Minehunter Gaeta is the first of the second series completed at the Intermarine Shipyards: she was delivered to the Italian Navy in July 1992. Two other previous units shared the same name: a 1865 propeller Frigate, and a (Bourbon) Corvette.

Gaeta is a town in the Latina province, and a gulf. The town rises on a promontory that divides the broad bay formed by the Tyrrhenian Sea  between mount Circeo and Capo Miseno: the northern bay forms the Gulf of Terracina, while the southern bay comprises the gulf of Gaeta.

The city’s origins are pre-Roman; the legend goes that it was founded by Aeneas; its name comes from his loyal nurse Caieta, who accompanied him in his long peregrinations.

During the Roman times Gaeta was a very important commercial harbour and hosted many villas intended for  the aristocrats’ holidays.  When the Byzantine occupation, it was sacked many times by the Moors. It  then became an independent duchy before falling under the rule of the Normans, the Pope, Frederick II, the Aragoneses and the Bourbons, until 1861.  The old town still features narrow lanes, terraces, archivolts and buildings dating back to the XII and XIII centuries. A VII century castle towers over Gaeta.

The Crest of ITS Gaeta still maintains the rectangular shape typical of the crests of the first series minehunters: all along the outer edge runs a rope;  on the top are three towers that remind of the Italian Navy’s turreted crown. Underneath in the cartouche, are the submarine identification numbers and the unit’s name “MHC  Gaeta.”

The ship’s profile is in the foreground highlighting her new outer features: the mast arrangement in this new series is leaning against the funnel instead of the upper bridge.  All the crests present an area reserved for the city’s coat of arms, Gaeta’s is a shield divided into four sections in alternating  red and white; the outer section is decorated with friezes and surmounted by the Dukes’ crown.