Spanish patrol vessel Audaz (P-45)

Audaz (P-45) is an offshore patrol vessel and the fifth of the Meteoro class created for the Spanish Navy. It is the fourth Navy ship to carry this name. The patrol vessel was built in the Navantia's shipyard in San Fernando.

Audaz P-45 docked in the Port of Seville.
History
Spain
Name: Audaz
Ordered: 7 May 2014
Builder: NAVANTIA
Cost: €166.74m (US$224m)[1]
Laid down: 29 April 2016
Launched: 30 March 2017
Commissioned: 27 July 2018[2]
Homeport: Cartagena Naval Base
Identification:
Status: In active service
General characteristics
Class and type: Meteoro class BAM
Displacement: 2860 tons full load
Length: 93.9 metres (308 ft)
Beam: 14.2 metres (47 ft)
Draft: 4.2 metres (14 ft)
Propulsion:
  • 2 diesel engines
  • 4 groups diesel generators
  • 2 electric motors propellers
  • 1 Emergency generator
  • Located 2 cross bow thruster
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range: 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi)
Complement: 46 crew and 30 forces[3]
Armament:
  • 1 cannon 76 mm/62 gun
  • 2 x 25 mm automatic mountings
  • 2 × 12.7 mm machine guns
Aircraft carried: 1 × NH-90

Order and construction

On May 7, 2014, SEPI announced that it had approved the construction of two new units, one to be built at the Cadiz shipyard in San Fernando / Puerto Real and the other at Ferrol.[4] The first sheet metal cut for these vessels, was carried out simultaneously in the shipyards of the bay of Cadiz and those of the Ferrol estuary on December 5, 2014. Order No. DEF/1564/2015 was published in the Official State Gazette on June 26, 2015, which names of these two ships as Audaz (P-45) and Furor (P-46).[5]

The ship was laid down on April 29, 2016 and launched on March 30, 2017 at the San Fernando shipyard.[6] The operational tests were done between the 15 and 21 of May 2018.[7] The ship was commissioned on July 27, 2018.

Operational history

The Audaz was assigned to the Naval Base of Cartagena where it arrived on September 2018.[8]

It first mission was assigned on 20 August 2019. It consisted of heading to the island of Lampedusa, Italy to escort the Open Arms vessel to the port of Mahon, Spain after italian interior minister, Matteo Salvini, denied the ship's entry to the country.[9]

References
  1. Ing, David (22 July 2014). "Two new Spanish BAM OPVs to be in service by 2019, says Navantia". IHS Jane's Navy International.
  2. Infodefensa.com, Revista Defensa (2018-07-27). "Navantia entrega el BAM Audaz a la DGAM - Noticias Infodefensa España". Infodefensa.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-01-24.
  3. Official Web of the Spanish Navy
  4. La SEPI anuncia la construcción de un Buque de Acción Marítima (BAM) en los astilleros gaditanos(spanish)
  5. Order DEF / 1564/2015, of June 26, naming two BAMs, currently under construction(spanish)
  6. Navantia launches fifth Buque de Acción Marítima ship for Spanish Navy
  7. "Primeras pruebas de mar del BAM 'Audaz' por la Bahía". lavozdigital (in Spanish). 2018-05-17. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  8. Infodefensa.com, Revista Defensa (2018-09-04). "El BAM Audaz llega a su base de Cartagena - Noticias Infodefensa España". Infodefensa.com (in Spanish). Retrieved 2019-08-21.
  9. "Spain Will Send Ship to Italy to Rescue Stranded Migrants". The New York Times. Associated Press. 2019-08-20. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2019-08-21.
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