The ''Sparviero'' class, also known as the ''Nibbio'' class, are small hydrofoil

missile boat A missile boat or missile cutter is a small, fast warship armed with anti-ship missiles. Being smaller than other warships such as destroyers and frigates, missile boats are popular with nations interested in forming a navy at lower cost. They ...

s capable of traveling at speeds of . They were designed for and formerly used by the Italian Navy. The Japanese 1-go class missile boat is an updated version formerly used by the

Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force , abbreviated , also simply known as the Japanese Navy, is the maritime warfare branch of the Japan Self-Defense Forces, tasked with the naval defense of Japan. The JMSDF was formed following the dissolution of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) ...

(JMSDF).

History

Italy

The ''Sparviero''-class fast attack hydrofoil was designed in Italy by the Alinavi society, a consortium of the American company

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

, the Italian government's naval research branch, and Carlo Rodriguez, a

Messina Messina (, also , ) is a harbour city and the capital city, capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is the third largest city on the island of Sicily, and the 13th largest city in Italy, with a population of more than 219,000 in ...

-based builder of commercial hydrofoils, based on Boeing's for the

United States Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. It is the largest and most powerful navy in the world, with the estimated tonnage ...

.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 217.Baker 1998, p. 382. A prototype, named ''Sparviero'' was ordered in 1970 for the Italian Navy,Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 196. ''Sparviero'' 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 ...

by Alinavi in

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest ci ...

in April 1971, was launched on 9 May 1973 and commissioned into Italian service on 15 July 1974.Moore 1985, p. 275. The design used the Boeing Jetfoil system, with one hydrofoil forward and two aft, which folded out of the water when cruising. The boat was propelled at high speeds by a

Rolls-Royce Proteus The Bristol Proteus was the Bristol Engine Company's first mass-produced gas turbine engine design, a turboprop that delivered just over 4,000 hp (3,000 kW). The Proteus was a reverse-flow gas turbine. Because the second turbine dro ...

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

driving a

water jet Water jet may refer to: * A jet of water under pressure, like in an ornamental fountain * Pump-jet, a marine propulsion mechanism for jetskis and other types of boats * Water jet cutter, a tool for cutting and the machining of engineering material ...

, while a diesel engine driving a retractable propeller powered the boat at low speeds. The hull and

superstructure A superstructure is an upward extension of an existing structure above a baseline. This term is applied to various kinds of physical structures such as buildings, bridges, or ships. Aboard ships and large boats On water craft, the superstruct ...

were constructed entirely of aluminium. As the design was intended for short-range, high speed operations, no sleeping accommodation was fitted. Armament consisted of two

Otomat The Otomat is an anti-ship and coastal defence missile developed by the Italian company Oto Melara jointly with Matra and now made by MBDA. The name comes, for the first versions, from the name of the two builders ("Oto Melara" and "Matra") and ...

anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. A good ...

s aft and a single Oto Melara rapid-fire gun forward. It was planned in 1974–1975 to order four more ''Sparviero''-class hydrofoils, to be supplemented by at least two larger s, but plans for a

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

-wide standardisation on the ''Pegasus'' class were abandoned. When orders were finally placed in 1977, they were for six more ''Sparviero''s (giving seven in total) and no ''Pegasus''-class boats.Gardiner and Chumbley 1995, p. 197. The new boats, built 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 (20 ...

Muggiano Lerici ( lij, Lerxi, locally ) is a town and ''comune'' in the province of La Spezia in Liguria (northern Italy), part of the Italian Riviera. It is situated on the coast of the Gulf of La Spezia, southeast of La Spezia. It is known as the pla ...

, entered service from 1982 to 1984, and differed from the prototype in having a more advanced installation for the Otomat missiles (using the Teseo control system) and having water injection fitted to the gas turbines. The class proved to be underpowered, and it was hoped to re-engine them with more powerful () Alison gas turbines, but these plans were later abandoned. All of the Italian boats have now been decommissioned.

Japan

The

(JMSDF) selected a modified version of the ''Sparviero'' class as a replacement for its s. A license agreement was signed in 1991 to build up to 12 ''Sparviero''s, with the first two approved in FY90 and both were laid down by

Sumitomo The is one of the largest Japanese ''keiretsu'', or business groups, founded by Masatomo Sumitomo (1585-1652) around 1615 during the early Edo period. History The Sumitomo Group traces its roots to a bookshop in Kyoto founded circa 1615 by Ma ...

in Uraga on 25 March 1991. An order for a third boat was delayed to help pay for Japan's contribution to the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, with it not being laid down until 1993. A request for a fourth boat under the FY 95 budget was rejected, and plans for further hydrofoils abandoned. The Japanese chose different armament than used in the Italian boats, with up to four

Type 90 Ship-to-Ship Missile The Type 90 Ship-to-Ship Missile (90式艦対艦誘導弾, SSM-1B) is a ship-launched anti-ship missile developed by Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that entered service in 1990. It is a naval version of the truck-launched Type 88 (SSM-1) mis ...

s replacing the Otomats and a non-stabilised

M61 Vulcan The M61 Vulcan is a hydraulically, electrically, or pneumatically driven, six-barrel, air-cooled, electrically fired Gatling-style rotary cannon which fires rounds at an extremely high rate (typically 6,000 rounds per minute). The M61 and its ...

rotary cannon A rotary cannon, rotary autocannon, rotary gun or Gatling cannon, is any large- caliber multiple-barreled automatic firearm that uses a Gatling-type rotating barrel assembly to deliver a sustained saturational direct fire at much greater r ...

replacing the larger Oto Melara gun. The main powerplant is a General Electric LM500 gas turbine.

Military use

Italian boats have all been decommissioned. The ''Sparviero'' class was used by the Japanese coastal patrol forces as a fast attack interceptor.

Ships in class

Italy

(All decommissioned)

Japan

(All currently decommissioned, but may be reactivated in near future

014 014 may refer to: * Argus As 014 * BIND-014 * 014 Construction Unit * Divi Divi Air Flight 014 * Pirna 014 * Tyrrell 014 See also * 14 (disambiguation) Fourteen or 14 may refer to: * 14 (number), the natural number following 13 and preceding 1 ...

References

* Baker, A.D. ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1998–1999''. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1998. . * Gardiner, Robert and Stephen Chumbley. ''Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995''. Annapolis, Maryland USA: Naval Institute Press, 1995. . * Moore, John. ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1985–86''. London: Jane's Yearbooks, 1985. . * Prézelin, Bernard and Baker, A.D. ''The Naval Institute Guide to Combat Fleets of the World 1990/1991''. Annapolis, Maryland, USA: Naval Institute Press, 1990. . * Saunders, Stephen (RN) Jane's Fighting Ships 2003-2004 {{ISBN, 0-7106-2546-4 Hydrofoils Missile boats Ships built in Italy Ships built in Japan Marina Militare Ships of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force Patrol boat classes