Italica (ship)
| Italica | |
|---|---|
| Overview of the ship data | |
| Ship type: | Research and supply ship |
| Measurement: | 5,600 GRT |
| Length over all: | 130.00 m |
| Width: | 17.30 m |
| Draft: | 6.93 m |
| Speed: | 10 kn |
| Flag: | Italy |
| Home port: | Naples |
| Crew: | 30th |
| Scientist: | 27 |
| Max. Crew: | 93 |
The Italica was an Italian supply and research ship . It was built from 1981 to 1983 in Vyborg in the Soviet Union and initially served as a Yugoslav navigator in Yugoslavian service. In 1990 it was adopted by Italy for its Antarctic research program. The ice-reinforced ship was registered in Naples until 2017 , but mainly sailed from Ravenna to Australia and New Zealand to supply the Mario Zucchelli station on the Ross Sea .
history
It was the 23rd of 25 ships of the Pioner Moskvy class (Project 1590P). The unit with construction number 529 was acquired by the Cypriot shipping company Thrid World Shipping in 1983 and chartered to the Yugoslav company Beogradska Plovidba (Beoplov) under the name Jugo Navigator . After initially sailing under the Liberian flag and registered in Monrovia , it was then registered as a Yugonavigator in Belgrade and operated under the Yugoslav flag.
In 1990, the Italian company Diamar in Pozzuoli acquired the ship and initially renamed it Zuil , and in the same year it was then named Italica . In order to be able to use it for the Italian Antarctic program, it was extensively rebuilt and structurally reinforced, especially the bow. As a supply and research ship, it operated mainly from the New Zealand port of Lyttelton . Personnel and material for the Mario Zucchelli station (MZS) and the Franco-Italian station Dome Concordia (Dome C) were usually brought by plane to Christchurch to an Italian depot at the local airport and then from neighboring Lyttelton from Italica to the MZS which also serves as a logistics base for Dome C. In addition, it carried out oceanographic missions, mostly in the Ross Sea. The first supply and research mission of this kind took place in the Antarctic summer of 1990–91.
On April 3, 2017, Italica returned to Ravenna from her last Antarctic mission. It was registered as Alica in Palau and sold to India for demolition. On June 24, 2017, she arrived at one of the scrapping yards near Alang .
As a replacement, the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale in Trieste bought the research vessel Laura Bassi , built in 1995 and previously used by the British Antarctic Survey under the name Ernest Shackleton, in 2019 with funds from the Ministry of Education and Research in Rome .
Others
In addition to the former Italica and Laura Bassi , the Italian Antarctic research program also has the research ship OGS Explora (1,400 GRT). It also belongs to the Istituto Nazionale di Oceanografia e di Geofisica Sperimentale in Trieste.
