Italian FREMM frigate Emilio Bianchi in Piraeus: a close look at the newest sister of the frigates joining the Hellenic Navy

The Italian Navy (Marina Militare) frigate Emilio Bianchi (F599), the newest FREMM it has received, is moored in the port of Piraeus. The ship was photographed on Thursday, November 5: on the stern the name, the number F599, the Italian flag and the helicopter deck are clearly visible, while on the bow the turret of the 127 mm gun stands out.

The ship matters directly to Greece. Emilio Bianchi belongs to the same Bergamini class as the two frigates passing to the Hellenic Navy, Carlo Bergamini (F590) and Virginio Fasan (F591). The implementing arrangement for their transfer was signed in Rome on September 8, with an estimated cost of about 460 million euros. Bergamini is expected in Greece in the first half of 2028 and Fasan a year later. In a Greek port, then, one can see up close the newest unit of the family to which, from 2028, two Greek-flagged ships will also belong.

A visit on Italy’s Armed Forces Day

The frigate was in Piraeus on November 4 too, when Italy celebrated National Unity and Armed Forces Day. On that occasion Italian Ambassador to Athens Paolo Cuculi boarded the ship together with the embassy’s military attaché, Colonel Pasquale Guarino. According to the Italian news agency Italpress, he was received by the commanding officer, Captain Elia Cuoco, and inspected the crew. He thanked Italian Navy personnel for their dedication to the safety of navigation and regional stability in the wider Mediterranean, within the EU naval operations Aspides and IRINI.

The tenth and last of the original FREMM programme

According to Fincantieri’s announcement, the ship was delivered to the Italian Navy on July 30, 2025 at the Muggiano shipyard in La Spezia. She was built at Fincantieri’s combined Riva Trigoso and Muggiano site, with Orizzonte Sistemi Navali as prime contractor and a contract placed through the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR), under the Italian-French programme. She is the tenth Italian FREMM and with her the ten units of the original programme, launched in 2005, were completed. The first had been delivered in May 2013.

Of the ten frigates, four are general purpose (GP), four anti-submarine (ASW) and two in an enhanced anti-submarine configuration (ASW Enhanced), with Emilio Bianchi the second and last of that category. Two more, advanced FREMM EVO, are already being built at Riva Trigoso and Muggiano, with deliveries in 2029 and 2030.

At 144 metres long and 19.7 metres wide, the frigate displaces about 6,700 tonnes at full load and exceeds 27 knots. She has a range of about 6,000 nautical miles at 15 knots and can accommodate about 200 people. Her systems come from Fincantieri, Leonardo, MBDA and Elettronica. Armament includes 127 mm and 76 mm guns, Aster 15 and Aster 30 air-defence missiles in Sylver vertical launchers and MU90 torpedoes for anti-submarine warfare.

Flagship of the anti-piracy operation

In February 2026, only seven months after delivery, Emilio Bianchi became flagship of the 52nd rotation of the European anti-piracy operation EUNAVFOR Atalanta, under Italian Rear Admiral Daniele Paolo Martinucci, with the Spanish frigate Canarias as second ship. The force dealt with piracy incidents off Somalia, among them the case of the vessel Al Waseemi, which closed in March, until command passed to Spain on June 10, 2026.

The ship’s name honours Emilio Bianchi, a diver of the Royal Italian Navy in the Second World War. In December 1941, together with Luigi Durand de la Penne, he reached the harbour of Alexandria with a manned torpedo and struck the British battleship Valiant. Both were awarded the Gold Medal of Military Valour.