The Royal Moroccan Navy’s new offshore patrol vessel was launched on Tuesday at the Navantia shipyard in San Fernando, Spain, marking a major step in the ship’s construction, according to Spanish media EuropaSur.
The launch is a major step forward in a project that began with the keel-laying ceremony last September 2024 on Slipway 3 at the San Fernando shipyard.
The new patrol vessel, now the 565th ship built at Navantia San Fernando, measures 87 meters in length and 13 meters in beam, with space for a crew of 60.
The source mentioned that the patrol vessel is already sailing the Strait of Gibraltar on its way to its home naval base in Morocco.
According to Navantia, the project has generated over a million work hours and supported around 1,100 jobs—direct, indirect, and related—over three years.
The contract also includes a package of technical and logistical support—spare parts, tools, and technical documentation—as well as training services in Spain for Royal Moroccan Navy personnel in Spain.
The patrol vessel is described as “a solution designed for long-term deployment at sea with low operating and life-cycle costs. Its systems were engineered to ensure operational efficiency, ease of maintenance, and high reliability—all with a relatively small crew.”
The launch ceremony was attended by several Spanish officials, including the mayors of San Fernando and Puerto Real, the Spanish government’s deputy representative in Cádiz, and other regional representatives, alongside the head of the Cádiz Naval Arsenal.
Captain Mohammed El Fadili of the Royal Moroccan Navy highlighted the ship’s launch as a symbol of the “deep friendship and cooperation” between Morocco and Spain, and between the Moroccan Navy and Navantia in particular.
He also praised the vessel’s cutting-edge technology, which he said reflects the Navy’s ambition to build a versatile and enduring fleet as part of a broader modernization of Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces—an initiative led by King Mohammed VI to address evolving maritime security challenges.
Navantia President Ricardo Domínguez emphasized that this project is “not just a construction milestone but a testament to a growing partnership” between Spain and Morocco, driven by shared goals of security and technological excellence.
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