The ''Vulcano'' class is a class of

replenishment oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. Th ...

used by the

Italian Navy The Italian Navy (; abbreviated as MM) is one of the four branches of Italian Armed Forces and was formed in 1946 from what remained of the ''Regia Marina'' (Royal Navy) after World War II. , the Italian Navy had a strength of 30,923 active per ...

, with

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

''Vulcano'' of the class entered service on 12 March 2021. The ships are designed to support fleet operations with fuel and dry stores and expected to replace the , another class of replenishment oiler from the Navy. ''Vulcano'' was financed under the 2014 Naval Law, for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

346 million, then increased to €374.6 million, when the length was extended by . A second ship ''Atlante'' was ordered in January 2022 for projected delivery in 2025. The Navy also had an option for a third ship of the class. However, under the Italian MoD’s Multi-Year Defence Planning Document (Documento Programmatico Pluriennale della Difesa, DPP) for the 2023-2025 timeframe, a fourth ship was added to the program. The

French Navy The French Navy (, , ), informally (, ), is the Navy, maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the four military service branches of History of France, France. It is among the largest and most powerful List of navies, naval forces i ...

through OCCAR ordered three modified ships of the class to replace its s to be delivered in 2023, 2025 and 2027. A fourth ship to be ordered is projected for service entry after 2030. The program is known as the ''

Bâtiment ravitailleur de forces The bâtiments ravitailleurs de forces, or BRF, are a class of future fleet tankers that are to replace the units in French Navy service. Until January 2019, the programme was known as ''Flotte logistique'' (abbreviated FLOTLOG in military parl ...

'' (BRF). France officially joined the program in October 2018. The French BRF ships are longer at and 31,000 tons full load

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

compared to 27,200 tons, reflecting the French fleet's greater need for

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are either petroleum-based or blends of petroleum and synthetic fuels, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground applications, such as heating and road transport, and they contain add ...

Design and construction

''Vulcano'' was built by

Fincantieri Fincantieri S.p.A. () is an Italian shipbuilding company based in Trieste, Italy. Already the largest shipbuilder in Europe, after the acquisition of Vard in 2013, Fincantieri group doubled in size to become the fourth largest in the world (2014 ...

as yard number 6259. The

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. O ...

section was built at the Riva Trigoso Naval Shipyard and the bow section was built at the Castellammare di Stabia (Naples) Naval Shipyard. On the night of 22/23 July 2018, a fire broke out on the ship's stern superstructure. ''Vulcano'' is designed as a support ship able to supply a large naval squadron at sea. She was commissioned in March 2021. The lead ship of the French Navy's ''Jacques Chevallier'' sub-class began sea trials in December 2022 and was commissioned in November 2024. Steel was cut on a second ship for the French Navy in February 2022 and on a second ship for the Italian Navy in July 2022. The second vessels for the French and Italian navies (''Jacques Stosskopf'' & ''Atlante'') both began sea trials in the first half of 2025. The ships have the capability to: * refuel ships * produce fresh water * carry cargo * Hospital

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Role 2 LM * conduct repairs at sea with integrated maintenance workshops She has a cargo capacity of up to 15,500 t, of which, "at least": * (+9,000 m3) of NATO F76 diesel fuel * (+4,000 m3) of NATO F44/JP5 aviation fuel * of fresh water * of ammunitions * of meals (30,000 food rations) * 3 m3 of gasoline in barrels * of lubricant in barrels * of solid goods * up to 8 × ISO1C standard containers, each one

Ships of the class

''Italics'' indicate the estimated date

References

External links

Ships
Marina Militare website {{Portal bar, Italy, Engineering Auxiliary ships of the Italian Navy Auxiliary replenishment ship classes Ships built by Fincantieri