Navantia launches first naval action ship for Spanish Navy

The San Fernando-Puerto Real shipyard on October 16 launched “P41 Meteor,” the first of four Maritime Action Ships for the Spanish Navy. The ceremony was godmothered by Elena Salgado Méndez, Minister of Economy and Finance, and was also attended by the President of SEPI, Enrique Martinez Robles, the President of Navantia, Aurelio Martínez Estévez, as well as the supreme commander of the Spanish Navy, Admiral Manuel Rebollo Garcia. This vessel is the first in the initial series of four Navantia-built BAM ships for the Spanish navy, according to Executive Order signed on 31 July 2006, but is expected to eventually involve a total of 10 units. Delivery of the lead ship is planned for late 2010. The construction of these ships will bring Navantia 3,130,000 hours of work, 270,000 of them in engineering, and workload until 2011. It is a vessel of moderate size, high performance, great versatility in terms of missions, a high level of commonality with other Navy ships and reduced acquisition and service life costs.