Andrea Doria class (1962)
 The Andrea Doria
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The Andrea Doria class was a series of guided missile cruisers used by the Italian Navy .
The two cruisers of this class, Andrea Doria and Caio Duilio , were the first larger ships built in Italy after 1945. Both ships remained in service from 1964 to 1992. Their main tasks were air defense and anti-submarine combat.
A third ship of the Andrea Doria class, the Enrico Dandolo (C 555), was originally planned. For technical reasons, however, the decision was made for the larger cruiser type Vittorio Veneto , which was a further development of the Andrea Doria class.
Technical specifications
Main dimensions
- Overall length: 149.3 m
- Width overall: 17.2 m
- Draft 4.9 m
- Displacement: 6,500 ts (maximum)
Propulsion system
- 2 geared turbines, 60,000 PS (45,000 kW)
- 4 Foster Wheeler steam boilers, 2 screws
- Top speed: 31 kn
- Range: 6,000 nm at 15 kn
Crew and armament
- Crew: 500 men
- 1 Mk-10 rocket launch system for RIM-2 Terriers
- 8 guns 76/62 mm Oto Melara
- 6 torpedo tubes
- 4 helicopters
Calls
Andrea Doria
Shortly after its commissioning, the cruiser carried out a training voyage to the Far East for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo in the second half of 1964 with cadets from the Accademia Navale, followed by another long voyage to South America the following year . In the following years, it took part in numerous national and international exercises as the flagship of the 1st Marine Division in La Spezia. In 1967 a Hawker Siddeley Harrier of the British Royal Navy landed on her aft flight deck in La Spezia on a trial basis . In 1973, for technical reasons, she briefly took over the role of a training ship for the cadets of the Naval Academy. Various modernization work followed from 1976 to 1978. 1979 operated Andrea Doria with two other Italian vessels operating under the "8 ° Gruppo navale " in the South China Sea , where numerous boat people were rescued. In the 1980s it operated as part of the 2nd Marine Division from Taranto . In 1984 she supported an Italian contingent of troops in Lebanon . In 1986, because of the Libya crisis , she took part in the Italian operation "Girasole", which served to deter and secure the sea and air space in the central Mediterranean. The cruiser Andrea Doria was decommissioned on September 30, 1992 in Taranto. The ship was scrapped in Naples in 2001.
Caio Duilio
The cruiser Caio Duilio was launched in Castellammare di Stabia on December 22, 1962 and entered service in November 1964. She was assigned to the 2nd Marine Division in Taranto and used as intensively as her sister ship. From 1979 to 1980 the Caio Duilio was converted into a training ship and as such replaced the destroyer San Giorgio of the Capitani Romani class . While the Andrea Doria was relocated from La Spezia to Taranto, the Caio Duilio came to La Spezia and carried out several training trips for the cadets of the Naval Academy in the following ten years. She went to Los Angeles in 1984 for the Summer Olympics . Other special trips abroad took the ship to South America in 1985 and to Australia in 1988 . The cruiser was decommissioned on December 15, 1989 and sold for demolition in late 1992.
Predecessor and successor
The Italian Navy owned an ironclad called Caio Duilio from 1873 to 1909 and another called Andrea Doria from 1882 to 1911 . From 1912 to 1956 battleships of the same name were in Italian service, forming the Caio Duilio class .
Today two guided missile destroyers of the Franco-Italian Horizon class bear this name. In Italy they are often grouped under the name Andrea Doria class.