Frigate ‘Méndez Núñez’ gets underway towards the Indo-Pacific region

The frigate ‘Méndez Núñez’ (F-104) has set sail from Ferrol (NW Spain) to join the Royal Navy's HMS ‘Prince of Wales’ Carrier Strike Group, in an important international naval collaboration for protection and support in all combat domains.

On this occasion, the F-104 will escort the British carrier through the waters of the Atlantic, the Mediterranean, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, until finally reaching the Indo-Pacific region. An area of great geopolitical and economic importance where the Spanish Navy continues its commitment towards the preservation of international order and security, while strengthening alliances.

This deployment, as the ship’s Commanding Officer Cdr. Jaime Muñoz-Delgado Pérez has pointed out, ‘is a challenge that the crew faces with great enthusiasm and responsibility. At the same time, it is a magnificent opportunity to demonstrate the Navy's capability to operate fully integrated with other allied countries in a region of the world of great strategic importance for Spain’.

Initially, Operation ‘Highmast’, the second deployment of the UK's Carrier Strike Group (CSG) under command of Commodore James Blackmore, has a total complement of 2,500 military personnel, 2,100 of whom are British and the rest Spanish, Norwegian and Canadian. The mission will reach 5,000 troops when Naval Forces from countries such as Australia, South Korea, France, Italy, Japan, New Zealand and the United States will join the operation.

It will be a four-month deployment where interoperability will be tested with ships from other countries, in geographical areas far away from the national territory.