Navantia Commissions OPV for the Spanish Navy

February 07, 2012 by Navantia - naval-technology.com

Navantia has commissioned the naval ship BAM 'Relámpago' for the Spanish Navy, in a ceremony presided by Pedro Morenés, the minister of defence.

The ceremony has also been attended by the CEO of Navantia, Luis Cacho, the chief of the navy, Manuel Rebollo, and other naval and political representatives, including defence attachés of other countries such as South Africa, Turkey and Australia.

BAM 'Relámpago' is the third OPV of an initial series of four that Navantia is building for the Spanish Navy. The first two units, 'Meteoro' and 'Rayo', were commissioned in July and October 2011.

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

BAM's main missions are:

    Protect and escort other ships

    Control maritime traffic

    Control and neutralise terrorist actions and piracy

    Operations against drug trafficking and human trafficking

    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: 20.5 knots

    Autonomy (at 15kn): 8,000 miles

    Crew: 35

    Additional capacity: 35