Luigi Durand de la Penne (D 560) is the lead ship of the Durand de la Penne-class destroyers of the Italian Navy.

The Durand de Le Penne class are escort and combat class ships, able to operate in every combat condition, and especially devised to survive to heavy missile and aircraft attacks. Its construction is made almost totally with steel; the structure is a continuous deck with a low, large stern, to accommodate the helicopter force. The fore hull is very pointed, with a very pronounced sea-cutter structure. The superstructure consists of two blocks, relatively low and wide, both with a high, antenna mast with a triangular cross-section for all the electronic. The engines exhausts are in two groups, one for each superstructure: the aft has two exhausts flank to flank, slightly inclined. Then there is the Standard missile system and finally the helicopter facilities.^{[citation needed]}

She is laid down on 20 January 1988 and launched on 20 October 1989 by Fincantieri shipyards initially under the name Animoso, named after the same torpedo boat which served during World War II. Commissioned on 18 March 1993 with the hull number D 560.^[1]

Luigi Durand de la Penne entered Odesa Port, Ukraine, on 4 September 2019. She met the cadets at Odesa Maritime Academy.^[2]

25 August 2020, Luigi Durand de la Penne conducted an exercise with TCG Goksu in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.^[3] As of August 29, 2024, she was docked in Valletta Harbour, Malta.

After 31 years of service, She was decommissioned on 1 October 2024 along with Italian aircraft carrier Giuseppe Garibaldi.

• Destroyer Durand de la Penne Marina Militare website
• Media related to Durand de la Penne (D 560) at Wikimedia Commons