NAVANTIA launches the Fourth Corvette for the Royal Saudi Navy in its San Fernando Shipyards.

Navantia has launched this Saturday the fourth of the five corvettes being built in the shipyards of San Fernando (Cádiz) for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces (RSNF), this one with the name of ‘Jazan’, as a tribute to that city in the southwest of the country.

The ceremony, which took place at the San Fernando shipyards, was attended by the Admiral Chief of Staff of the Spanish Navy (AJEMA), Admiral General Antonio Martorell Lacave; the Chairwoman of the ‘Sociedad Estatal de Participaciones Industriales’ (SEPI), Belén Gualda; the Chairman of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez, the Mayoress of San Fernando, Patricia Cavada, as well as other civilian and military authorities from Spain and Saudi Arabia. The launching ceremony was conducted in accordance with the current sanitary safety measures.

During the ceremony, the president of Navantia thanked the Spanish Navy, the Royal Saudi Navy and the Ministries of Defense of both countries for ‘their valuable collaboration to make this program a true success’, as well as the different teams and workers for their efforts. ‘Your dedication, expertise and good work allow us to underline that Navantia is fulfilling its commitments. This fourth ship, which will soon be delivered to the customer, will be another proof of the good work of this shipyard, of which we should feel very proud’, he concluded.

For his part, AJEMA underlined that the corvette ‘is a clear demonstration of Spain's industrial capability in the field of shipbuilding and of its strong commitment to technological innovation.Admiral Martorell Lacave thanked Vice Admiral Al-Ghofaily and the Royal Saudi Navy as a whole for ‘the trust placed in the Spanish Navy to oversee the execution of this ambitious and pioneering naval program’, stressing that ‘this is the first time that the Spanish Navy has embarked on such a far-reaching naval program’.

‘A clear proof of this commitment, and of the constant progress of the program, is the effort made in the training of the crew of the first corvette. An example has been the specialization courses organized in areas such as Combat, Operations, Communications, Navigation and Deck, Propulsion and Electricity, as well as the training in tactical procedures that is currently being conducted in the Fleet’s Tactical Simulator’, he said.