Brazilian frigate Liberal

F Liberal (F-43) is a Niterói-class frigate of the Brazilian Navy. She was the fourth ship of her class ordered by the Brazilian Navy, on 20 September 1970. Liberal was launched on 7 February 1977, and was commissioned on 18 November 1978.

History
On 15 October 1998, the ship was docked to be submitted to the General Maintenance Period (PMG), and together with the Modernization Program (ModFrag).

From 15 May to 12 July, the ship was in the SWORDFISH / 2008 Commission, carrying out a presence action in the ports visited, strengthening ties of friendship between the navies of other countries and improving the degree of training of the ship in Operation Joint with the Armed Forces of Portugal and other participants. In 11 June 2008, she participated in commemorations related to the Naval Battle of Riachuelo in the port of Lisbon and made operational visits.

On 15 May 2012 she arrived at Lebanon to relieve BRAZILIAN FRIGATE União and take up duty as the flagship of UNIFIL's Maritime Task Force, patrolling the waters around Lebanon and training local forces in boarding and inspection operations. In 3 September, she performed PASSEX with the French frigate FRENCH FRIGATE Jean de Vienne off the Lebanese coast. In October, she took part in light cargo transfer exercises with other MTF vessels, such as the Indonesian Navy's KRI Sultan Hasanuddin, and the German Navy's GERMAN CORVETTE Magdeburg and GERMAN FAST ATTACK CRAFT Gepard. She would later take part in the live fire exercise Blue Hurricane with other MTF vessels and another light cargo transfer exercise with the Turkish frigate TCG Kemalreis.

Liberal would be relieved of her UNIFIL duties by BRAZILIAN FRIGATE Constituição on 13 January 2013. During her first voyage to Lebanon, she interrogated 661 vessels in the Lebanese exclusive economic zone, designated 266 merchant vessels for Lebanese inspection, and recorded over 20000 nmi of patrols in United Nations service. In her way back towards Rio de Janeiro, she performed PASSEX, Helo Cross Deck and Light-Line exercises with the French frigate FRENCH FRIGATE Jean Bart off the coast of Beirut and docked at Civitavecchia from 21 to 24 January. In 25 January, she met the Royal Canadian Navy's HMCS Toronto (FFH 333) to the south of Sardinia, where the two frigates performed PASSEX and leap frog exercises despite adverse sea conditions.

In 2014, Liberal had her second tenure as flagship of the UNIFIL MTF, arriving at Beirut on 11 January to relieve União and arrived back in Rio on 27 September.

On 7 September 2016, she arrived at Beirut for her third UNIFIL voyage, relieving BRAZILIAN FRIGATE Independência. In 28 September 2016, her Super Lynx helicopter performed the helivac of a crewman who had reported chest pains aboard the Maltese merchant vessel Silent, taking him to the Saint George hospital in Beirut. In 7 February 2017, Liberal reached the milestone of 2,700 days at sea during a patrol. She would be relieved by União, which arrived in the Mediterranean on 8 March 2017.

She reached the milestone of 3,000 total days at sea in 17 September 2019.

Liberal departed from Rio de Janeiro on 6 August 2023 for Operation Guinex III, which sought to develop interoperability between Brazilian and West African partner nations in maritime security operations, and having GRUMEC operators provide training in subjects such as boarding and inspection of unknown vessels, anti-piracy, transiting under asymmetrical threats, among others. The operation is expected to last until 14 October.