Spanish patrol vessel Meteoro (P-41)

Meteoro (P-41) is the lead ship of the Meteoro class, a new kind of offshore patrol vessel created for the Spanish Navy and called BAMs.

Meteoro (P-41)
History
Spain
Name: Meteoro
Ordered: 31 July 2006
Builder: NAVANTIA
Cost: €166.74m (US$224m)[1]
Laid down: 4 October 2007
Launched: 16 October 2009
Commissioned: 28 July 2011
Homeport: Las Palmas Naval Base
Identification: pennant number: P-41
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[2]
Armament:
  • 1 cannon 76 mm/62 gun
  • 2 x 25 mm automatic mountings
  • 2 × 12.7 mm machine guns
Aircraft carried: 1 × NH-90

Operational history
Launching of Meteoro's at San Fernando

Construction began on October 4, 2007 with the cutting of the first sheet[3] and the keel was placed on the stand on March 13, 2009 in the shipyard of San Fernando.

She was launched on Friday, October 16, 2009, sponsored by Minister of Economy Elena Salgado,[4] with the anecdote that the ship slid down the stage 11 minutes before the scheduled time, when the ceremony had just begun.
On Friday, January 28, 2011, she successfully completed her sea trials in the Bay of Cadiz waters, prior to its delivery to the Navy,[5] completing her last tests in July 2011. While carrying out minor repairs at the San Fernando shipyard , a soldier was found dead inside of the ship with a shot in the head.[6] She was handed to the navy at the base of Rota in the presence of Defense Minister Carme Chacón on July 28, 2011.

Under the command of Captain David Fernández-Portal Díaz del Rio, on August 22, she arrived in the military arsenal of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where she remained until September 5, when she returned to the peninsula to begin the certification of her Equipment and systems. In October 2011, she traveled to Cartagena for evaluation and training of the crew, then going to Alicante, arriving on November 4, where the Prince of Asturias attended the next day At the exit of the Volvo Ocean Race, indicated by means of a cannon salvo of the Meteoro, after which she went to the city, to participate in the events of 50th edition of the Nautical Week of Barcelona. After finalizing the Nautical Week of Barcelona, went to the Naval Military School of Marín, where she arrived on 23 November to carry out various tests there, and to sail from there the next day.

She finished her cruise of resistance by the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea on 19 December 2011, when she arrived at her base in the Arsenal of Las Palmas, after having touched, in addition to the ports already mentioned, Lisbon, Vigo, Palma de Mallorca, Mahón And Algiers, where she was visited by 40 officers of the Algerian Navy.[7]

On June 7, she returned to her base in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria after completing a period of operational qualifications and training, now being considered as fully operational.

On July 17, 2013, she sailed from her base in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria to join Operation Atalanta to fight piracy in the Indian Ocean, replacing Numancia, in an expected deployment of four months. Between December 1 and 3, she was relieved in Djibouti by Tornado, to begin her return journey to Spain, and arrive at her base in Las Palmas on December 22, 2013

On March 20, 2014, while participating in a routine exercise of cargo hoisting some 23 miles southwest of Fuerteventura, a Super-Puma helicopter of the Air Rescue Service of the Air Force 802 squadron crashed in the middle of an exercise. Meteoro was able to rescue one of the 5 crew members of the aircraft.[8] On April 21, 2014, she participated in search and rescue tasks, participating in the company Phoenix International and the bodies of two of her crew, as well as the Transfer of the aforementioned mortal remains to the Arsenal of Las Palmas.

In April 2015 she participated in the cleaning of oil spills in the Canary Islands, caused by the sinking of the Russian fishing vessel Oleg Naydenov. During the night of 16 to 17 of May, 2015 she participated in the arrest of a former fishing vessel, which carried 1800 kg of cocaine on board.

In August 2015 she joined the twenty-first rotation of the Atalanta anti-piracy operation in Indian waters. At the end of November, she set out on a return trip to Spain, calling at the ports of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Cape Town (South Africa) and Luanda (Angola).

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. Archived from the original on 27 July 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  2. "Official Web of the Spanish Navy". Archived from the original on 2012-08-13. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  3. Navantia empieza mañana el corte de chapa de los Buques de Acción Marítima Archived 2017-04-13 at the Wayback Machine (spanish)
  4. Botadura del primer Buque de Acción Marítima de la Armada Española Archived 2017-04-12 at the Wayback Machine (spanish)
  5. El BAM ?Meteoro?(P-41) realiza con éxito sus últimas pruebas de mar Archived 2017-04-13 at the Wayback Machine(spanish)
  6. Hallado muerto un militar en un buque de la Armada en San Fernando Archived 2017-04-13 at the Wayback Machine(spanish)
  7. El patrullero oceánico ‘Meteoro’ finaliza su crucero de resistencia(spanish)
  8. Recuperan los primeros restos del helicóptero siniestrado en Canarias Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine(spanish)
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