Rayo (P-42)
History
Spain
NameRayo
Ordered31 July 2006
BuilderNAVANTIA
Cost€166.74m (US$224m)[1]
Laid down3 September 2009
Launched18 May 2010
Commissioned26 October 2011
DecommissionedIn active service
HomeportLas Palmas Naval Base
Identificationpennant number: P-42
StatusIn active service
General characteristics
Class and typeMeteoro class BAM
Displacement2860 tons full load
Length93.9 metres (308 ft)
Beam14.2 metres (47 ft)
Draft4.2 metres (14 ft)
Propulsion
  • 2 diesel engines
  • 4 groups diesel generators
  • 2 electric motors propellers
  • 1 Emergency generator
  • Located 2 cross bow thruster
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi)
Complement46 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 carried1 × NH-90

Rayo (P-42) is the second ship of the Meteoro class, a new kind of offshore patrol vessel created for the Spanish Navy and called BAMs.

Operational history

It was laid down on September 3, 2009, at the Puerto Real-San Fernando shipyard.

It was launched on Tuesday, May 18, 2010, sponsored by Defense Minister Carme Chacón, after which, it continued its construction process afloat. Between May 27 and July 1, 2011, it performed its sea trials as far as the platform is concerned.[3]

It was delivered to the Navy on October 26, 2011, at the naval base in Rota, in a ceremony chaired by Constantino Méndez, Secretary of State for Defense, and Manuel Rebollo, Admiral Chief of Staff of the Navy.

After arriving in Cartagena at the end of November, he arrived at his home port in the Arsenal of Las Palmas on December 20, 2011,[4] where he remained until January 16, 2012, when he sailed to perform his resistance cruiser, in which carried out surveillance exercises, transshipment of weights and communications with the Atalaya (P-74) in the Alborán Sea, to go later to Palermo (Italy), where he made a stopover on January 23, 2012, subsequently sailing with destination to Izmir, Turkey.

In December 2013, it participated in the operation that led to the capture in waters near the Canary Islands of the Triton 2000 sailing vessel, carrying 550 kg of cocaine on board.

In December 2014 he relieved Navarre in the Atalanta operation to combat piracy in a deployment that has an estimated six months, deployment during which, personnel of the navy of Madagascar, to return to his base on May 26, 2015.

At the end of October 2015 participated in the tasks of rescue of a Superpuma Helicopter of the Service of Search and Rescue (SAR) of the Air Force that had crashed in the Atlantic while returning to Canarias and was in charge of the transfer of the bodies of the three members of the helicopter crew to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

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.
  2. ↑ Official Web of the Spanish Navy
  3. ↑ Navantia concluye con éxito las pruebas de plataforma del BAM Rayo(Spanish)
  4. ↑ El segundo buque de acción marítima ‘Rayo’ llega a su base de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria(Spanish)
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