''Vigía'' (P-73) is a of 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 ...

built in 1992. The ship's primary missions are oceanic patrol, fishing control, escort, and maritime rescue.

Description

''Vigía'' is an offshore patrol vessel with a

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of 1,200 tons. It is long, has a beam of , and a draught of . It is powered by two MTU engines which supply to two variable-pitch propellers for a maximum speed of . It is equipped with a single /50

caliber In guns, particularly firearms, but not #As a measurement of length, artillery, where a different definition may apply, caliber (or calibre; sometimes abbreviated as "cal") is the specified nominal internal diameter of the gun barrel Gauge ( ...

gun and two 12.7 mm Browning machine guns, and has a crew of 45. Its

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface on which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

can receive medium

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s, and it hosts two rigid-hulled inflatable boats.

History

''Vigía'' was built by

Navantia Navantia is a Spanish state-owned shipbuilding enterprise dedicated to civil and military naval construction, the design of deep-tech systems and the manufacture of structures for the renewable energy sector, such as offshore wind or hydrogen. ...

in Ferrol, and was delivered to the

on 23 March 1993. It has taken part in several international exercises over the course of its career, including

Neo Tapon Neo or NEO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Fictional entities * Neo (''The Matrix''), the alias of Thomas Anderson, a hacker and the protagonist of the Matrix film series * Neo (''Marvel Comics'' species), a fictional race of superhumans * ...

with

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

, Majestic Eagle, and Linked Seas. In March 1995, ''Vigía'' set sail from

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

for Northeast Atlantic to protect fishing trawlers during the bloodless

Turbot War The Turbot War (; ) was an international fishing dispute and bloodless war, bloodless conflict between Canada and Spain (with the European Union) and their respective supporters. On 9 March 1995, Canadian officials from the Canadian Coast Guar ...

with Canada, which had escalated earlier that month following the Canadian seizure of the vessel ''Estai.'' One of the missions of ''Vigía'' is to conduct search and rescue operations. In 2014, a large flotilla of migrant vessels was detected in the Strait of Gibraltar. ''Vigía,'' along with Civil Guard and Maritime Rescue Service boats, captured a total of 94 boats with 920 immigrants aboard, of which ''Vigía'' rescued 6 boats and 48 people. In 2020, the ship took part in a search to find a missing sailor from a sunken fishing ship in the

Alboran Sea The Alboran Sea is the westernmost portion of the Mediterranean Sea, lying between the Iberian Peninsula and the north of Africa (Spain on the north and Morocco and Algeria on the south). The Strait of Gibraltar, which lies at the west end of the ...

. A secondary mission of ''Vigía'' is to conduct cooperative and diplomatic missions in West Africa and the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea (French language, French: ''Golfe de Guinée''; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Golfo de Guinea''; Portuguese language, Portuguese: ''Golfo da Guiné'') is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez i ...

. From February to June 2017, the vessel deployed to the Gulf of Guinea after visiting

Mauritania Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a sovereign country in Maghreb, Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to Mauritania–Western Sahara border, the north and northwest, ...

Cape Verde Cape Verde or Cabo Verde, officially the Republic of Cabo Verde, is an island country and archipelagic state of West Africa in the central Atlantic Ocean, consisting of ten volcanic islands with a combined land area of about . These islands ...

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

Ivory Coast Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire and officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital city of Yamoussoukro is located in the centre of the country, while its largest List of ci ...

Cameroon Cameroon, officially the Republic of Cameroon, is a country in Central Africa. It shares boundaries with Nigeria to the west and north, Chad to the northeast, the Central African Republic to the east, and Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, and the R ...

and

São Tomé and Príncipe São Tomé and Príncipe, officially the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Príncipe, is an island country in the Gulf of Guinea, off the western equatorial coast of Central Africa. It consists of two archipelagos around the two main isla ...

. The vessel deployed to the region again in 2021, and also visited as far south as

Luanda Luanda ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Angola, largest city of Angola. It is Angola's primary port, and its major industrial, cultural and urban centre. Located on Angola's northern Atlantic coast, Luanda is Ang ...

, Angola.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigía Serviola-class patrol boat 1992 ships Ships built in Spain