Navantia Launches Fourth OPV (BAM) for Spanish Navy

Navantia has launched the fourth maritime action ship ‘Tornado’ P-44 for the Spanish Navy. The ship has been christened by Cristina Garmendia, the Spanish Innovation and Technology Minister, with the ceremony also being attended by Carmen Chacón, the Spanish Defence Minister, the Chairman of SEPI, Enrique Martínez Robles, the Chairman of Navantia, Luis Cacho, as well as the Spanish Navy’s highest authority, Admiral Manuel Rebollo García.

The ship is the last of the initial series of four that Navantia is building for the Spanish Navy, in accordance with the execution order signed on 31 July 2006, and will be followed by a new series of five units. This ship is expected to be delivered by the middle of 2012.

She is a moderately sized, high-performance ship, with great versatility regarding missions. She enjoys a high level of system commonality with other Spanish Navy ships, and has low acquisition and life cycle costs.

Her main missions are:

• Protection and escort of other ships
• Control of maritime traffic
• Control and neutralisation of terrorist actions and piracy
• Operations against drug trafficking and the traffic in persons
• Maritime rescue and salvage operations
• Crisis situation support and humanitarian assistance
• Control of fishing legislation
• Control of environmental and anti-pollution legislation

Main features:

• Length overall: 93.90m
• Maximum beam: 14.20m
• Depth to flight deck: 7.20m.
• Displacement at full load: 2,575t
• Scantling draught: 4.4m
• Maximum speed: 20.5kn
• Autonomy (at 15kn): 8,000 miles
• Crew: 35
• Additional capacity: 35

The new series of five has already been announced and is expected to be signed shortly. The construction will start by the end of 2011, providing occupation in the shipyard until 2017.