Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Minerva Class

port of Livorno
This weekend three Minerva-class corvettes of the Italian Navy are berthed at the Capitaneria pier. Here are the “Chimera” (F 556) and the “Sfinge” (F 554).
port of Livorno
The three units, built at the end of the 1980s, are identical, but the “Sfinge”, which means sphinx, has now a radome where the other two still have an Albatros missile launcher. Any ship of our Navy still has a Latin motto: Tacita atque resoluta (Silent and resolute) for the “Sfinge” and In arduis intrepida (Fearless in arduous things) for the “Chimera”.
port of Livorno
Further along the pier we can see the “Fenice” (F 557), which would be phoenix, with the predictable motto of Resurgit (She rises).

See also: A Sphinx and Many Stars - Urania, Chimera and Sirio
External links: Minerva-class corvette (Wikipedia)
Search labels: Navy

8 comments:

Michelle said...

I love that first shot with the ships side by side.

William Kendall said...

Terrific shots, and good names for these ships, particularly Chimera.

Lois Evensen said...

That first shot is so neat! :)

cieldequimper said...

It's good to know that there are still Latin mottoes around.

Dina said...

Nice how the two are roped together. Love that first shot.
Thanks for the new word radome.

La sonrisa de Hiperion said...

Preparados para la guerra.

Saludos.

Luis Gomez said...

Wonderful shots VP. These are great.

Arianna said...

La prima foto dice tutto! Ciao, Arianna