''Navarra'' (F85) is the fifth of the six Spanish-built s, based on the American design, of the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy or officially, the Armada, is the maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation, ...

Construction and career

Laid down on 15 April 1991, and launched on 23 October 1992, ''Navarra'' was commissioned in service on 27 May 1994. The ship features a series of improvements to her previous sisters, with a new Meroka mod 2B CIWS, and upgraded fire control systems with Mk.92 mod6 CORT (Coherent Receiver Transmitter) and SPS-49(v)5 radar instead of previous (v)4. All of these Spanish frigates have the length of the later ''Oliver Hazard Perry'' frigates, and have a wider beam than the US Navy design, and therefore able to carry more top weight. Fin stabilizers are fitted. Asalto al So Sang

On 9 December 2002, ''Navarra'' intercepted the unflagged freighter ''So San'' several hundred miles southeast of

Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

at the request of the United States government as part of

Operation Enduring Freedom – Horn of Africa {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Operation Enduring Freedom Horn of Africa , partof = War on TerrorOperation Enduring Freedom , image = , caption = French Naval commandos (green) and United S ...

. The frigate fired across ''So San''s bow after the freighter ignored hails and attempted to evade the frigate. The freighter's crew was

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and shares borders with China and Russia to the north, at the Yalu River, Y ...

n; 23 containers containing 15 complete

Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second World, Second and Third World, Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporti ...

ballistic missiles, 15 high-explosive warheads, and 23

nitric acid Nitric acid is the inorganic compound with the formula . It is a highly corrosive mineral acid. The compound is colorless, but older samples tend to be yellow cast due to decomposition into oxides of nitrogen. Most commercially available nitri ...

containers were found on board. Yemen claimed ownership of the shipment and protested the interception and U.S. officials released the vessel after receiving assurances that the missiles would not be transferred to a third party. On 23 March 2010, she sank a

Somali pirate Piracy off the coast of Somalia occurs in the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and Somali Sea, in Somali territorial waters and other surrounding areas and has a long and troubled history with different perspectives from different communities. I ...

mothership A mother ship, mothership or mother-ship is a large vehicle that leads, serves, or carries other smaller vehicles. A mother ship may be a maritime ship, aircraft, or spacecraft. Examples include bombers converted to carry experimental airc ...

lifeboat Lifeboat may refer to: Rescue vessels * Lifeboat (shipboard), a small craft aboard a ship to allow for emergency escape * Lifeboat (rescue), a boat designed for sea rescues * Airborne lifeboat, an air-dropped boat used to save downed airmen A ...

and captured two

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-person or small crew. Sailing skiffs have devel ...

s, after private security forces successfully defended from a pirate attack. The six suspected pirates were later released, when the master and crew of ''Almezaan'' refused to testify. In November 2016, while patrolling off the Libyan coast as part of the

EUNAVFOR The European Union (EU) has undertaken a number of overseas missions and operations, drawing on civilian and military capabilities, in several countries across three continents (Europe, Africa and Asia), as part of its Common Security and Defe ...

Operation Sophia Operation Sophia, formally European Union Naval Force Mediterranean (EU NAVFOR Med), was a military operation of the European Union that was established as a consequence of the April 2015 Libya migrant shipwrecks with the aim of neutralising estab ...

, the frigate recovered 227 migrants from inflatable boats in the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

Gallery

File:US Navy 031017-N-1056B-003 The guided missile frigate USS Nicholas (FFG 47) and a helicopter from the Spanish frigate SPS Navarra (F-85) track a simulated cargo vessel.jpg, ''Navarra'' on 17 October 2003 File:Spanish frigate-Navarra (F85)-01.jpg, ''Navarra'' on 29 November 2006 File:070331-N-3888C-001.jpg, ''Navarra'' on 31 March 2007 File:Spanish frigate-Navarra (F85)-02.jpg, ''Navarra'' on 20 February 2009

Other units of class

* * * * *

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Navarra Ships of the Spanish Navy 1992 ships Santa María-class frigates

Construction and career

Gallery

Other units of class

See also

References