![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/VDS.jpg.jpg\")
Damage control<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n
The damage control system is highly sophisticated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The ship is equipped with an incredible camera system that exists almost everywhere except the living spaces and spaces like central control that are constantly manned. If fire or flooding is detected in any space, a live video feed will automatically pull up on the screen of the damage control system monitors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Fire boundaries on the main deck can be set automatically from central control with the flip of a switch, which releases the magnetized door stops, and the damage control officer can see when anyone breaks fire boundaries (he will let you know). <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The primary fire system is highly pressurized water sprinkler system that sprays atomized demineralized water that decouples the fire from its fuel source. About a gallon of water is sufficient to handle most spaces, including main-space fires and the demineralized water protects electronics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is also a fixed gas system as a backup in the main spaces. All the fixed systems have mechanical back-up systems should the ship lose power completely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the sprinkler and gas systems fail, there are dozens of fire stations \u2014 87 to be exact \u2014 throughout the ship for the fire-party\u2019s use. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stations are fully equipped with several kinds of fire extinguishers and canisters of agent, including AFFF and F-500, and in-line eductors for extracting them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Navigation<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n The bridge is state-of-the-art, but in a way that makes your job easier, not in the way that saves people by lumping too many functions in one watchstander. There is a long row of terminals and screens that are manned by no fewer than four personnel including the navigator, a bright bridge monitoring the surface search radar, the helmsman and an engineer monitoring the plant status. The Marina also has the normal OOD, conning officer and XO or CO supervision during sea and anchor detail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The bridge wings have quartermasters who function as lookouts and can shoot bearings if the electronic chart fails. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The visuals on the bridge are fantastic, with 180-degrees plus visible without stepping outside on the bridge wings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Berthings and staterooms<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n Plush. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The crew lives in staterooms, the largest of which are two six-person staterooms for (of course) the Marines and air detachment. Most are four-person staterooms. One-person staterooms are for the embarked admiral, the captain, the executive officer, and the department heads. The rest of the officers are in two and four-person staterooms. The beds are the same throughout the ship. In the two-person staterooms the racks the fold out from the wall, with the bottom rack folding out into a couch. In the four-person staterooms the racks are fixed. Each stateroom has an identical private bathroom, officer and enlisted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Alpino comes equipped with no fewer than five espresso machines, but sailors hoping the U.S. Navy will buy Italian espresso machines shouldn\u2019t hold their breath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The littoral combat ship is the closest relative to the FREMM currently in the fleet in terms of crew accommodations but it\u2019s not even close to the same level of luxury. As said one Alpino sailor, a 20-year veteran of the Marina: \u201cIt\u2019s a luxury, five-star hotel\u201d compared to his first ship where he shared a berthing with 119 other sailors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n If the Navy selects FREMM it would easily be the more luxurious ship in the fleet. However, NAVSEA\u2019s predilection for saving weight might strip a U.S. version of some of FREMM’s amenities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Takeaways<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n The ship is pretty darn cool: It\u2019s built to fight and has plenty of power to go around. An AEGIS version of the FREMM being pitched by Fincantieri has an even greater power capacity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is very quiet. Compared with the Ticonderoga-class cruisers and Arleigh Burkes, there is just very little in the way of ambient noise, and there is almost no noise in the berthings. Even the engine room is quiet enough that hearing protection is not required to enter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The ship has also integrated a ton of technologies that cuts down on manning. Foremost among them is the damage control system but there are others. For instance, during underway replenishment the lines are reeled in with winches rather than with a team of line handlers as is done on U.S. Navy ships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There are however a couple of things on this version of the FREMM that would make the U.S. Navy uncomfortable in terms of design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n FREMM has only a single LM2500 and the redundancy-obsessed NAVSEA would likely want two. The AEGIS version of the FREMM being pitched by Finacantieri has two independent propulsion systems, one for each shaft, instead of two motors and one LM2500. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Almost the entire ship is enclosed save for spaces on the O-2 and O-3 levels between the enclosed forward mast and the rear traditional mast used for box launchers, a space above the helo hanger, a large flight deck, a small forecastle closed to foot traffic underway, and an amply large bridge wings. The mooring lines feed from enclosed areas both forward and aft under the forecastle and flight deck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Navy likes more weather deck space in its combatants but recent ships, including the littoral combat ships and the Zumwalt class, have had less transitable deck space. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the top speed is 27 or 28 knots in normal conditions \u2014 that\u2019s about as fast as FFG-7s but not as fast as a Burke or Ticonderoga. That means this version would have to push itself to keep up with a U.S. aircraft carrier. The AEGIS version of the FREMM lists its top speed at 30 knots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All told, this is a survivable, purpose-built ship and it\u2019s plainly evident after three days on board why the Navy put it in the final five for its FFG(X) program. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Got any more questions? Fire away on Twitter: @DavidLarter<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The anti-submarine warfare FREMM Alpino is pretty darn cool: It\u2019s built to fight and has plenty of power to go around. It has espresso machines, which may or may not land in the Navy version. But it’s also not perfect.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":4858,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":16,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"7":{"categories":["your-navy","news","left-column","home","middle-column","daily-news-roundup","newsletters"],"primary_category":"your-navy"}}},"categories":[160,46,11,16,36],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3361],"class_list":["post-21453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-europe","category-global","category-naval","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TPKGUWSEQVGZFMRSHPQHQIHPAA","arc_canonical_url":"\/naval\/2018\/05\/30\/we-spent-3-days-on-a-top-ffgx-contender-heres-what-you-need-to-know\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/pway.jpg.jpg\")
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![\"\"](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/espresso.jpg.jpg\")
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