On 6 September 2024 Navantia’s San Fernando Shipyard carried out the keel laying of the offshore patrol vessel (OPV) the company is building for the Royal Moroccan Navy.
The event was attended by the colonel major of the Royal Moroccan Navy, Mohammed Sallouh, who was received by the Navantia President Ricardo Domínguez; the company’s operations and business director, Gonzalo Mateo-Guerrero, and the director of Navantia’s corvette and Buque de Acción Marítima/Marine Action Vessel (BAM/MAV) business, Alberto Cervantes.
The keel laying took place on slipway Number 3 of the San Fernando shipyard. The placement of the block on the slipway, with the help of cranes, marks the start of construction on the slipway, where the vessel begins to take shape while the manufacture of subsequent blocks continues in the yard’s various workshops.
The Royal Moroccan Navy awarded Navantia the contract to build the OPV in January 2021.
Based on Navantia’s Avante 1800 design, the OPV will have a length of 87 m, a beam of 13 m, a full-load displacement of around 2,020 tonnes and will host a crew of 60. The Avante 1800 design is typically armed with a 76 mm main gun, two 25/30 mm secondary guns, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles and a point defence missile system. The type also carries two rigid-hull inflatable boats and features a flight deck capable of accommodating a 10-tonne helicopter.
Navantia’s contract also covers a technical-logistical support package (spare parts, tools and technical documentation) for the vessel as well as training for the Royal Moroccan Navy in Spain.
