Recommissioning As A Guided Missile Cruiser
After the war she was retained by the Marina Militare and modernized with minor changes of the armament and a radar. She was decommissioned in 1953 and reconstructed as a guided missile cruiser.
The new ship was rebuilt in the La Spezia Arsenal starting from 1957, and, at her completion in 1961, she was named flagship of the Italian Navy.
The reconstruction included a complete overhauling of the superstructure, while the hull kept its original dimensions.
Apart from some minor changes, much of the latter's rebuilding included four launchers for US UGM-27 Polaris nuclear ballistic missiles. Despite the successful launching tests, the US never provided the missiles, due to political convenience. Instead the Italian Government set to develop an indigenous missile, called Alfa, with a successful program, officially halted by Italian Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ratification and failure of the NATO Multilateral Force.
The propulsion system remained the same. The rest of the armament was radically altered: a RIM-2 Terrier missile launcher made Giuseppe Garibaldi the first missile cruiser in Europe. The previous artillery was replaced by four 135/45 mm guns in two twin turrets and eight Oto Melara 76/62mm Type MMI AA guns.
Electronics included several radars and fire control systems.
She was decommissioned in 1971 and scrapped the following year.
Read more about this topic: Italian Cruiser Giuseppe Garibaldi (1936)
Famous quotes containing the words guided and/or missile:
“Sometimes, when I compare myself with other men, it seems as if I were more favored by the gods than they, beyond any deserts that I am conscious of; as if I had a warrant and surety at their hands which my fellows have not, and were especially guided and guarded. I do not flatter myself, but if it be possible they flatter me.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“... the truth is the hardest missile one can be pelted with.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)