Ships

Naval Beach Group

Ships

Número de imágenes — Coat of Arms of Naval Beach Group

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Coat of Arms of Naval Beach Group

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An LCM in Turkish waters during post-earthquake relief

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Disembarkation in Turkey of medical vehicle

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Sunset at sea in the waters of Cagliari

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Boarding aboard the LPD 'Galicia' (L-51)

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An LCM preparing to dock in La Palma

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Bow view of an LCM

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Formation of LCM's heading to the beach

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Naval Beach Team

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Grupo Naval de Playa

WELCOMING ADDRESS

The Commander and complement of the Naval Beach Group welcomes you and invites you to meet one of least known Spanish Navy Units. Nevertheless, it plays an important role in Naval Operations involving force projection, thanks to its LCM-1E (Landing Craft Mechanized) landing craft. These craft have great cargo capacity, manoeuvrability and versatility which make them ideal for all type of operations: amphibious, humanitarian and peace-keeping. The Naval Beach Group is based at La Carraca Naval Base in San Fernando (Cádiz) and belongs to the 2nd Naval Action Force Group.

FEATURES

Displacement: 111 tons

Length: 23.3 meters.

Beam: 6,4 meters.

Propulsion:

2 PASCH/MAN engines of 809 KW each (2,300 rpm) .

Propulsion: 2 MJP water jets of 785 Kw.

Range: 190 miles transporting one combat tank.

Apart from the aforementioned LCM-1Es, the Naval Beach Group has several workshops, offices, storerooms and dry docks in its Base to carry out maintenance works.

As part of the Naval Beach Group, a Naval Beach Team operates ashore to watch over in situ the adequate performance of the craft during the Landing Operation. This Team has weapons and equipment of its own to operate along with the Marine Corps Landing Force.

WHAT WE DO?

The Naval Beach Group is trained to take part in Amphibious Operations in support of Landing Forces and Ship-to-Shore movement. It disembarks personnel, vehicles, materiel and provisions in order to secure the success of any amphibious operation.

WHERE WE ARE?

As of March 2017, the Naval Beach Group is based at La Carraca Naval Base in San Fernando (Cádiz).

WHO WE ARE?

The current 110-strong Naval Beach Group consists of a Commander (Lt-Cdr.), 6 officers, 15 NCOs, 87 ratings and 1 civil servant. Most of them come from Andalusian provinces.

OUR DAILY LIFE

The craft are kept permanently operational with different maintenance drills checking electronic and mechanical systems, manoeuvre elements, communications, painting, etc. Personnel training is also carried out with our own craft and in collaboration with other units, with sorties and day’s runs.

OUR HISTORY

The Naval Beach Group was set up in 1965 and is now structured within the Amphibious Command. There are three main sections: the Craft Unit, Pontoon Unit (no longer active) and the Naval Beach Team. The Craft Unit initially operated LCPLs, LCM-3s and LCM-6s. The procurement of an ex-US ship in the 70’s, the ‘Galicia’, opened up new possibilities as regards operability and modernization of the amphibious command. In 1972, the ‘Galicia’ transported two ex-U.S. Navy craft: the L-71 and L-72, popularly known as ‘Frogs’. The Pontoon Unit was established in 1971 coinciding with the arrival of the old LSTs from the Landing Flotilla.

During the Sahara Crisis in November 1975, the LCUs took part in operation ‘Triton’ with the Fleet Amphibious Group, ready to disembark the Marines on El -Aaiún beach. The following month they landed there to repatriate the Spanish troops deployed in the Sahara.

In the middle of the 90’s, the Spanish Navy received the Amphibious Ships ‘Hernán Cortés’ and ‘Pizarro’ along with two U.S. self-propelled pontoons (L-91 and L-92) and seven indigenous smaller pontoons built by Bazán (L-41 to L-47). In 1997 the Pontoon Unit participated in Operation ‘Amanecer’ unloading the Spanish Legion in the port of Durres (Albania) from the amphibious transport ship ‘Aragón’.

The shipbuilding of the new LPDs ‘Galicia’ and ‘Castilla’ enhanced the capability of the Naval Beach Group to operate from the well-decks of those amphibious ships. In 2001 NAVANTIA built in its San Fernando shipyards two prototypes of the future LCM-1Es. Subsequently, 12 LCM-1Es were built (14 units in total) which operate from the two LPDs and the LHD ‘Juan Carlos I’ providing great flexibility to the projection capability of the Landing Force, and ample support to other humanitarian aid missions.

MAIN OPERATIONS AND EXERCISES

The capability of the Naval Beach Group to carry out amphibious landings of both, personnel and vehicles, permits its participation in humanitarian aid missions.

The Group has taken part in many national and international exercises and operations: ADELFIBEX, ANFIBEX, CRISEX, MEDATEX, DRAGON HUMMER, DESTINED GLORY, FLOTEX, MARE APERTO, MAVI BALINA etc., highlighting the perfect training and readiness of its personnel.

In the last years, the Naval Beach Group has taken part in several important operations:

Deployment in Central America in the aftermath of hurricane ‘Mitch’ (November 1998 – January 1999).

Cleaning activities after the sinking – and subsequent oil spill – of the ‘Prestige’ (December 2002 – February 2003).

Humanitarian aid operation ‘SJ’ in Iraq (March – July 2003).

Operation ‘Solidarity Response’ in Indonesia after the 2004 Tsunami.

Peace-keeping operation ‘Libre Hidalgo’ in support of the UN mission in the Lebanon (September – November 2006).

Operation ‘Hispaniola’ after the earthquake in Haiti (January – May 2010).

The counter-piracy Operation ‘Atalanta’ in the Gulf of Aden and Indian Ocean (2010 – 2021).

One of the last missions was the support provided to the population of the Isle of La Palma (Canary Islands) from November 2021 to February 2022 during the natural catastrophe of the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano.

The Naval Beach Group regularly participates in many exercises and operations and is one of the Navy units with more activity.