1974: A Record-Setting Survey Vessel is Launched in Italy

October 8, 1974

The hydrographic survey vessel Ammiraglio Magnaghi (A 5303) was launched into Mediterranean Sea at Riva Trigoso, a frazione (subdivision) of northwestern Italy’s town and comune of Sestri Levante. (“Ammiraglio” is the Italian word for “admiral.”) This ship was the first survey vessel to be both designed and constructed entirely in Italy for the country’s navy.

The record-setting vessel was commissioned into the Italian Navy on May 2, 1975. Her first commander was Admiral Giuseppe Angrisano, who would go on to serve as director of Italy’s Navy Hydrographic Institute and president of the International Hydrographic Organization.  

This ship was the third navy vessel in Italy to be named after Admiral Giovan Battista Magnaghi (1839-1902). Along with being a highly proficient officer in what was then the Royal Italian Navy, Magnaghi was an accomplished oceanographer and mathematician who made notable contributions to the science of geodetic surveying. He became the first director of the Navy Hydrographic Institute.  

In the time since her 1975 commissioning, the current vessel bearing Magnaghi’s name has been used extensively for a wide range of hydrographic, oceanographic, and survey missions. This 271-foot (82.7-meter)-long ship is equipped with a variety of processing systems for functions such as charting seabeds and collecting water samples. She has also been deployed for search-and-rescue operations.

Photo Credit: Piergiuliano Chesi (licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en)

A list of active Italian Navy ships is available at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_active_Italian_Navy_ships

For more information on survey vessels, please check out  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Survey_vessel