The Diplomat
Navantia delivered yesterday to the Royal Saudi Navy the second of the five corvettes built at its shipyards in the Bay of Cadiz, in the presence of the Commander of the Royal Saudi Navy and the State Secretary for Defense.
The delivery of the corvette Al-Diriyah took place at the shipyard facilities in San Fernando. The delivery ceremony was attended by the Commander of the Royal Saudi Navy, Vice Admiral Fahad Bin Abdullah Al-Ghofaily; the State Secretary for Defense, María Amparo Valcarce; the President of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez; the CEO of SAMI, Walid Abukhaled; the Director General of Armaments and Material (DIGAM), Admiral Aniceto Rosique and the Mayoress of San Fernando, Patricia Cavada.
Navantia delivered the corvette Al-Diriyah to the Royal Saudi Navy three years after the cutting of its first plate (May 2019), “meeting demanding deadlines despite the health pandemic and global supply stress,” the company said in a press release. “This is one of the most competitive and capable vessels in its segment, as demonstrated in the sea trials carried out in the waters of the Bay of Cadiz,” it added.
During the event, which took place in accordance with military protocol, a mixed inspection commission (formed by members of the Royal Saudi Navy and Navantia) went on board the corvette to carry out the mandatory inspection. At the end of the inspection, the ship’s flag was hoisted, after which the Saudi Navy transferred the command of the corvette to the commander of Al-Diriyah. The president of Navantia presented Vice Admiral Al-Ghofaily with the ship’s bell as an institutional gift.
At the ceremony, the State Secretary for Defense pointed out that this ship is an excellent example of the quality of the Spanish shipyards, of the industrial and commercial cooperation between the two countries, which has guaranteed the economic activity of more than a hundred companies and 6,000 jobs in the Bay of Cadiz. For his part, the president of Navantia thanked “the collaboration of all those involved in the great task carried out by the shipyard, delivering state-of-the-art products and services and thus showing the world the capabilities” of the company, and Vice Admiral Al-Ghofaily stressed that the delivery of the corvette “marks the last important milestones of its manufacturing life, which has lasted 38 months during which the best technologies have been devoted to its construction and integration with cutting-edge combat systems”.
The corvette Al-Diriyah has a length of 104 meters, a beam of 14 meters and is capable of carrying a total of 102 crew and passengers. The contract for the construction of five corvettes came into force in November 2018 and, since the launching of the first unit (in July 2020), Navantia launched the five units with a cadence of four months between each of them, which meant achieving this milestone in a record time of three years. Deliveries are taking place just over three years after the first plate of each ship was cut.
The corvettes are based on the Avante 2200 design, adapted to Saudi Arabia’s requirements, offering advanced performance, excellent seakeeping, high survivability and extreme temperature capability. At the same time, around 500 crew members of these corvettes are completing the training process at the Navantia Training Centre (NTC) in San Fernando.
