Surface Warships 2015

The most high-level and diverse gathering of the corvette, frigate & destroyer community

The Surface Warships Summit, now in its fifth year, examines the latest debates in naval force structure and highlights innovative technologies to match operational requirements.

Surface Warships 2014 broke new ground, with our best ever military representation which included Columbia, New Zealand and Peru. However, we are not resting on our laurels – the 2015 Summit looks set to be our largest and most high-level meeting to date.

The Conference will be held in Genoa, Italy, 26th – 29th January 2015. Fincantieri will be hosting a site visit on January 26th at their shipyard in La Spezia where the Italian Navy's third FREMM multi-mission frigate Carlo Margottini was recently launched.

This year, we will advance the focus on modularity and delve into the ‘trucks vs. limousines’ debate started by Admiral Greenert of the US Navy in 2012. It will also address the importance of ‘mid-life modernisation’ for warships, a topic of relevance many navies as they seek to expand capabilities within tightened budgets.

With less specialisation and more modularity, are we in danger of relying on ships which could be termed ‘jack of all trades and master of none’? Will mission performance decrease as specialisation declines? These questions are of the utmost importance when one considers that we are discussing warships, the centrepiece of naval power. This conference will fill the void for such a debate.