Accademia Navale

Main building of the Livorno Naval Academy

San Jacopo Entrance to the Naval Academy

The Accademia Navale ( German Naval Academy ) is a military institution founded in Livorno in 1881 , at which prospective officers of the Italian Navy and the Italian Coast Guard are trained.

Training directions

Naval officer candidates generally complete a three-year university education at the naval academy, the further university education depends on the intended use. Teaching was based on the Bologna Process . The training in the first three years ( Bachelor ) is geared towards military seafaring . Officer candidates in the technical field ( Genio Navale, Armi Navali ) study engineering with a focus on shipbuilding and telecommunications . Members of the Corpo di Commissariato (administrative division of the Navy) and the Guardia Costiera ( coast guard ) study law and administration with a focus on maritime law , members of the medical service medicine .

The training of prospective officers in nautical command service was reduced from five to three years in 2012 and made more practice-oriented. After completing their three-year training at the Naval Academy as well as further specialist and system training, they take up their duties and do a master’s degree a few years later . For the prospective officers of the Coast Guard and the administrative service, the five-year training at the Naval Academy has remained. The officer candidates for the technical service complete four years of training, including practical parts, at the Naval Academy and then move to civil universities in Pisa , Genoa , Naples or Trieste , where they can finish their studies with a master’s degree after a total of five years. The trainee medical officers are trained from the third year in cooperation with the University of Pisa.

The nautical training takes place, apart from shorter sections, mainly from July to September. The first year candidates sail on the well-known training ship Amerigo Vespucci , the second year students are usually trained on the San Giusto or on other ships. Later internships take place on warships. Smaller sailing ships or boats are available for other training phases.

If necessary, the Italian Navy recruits graduates from certain disciplines as temporary officers. At the Naval Academy, they receive around three months of military-specific training. This is followed by a four-month practical briefing in the respective work area and then the start of normal service. Later these officers can become professional soldiers .

The Naval Academy also offers a number of advanced training courses. The organizationally independent admiralty staff training was outsourced a few years ago.

history

The Accademia Navale owes its existence to the work of Admiral Benedetto Brin . As Minister of the Navy he ordered the amalgamation of the naval schools of Naples and Genoa , which had trained the naval officers of the kingdoms of Naples and Sardinia-Piedmont even before the unification of Italy (the school in Naples was founded in 1735, that in Genoa in 1816 by Admiral Giorgio Des Geneys as the successor to the naval school founded in Villafranca near Nice in 1762 ).

The Naval Academy was established at the end of the 1870s immediately south of the port of Livorno on a property on which the Lazzaretto di San Jacopo had stood since the 17th century . The new academy was inaugurated on November 6, 1881. It soon developed into the best and most renowned officers' school in Italy. For many decades, however, she was also known for her often exaggerated discipline and harshness. In 1913 it was expanded to include the area of the former Lazzaretto di San Leopoldo . From 1923 to 1926 the facilities of the Naval Academy also housed the officers' school of the new Italian Air Force . Until the end of the 1990s, the Navy's command academy was also located here, where admiralty staff officers were trained. Today it is based in the arsenal of Venice .

For reasons related to the war, the Naval Academy was moved to Venice in July 1943 and then to Brindisi , where it remained until 1946. After Allied air raids, some of the academy's buildings in Livorno had to be almost completely rebuilt. On this occasion, some new buildings and extensions were added. In total, the academy now extends to 215,000 square meters along a stretch of coast south of the port of Livorno.

School ships

Amerigo Vespucci

The Italian Navy currently maintains the following training ships :

Amerigo Vespucci (A 5312) (sailing training ship, 4,146 t.max.)

Palinuro (A 5311) (sailing training ship, 1,341 tons max .; NCO training)

Corsaro II (A 5316) ( sailing yacht , 47 t.max.)

Stella Polare (A 5313) (where, Corsaro class)

Orsa Maggiore (A 5323) (sailing yacht, 79.3 t.max.)

Capricia (A 5322) (sailing yacht, 49.9 t.max .)

Caroly (A 5302) (sailing yacht, 60 t max.)

Chaplin (sailing yacht, 18 t max.)

4 Aragosta Ham class mine clearance boats converted for training purposes were decommissioned between October 2, 2017 and December 5, 2019

Until 2010, the landing ship San Giusto or one of its sister ships was used as a large training ship for the officer candidates in their second year of training . Before that, the cruiser Caio Duilio (1980–1990), the destroyer San Giorgio (1965–1980) and the cruiser Raimondo Montecuccoli (1949–1964) took over the corresponding training tasks.