Spanish frigate Canarias

Canarias (F86), is the last of the six Spanish-built Santa María-class frigates of the Spanish Navy, which are based on the American Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate design. The Santa María class offer both anti-air and anti-submarine defence for the Spanish Navy. The frigate was laid down by Bazan on 15 April 1992 and launched on 21 June 1993. Upon entering service on 14 December 1994, Canarias was homeported at Rota and assigned to the 41st Escort Squadron. Canarias has been assigned to Operation Atalanta of the Somali coast, combatting piracy and Operation Sophia in the Mediterranean Sea, intercepting illegal trafficking of migrants.

Design and description
The Santa María class are a series of six guided missile frigates based on the American Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate. The Oliver Hazard Perry class had been conceived as a way to reduce unit costs while maintaining an anti-air warfare (AAW) platform with anti-submarine (ASW) and anti-surface warfare capabilities. The Oliver Hazard Perry class came in two forms, the short-hulled and long-hulled, with the Santa María class being of the later with additional beam to allow for more top weight for future modifications. The class came in two batches, with the first four being of batch one and the final two of the second. The first batch of ships have a displacement of 2851 t light, 3160 t standard and 4017 t at full load. The second batch have the same light and standard displacements, with a full load displacement of 4107 t. The frigates measure 138.8 m long overall and 125.9 m at the waterline with a beam of 14.3 m and a standard draught of 4.52 m and a maximum draught at the sonar dome of 6.6 m. The ships have a complement of 223 sailors including 13 officers.

The Santa María class is propelled by a controllable pitch propeller powered by two General Electric LM2500 gas turbines creating 41000 shp, giving the vessels a maximum speed of 29 kn. The frigates stow 587 t of fuel and have a range of 5000 nmi at 18 kn or 4500 nmi at 20 kn. The ships have four 1,000 kW Kato-Allison 114-DOOL diesel generator sets creating a total of 4,000 kW. These can power two 350 shp retractable, rotatable auxiliary propulsion motors. The vessels have fin stabilisers fitted.

Armament and sensors
Frigates of the Santa María class are armed with a single-armed Mk 13 missile launcher serviced by a 40-round magazine that can handle 32 SM-1MR anti-air/ship missiles and 8 Harpoon anti-ship missiles. The Harpoon missiles have a range of 50 nmi at Mach 0.9 carrying a 227 kg warhead. The SM-1R missiles have a range of 20.5 nmi at Mach 2. The vessels also mount a single OTO Melara 76 mm/62 calibre naval gun capable of firing 85 rounds per minute up to 8.7 nmi with each shell carrying a 6 kg warhead. For AAW defence, the ships mount a single Meroka 20 mm/120 12-barrelled close-in weapons system (CIWS) capable of firing 3,600 rounds per minute up to 2 km. For ASW, the frigates are armed with two triple-mounted Mark 32 torpedo tubes for Mod 5 Mark 46 torpedoes.

The vessels are equipped with AN/SPS-49(V)5 2-D air search radar, RAN-12L (being replaced by RAN-30) 2-D low horizon air search radar for the Meroka CIWS, SPS-55 surface search radar and a Mk 92 fire-control radar. For ASW, the ships have SQS-56 sonar, SQR-19(V)2 towed array. For weapons fire control, they have Mk 13 weapons control, Mk 92 and SPG-60 STIR missile control, SQQ-89 ASW systems. For electronic warfare they have Nettunel Mk-3000 intercept, a SLQ-25 Nixie towed torpedo decoy, and Mk36 SROC decoy launchers.

Aircraft
As long-hulled versions of the Oliver Hazard Perry class, the Santa María-class frigates have twin hangars to accommodate up to two Sikorsky SH-60B Seahawk Light Airborne Multi-Purpose System (LAMPS) III helicopters though only one is usually embarked. The helicopter deck, located aft, is equipped with the RAST helicopter deck-handling system designed to handle LAMPS helicopters.

Construction and career
The sixth and last hull of the Santa Maria class was ordered on 26 December 1989. The ship was laid down on 15 April 1992 by Bazan at their shipyard in Ferrol, Spain. Canarias was launched on 21 June 1993 and commissioned in service on 14 December 1994. Upon entering service, Canarias was homeported at Rota and assigned to the 41st Escort Squadron.

In 2008, Canarias was one of three ships of the class that suffered damage after a crane fell on the frigates while tied up at Rota. In 2009, Canarias was assigned to Operation Atalanta, the international effort to fight piracy off Somalia. On 5 October, Canarias arrested two of the hijackers of the tuna boat Alakrana that had been captured by Somali pirates. Canarias was reinforced by the frigate SPANISH FRIGATE Méndez Núñez on 26 October. The two Spanish vessels recovered Alakrana on 18 November 2009. Spanish helicopters operating from the ships fired upon a pirate zodiac and skiff during the operation. In early 2011, Canarias was deployed again off the coast of Somalia. On 11 March 2011, Canarias aided the disabled cargo ship RAK Afrikana off the coast of Somalia. The ITALIAN FRIGATE Zeffiro, with the aid of Canarias, assisted the crew of RAK Afrikana in disembarking the vessel before it sank. On 31 March 2011, Canarias captured 11 Somali pirates that attempted to hijack a fishing vessel in the Indian Ocean.

In September 2015, the frigate was assigned to Operation Sophia, the interception of illegal trafficking of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea. Canarias rescued 517 migrants from traffickers in November 2015, destroying their vessel after recovering the passengers. Canarias rescued over 1,100 migrants from traffickers before returning to Rota in January 2016. Canarias returned to Operation Sophia in January 2017.

In 2019, Canarias, once again operating off the Somali coast, responded to a distress call from a Somali Navy vessel that had become disabled. Canarias aided the Somali personnel in getting their craft operating again.