Italy's Aircraft Carrier

Artist concept of the Cavour


On November 22, 2000, a contract was drawn up between Fincantieri and the Italian Ministry of Naval Defence to supply an aircraft carrier vessel, known as the Nuova Unita Maggiore (NUM) or 'New Major Vessel', to the Italian Navy.
Building work on the new vessel, which was originally to be called the Andrea Doria but has since been named the Cavour, began at Fincantieri's shipyards in Riva Trigoso and Muggiano in July 2001. The Cavour was launched in July 2004 and began sea trials in 2006. The aircraft carrier will be delivered in 2007, entering service in 2008.

CAVOUR AIRCRAFT CARRIER DESIGN
The ship has a standard displacement at full load of 27,100t, an overall length of 244m and a sustained speed of 27kt. The carrier's runway is 180m x 14m with a 12° ski jump. It can accommodate up to 1,210 people on board, including ship's crew of 451, 203 aircrew, an amphibious command force of 140, and San Marco Battalion of 325, plus an extra 91 troops if required.
A strong feature of the ship is its high flexibility in operational terms. It is able to carry out the functions of an aircraft carrier as well as the transport of wheeled and tracked vehicles, for both military and civil missions. The aircraft hangar can accommodate 100 light vehicles or 24 main battle tanks for amphibious missions. The The ship can also support four LCVP landing craft. There are two 30t elevators for aircraft and two 15t elevators for armaments

The carrier is armed with two Sylver eight-cell vertical launch systems for the Eurosam (jointly owned by MBDA and Thales) SAAM/IT missile system, which fires Aster 15 missiles. The Aster 15 missile has a 13kg warhead and a range of 30km. The missile's guidance is inertial with data uplink and active radar terminal homing. For increased manoeuvrability in the terminal phase, the missile uses a 'PIF-PAF' direct thrust control system with gas jets.
Primary sensor for the SAAM/IT is the Selex Sistemi Integrati (formerly Alenia Marconi Systems) Empar G-band multi-function phased array radar, which provides simultaneous surveillance, tracking and weapons control. The first ship-launched missile firing of the SAAM/IT system took place in December 2002.
The vessel will be equipped with two Oto Melara 76mm super rapid guns and three 25mm anti-aircraft guns.


http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/num/

You can see the clear difference between US and Italian shipbuilding here. While the Cavour is a multi-purpose carrier, the US Navy wants a carrier that does one thing good, principally launching aircraft off its decks. An interesting feature I noticed was separate elevators one for aircraft and one for aircraft munitions and ship armaments. This of course helps them do multiple things at once. I also noticed this feature on the CVN-21 carrier the US is working on. This warship represents the future of Italy's naval power and I think with this ships capabilies we will be seeing Italy's navy involved in world affairs much more then we do now.