The ''Descubierta''-class corvettes were a series of

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the sloo ...

s built for the

Spanish Navy The Spanish Navy, officially the Armada, is the Navy, maritime branch of the Spanish Armed Forces and one of the oldest active naval forces in the world. The Spanish Navy was responsible for a number of major historic achievements in navigation ...

in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These ships were also sold to the

Egyptian Navy The Egyptian Navy (), also known as the Egyptian Naval Forces, is the maritime branch of the Egyptian Armed Forces. It is the largest navy in the Middle East as well as Africa, and is the twelfth largest (by the number of vessels) navy in the w ...

and the Moroccan Navy. The ships were designed in cooperation with the German company

Blohm & Voss Blohm+Voss (B+V), also written historically as Blohm & Voss, Blohm und Voß etc., is a German shipbuilding and engineering company. Founded in Hamburg in 1877 to specialise in steel-hulled ships, its most famous product was the World War II battle ...

, based on the s which were designed in the late 1960s for the

Portuguese Navy The Portuguese Navy (), also known as the Portuguese War Navy (''Marinha de Guerra Portuguesa'') or as the Portuguese Armada (''Armada Portuguesa''), is the navy of the Portuguese Armed Forces. Chartered in 1317 by King Dinis of Portugal, it is ...

, by the Portuguese naval engineer Rogério de Oliveira. A larger version was proposed for a second batch but the

chose to build the American s under licence instead.

Ships

Spanish Navy

Egyptian Navy

Royal Moroccan Navy

The Moroccan vessel is equipped with

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from Warship, surface vessels, Submarine, submarines, Helicopter, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guil ...

missiles instead of Harpoon missiles.

Gallery

File:Infanta Elena (P-76) 060604-N-8547M-003.jpg, ''Infanta Elena'' (P-76), ex-F33, in 2008 File:Moroccan frigate RMNS Lieutenant Colonel Errhamani (F 501).jpg, Moroccan ''Lieutenant Colonel Errhamani'' (F 501). File:Descubierta P75.jpg, ''Descubierta'' (P-75), ex-F31 File:Corbeta Diana F32.jpg, ''Diana'' (M-11), ex-F32 File:Corveta infanta Cristina F34.jpg, ''Infanta Cristina'' (P-77), Ex-F34 File:Armada Española F35.jpg, ''Cazadora'' (P-78), Ex-F35 File:Vencedora F36.jpg, ''Vencedora'' (P-79), ex-F36 File:Flickr - Official U.S. Navy Imagery - U.S. and Egyptian navy train. (1).jpg, Egyptian ''Suez'' - ''السويس'' (F496) in 2012.

References