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The Descubierta-class corvettes were a series of corvettes built for the Spanish Navy in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These ships were also sold to the Egyptian Navy and the Moroccan Navy. The ships were designed in cooperation with the German company Blohm & Voss, based on the João Coutinho-class corvettes which were designed in the late 1960s for the Portuguese Navy, by the Portuguese naval engineer Rogério de Oliveira. A larger version was proposed for a second batch but the Spanish Navy chose to build the American Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigates under licence instead.
 Infanta Elena (P-76), in 2008 | |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Descubierta class corvette |
| Builders | Bazan, Ferrol & Cartagena |
| Operators | |
| Built | 1975-1984 |
| Completed | 9 |
| Active | 3 |
| Retired | 6 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Corvette |
| Displacement | 1,233 tons standard, 1,482 tons full load |
| Length | 88.8 m (291 ft) |
| Beam | 10.4 m (34 ft) |
| Draught | 3.8 m (12 ft) |
| Propulsion | 2 shaft, 4 MTU-Bazán 16V 956 TB91 diesel engines, 16,000 hp (12,000 kW) |
| Speed | 25 knots (46 km/h; 29 mph) |
| Range | 4,000 nautical miles (7,400 km) at 18 knots (33 km/h) |
| Complement | 118 |
| Armament |
|
| Ship | Pennant number | Builder | Commissioned | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Descubierta | F31 | Cartagena | 18 November 1978 | Transformed to patrol craft P-75 (2000). Decommissioned 30 June 2009[1] |
| Diana | F32 | Cartagena | 30 June 1979 | Transformed to MCM support ship M-11 (2000). Decommissioned 27 May 2015[2] |
| Infanta Elena | F33 | Cartagena | 12 April 1980 | Transformed to patrol craft P-76 (2000). Decommissioned 17 March 2023[3] |
| Infanta Cristina | F34 | Cartagena | 24 November 1980 | Transformed to patrol craft P-77 (2000). Decommissioned September 2023[4] |
| Cazadora | F35 | Ferrol | 2 July 1981 | Transformed to patrol craft P-78 (2000). Decommissioned 26 April 2018[5] |
| Vencedora | F36 | Ferrol | 27 March 1982 | Transformed to patrol craft P-79 (2000). Decommissioned 1 January 2017[6] |
| Ship | Pennant number | Builder | Commissioned | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El Suez | F946 | Bazan, Ferrol | 21 August 1984 | In service |
| Abo Qir | F941 | Bazan, Ferrol | 27 October 1984 | In service |
The Moroccan vessel is equipped with Exocet missiles instead of Harpoon missiles.
| Ship | Pennant number | Builder | Commissioned | Current Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lieutenant Colonel Errhamani | 501 | Bazan, Ferrol | 28 March 1983 | In service |
