgio'' class of the Italian Navy, also known as the Santi class (since the three units that compose it have the names of three saints), consists of three amphibious warships of the

(LPD) type: the , the and lastly, with a slightly different design, the , specialized in landing operations that replaced the ''

Grado Grado may refer to: People * Cristina Grado (1939–2016), Italian film actress * Jonathan Grado (born 1991), American entrepreneur and photographer * Francesco De Grado ( fl. 1694–1730), Italian engraver * Gaetano Grado, Italian mafioso * Gra ...

'' and ''

Caorle Caorle (; vec, Càorle) is a coastal town in the Metropolitan City of Venice, Veneto, northern Italy, located between the estuaries of the Livenza and Lemene rivers. It is situated on the Adriatic Sea between two other tourist towns, Eraclea and ...

'' which were disarmed at the end of the 1980s. They are included in the Projection Force from the Sea, the amphibious component of the

Italian Armed Forces The Italian Armed Forces ( it, Forze armate italiane, ) encompass the Italian Army, the Italian Navy and the Italian Air Force. A fourth branch of the armed forces, known as the Carabinieri, take on the role as the nation's military police and ar ...

Construction and career

''San Marco'' was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

on 26 March 1985 and launched on 10 October 1987 by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

Riva Trigoso Riva may refer to: People * Riva (surname) * Riva Castleman (1930–2014), American art historian, art curator and author * Riva Ganguly Das (born 1961), Indian diplomat * Riva (footballer), Brazilian former footballer Rivadávio Alves Pereir ...

. She was commissioned on 14 May 1988. Starting from December 1992 the , ''San Marco'' and the men of the San Marco Battalion took part in

Somalia Somalia, , Osmanya script: 𐒈𐒝𐒑𐒛𐒐𐒘𐒕𐒖; ar, الصومال, aṣ-Ṣūmāl officially the Federal Republic of SomaliaThe ''Federal Republic of Somalia'' is the country's name per Article 1 of thProvisional Constituti ...

in the Ibis I and Ibis II missions with the 24th Naval Group together with , and and with the 25th Naval Group together with the , the and . In the summer of 2006, the Navy was one of the first to intervene in the Lebanon War. Participating in Operation Mimosa '06 and subsequently in Operation Leonte with the , ''San Marco'' and ''San Giorgio'' in the front row together with , and the aircraft carrier ''Giuseppe Garibaldi''. The ships have landed, in the port of Beirut, under the control of the

1st San Marco Regiment The 1st San Marco Regiment (Italian: ''1° Reggimento San Marco''), located in Brindisi, is an amphibious formation of the Italian Navy. They are the Italian marines. Until the middle of the 1990s the unit was known as the San Marco Battalion (' ...

, tons of material intended for the population, field kitchens, ambulances, generators for the production of electricity, pneumatic tents, tons of medicines and tons of food. food intended for the non-combatant civilian population made available by the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the government department responsible for the state's diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral relations affairs as well as for providing support for a country's citizens who are abroad. The entit ...

, the

Civil Protection Civil defense ( en, region=gb, civil defence) or civil protection is an effort to protect the citizens of a state (generally non-combatants) from man-made and natural disasters. It uses the principles of emergency operations: prevention, miti ...

, the

Italian Red Cross The Italian Red Cross (IRC, it, Croce Rossa Italiana or ''CRI'') is the Italian national Red Cross society. The Italian Red Cross was one of the original founding members of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1919. History Early h ...

and the

United Nations World Food Program The World Food Programme; it, Programma alimentare mondiale; es, Programa Mundial de Alimentos; ar, برنامج الأغذية العالمي, translit=barnamaj al'aghdhiat alealami; russian: Всемирная продовольствен� ...

. On 16 June 2016, ''San Marco'', , , , , and ''Stromboli'' participated in the Flotta Verde exercise as part of the Great Green Fleet initiative. Operated alongside , and .

Gallery

File:San Giorgio L9892.jpg, ''San Giorgio'' in Malaga in 2003. File:Nave San Giorgio Brindisi.jpg, ''San Giorgio'' in

Brindisi Brindisi ( , ) ; la, Brundisium; grc, Βρεντέσιον, translit=Brentésion; cms, Brunda), group=pron is a city in the region of Apulia in southern Italy, the capital of the province of Brindisi, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Histo ...

on 3 September 2020.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Marco 1987 ships San Giorgio-class amphibious transport docks Ships built by Fincantieri Ships built in Italy