NRP ''Arpão'' (S161) is a Tridente-class attack submarine of the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy (), also known as the Portuguese War Navy (''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'') or as the Portuguese Armada (''Armada Portuguesa''), is the navy of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Chartered in 1317 by King Dinis of Portugal, it is ...

. It was commissioned in 2010.

Operational history

In April 2023, the submarine deployed to the South Atlantic, crossing the

Equator The equator is the circle of latitude that divides Earth into the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Southern Hemisphere, Southern Hemispheres of Earth, hemispheres. It is an imaginary line located at 0 degrees latitude, about in circumferen ...

for the first time. During her deployment, she visited

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South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Angola Angola, officially the Republic of Angola, is a country on the west-Central Africa, central coast of Southern Africa. It is the second-largest Portuguese-speaking world, Portuguese-speaking (Lusophone) country in both total area and List of c ...

, and

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

, reportedly making it the longest ever Portuguese submarine deployment. In October 2023, the submarine was deployed to the Mediterranean to operate with NATO naval forces as part of "Operation Sea Guardian". Between April 2024 and June 2024 NRP Arpao was again deployed with NATO naval forces, this time as part of "Operation Brilliant Shield", and became the first Portuguese submarine to navigate below Arctic ice.

References

Tridente-class submarines Attack submarines 2010 ships {{submarine-stub