Lazaga-class patrol vessel

Patrol boat Cadarsó (P-03) of the Spanish Navy in 1989. It was transferred to the Colombian Navy in 1997, where it was renamed ARC Jorge Enrique Márquez Durán (PO-43).
Class overview
Name:	Clase Lazaga (Lürssen FPB-57)
Builders:	Lürssen-Bremen Bazán Shipyards (now Navantia )
Operators:	Spanish Navy  Royal Moroccan Navy  Colombian Navy
Built:	1974–1982
In service:	1974–present
Planned:	10
Completed:	10
Active:	4
Retired:	6 (1 pending final disposition as of 2011)
Scrapped:	5: 4 scrapped, 1 purposefully sunk
General characteristics
Class and type:	Lazaga class
Type:	patrol vessel
Displacement:	303 tonnes
Length:	57,4 m
Beam:	7,6 m
Draught:	2,6 m
Installed power:	8.045 hp
Speed:	31 knots
Range:	700nm @ 27 knots 3.000nm @ 15 knots
Complement:	41
Sensors and processing systems:	Surface search: 1 Thales ZW-06 Navigation: 1 Decca Targeting: 1 Thales WM-22.
Armament:	1 × 76'2/62 mm Oto Melara cannon 1 × 40/70 mm Breda-Bofors cannon 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon AA cannons.

The Lazaga class consists of a series of midsize patrol vessels for coastal and Exclusive Zone patrol, built by the Spanish National Bazán shipyards (now Navantia) for the Spanish Navy and the Moroccan Navy. Two of the spanish units were later transferred to the Colombian Navy.

Based on the German Type 143 (Lürssen FBP-57) vessels, the hull of the first unit was built in Germany and the rest were built in San Fernando, Cádiz, in a similar way to that of the Barceló-class patrol boat, in 1976–77. A second batch of 4 units was built in 1980-82 for the Moroccan Navy, which were slightly different from the initial units in armament and navigational systems, as they included missile capability (Exocet MM-40), although that was later removed.

Service

Spain

Their early retirement from the Spanish Navy prompted an inquiry in the spanish senate ^[1] about the reasons for their decommissioning; some of the reasons presented included lack of endurance and lack of a helicopter capability. It seems, however, that the navy was using the ships for roles more complex than those initially designed for. Under its initial German design, the ships were designed for fast attack by the German Navy as fast attack ships using Exocet missiles in the Baltic Sea, allowing for quick return to their bases. In Spain, that was their initial use as well, and they included a modern targeting system Signaal (now Thales) WM-22, similar to that used in the Descubierta-class corvette (WM-25) and in the Santa Maria-class frigate (WM-28). Unfortunately, budgetary restrictions did not allow that plan to be fully completed and they were not fitted with missile capability in the end, which left them stripped of one of their most important capabilities.

The creation of the Maritime service of the Civil Guard (Spanish: Servicio Marítimo de la Guardia Civil) only speedied their demise in the Spanish Navy, since many small and midsize boats were decommissioned from the navy as some of the coast guard functions were transferred to the new service.

Some of their systems, including the Oto Melara 76/62 cannon, the diesel engines and the surface search radar were dismounted and used as spare parts for the Descubierta class corvettes which shared those systems.

Morocco

Some of the systems, including the 76/62 Oto melara cannons, their targeting systems were ceded to the Moroccan Navy . In 2008, two of the Moroccan vessels were upgraded in Cartagena, Spain for an estimated amount of US$ 10 million^[2]

Colombia

Two of these boats were transferred to the Colombian Navy in 1997, where they served until 2009 when they were finally disposed of and sunk as part of the "Pelícano II" training exercises.^[3]

Ships of the class

#	Country	Name	Commissioned	Decommissioned	Notes
1	Spain	Lazaga (P-01) [4]	16 August 1975	30 June 1993	Scrapped;
2	Spain	Alsedo (P-02)	1977	30 June 1993	Scrapped
3	Spain	Cadarso (P-03) [5]	10 July 1976	1993	Sold to Colombian Navy
	Colombia	ARC Jorge Enrique Márquez Durán	1997	2011	Retired and awaiting final disposition.[6]
4	Spain	Villaamil (P-04)	1977	30 July 1993	Scrapped
5	Spain	Bonifaz (P-05) [7]	11 July 1977	30 July 1993	Scrapped
6	Spain	Recalde (P-06)	1977	30 July 1993	Sold to Colombian Navy
	Colombia	ARC Capitán Pablo José de Porto	1997	2009	Retired and sunk as part of training exercises [3]
7	Morocco	Commandant Al Khattabi (304)	30 July 1981		Active
8	Morocco	Commandant Boutouba (305)	11 December 1981		Active
9	Morocco	Commandant El Harty (306)	25 February 1982		Active
10	Morocco	Commandant Azouggarh (307)	2 August 1982		Active

References

1. "Pregunta sobre la desactivación de patrulleros clase Lazaga" (in Spanish). Senado de España. 17 March 1993. Retrieved 8 May 2011.
2. "Navantia ingresará 10 millones por dejar como nuevas dos patrulleras marroquíes." (in Spanish). Spain: La verdad. 18 April 2008. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
3. "Galería Operación "Pelícano II", 2009" (in Spanish). unffmm.com. 1 June 2009. Retrieved 9 May 2011.
4. Los Barcos de Eugenio:Lazaga
5. Los Barcos de Eugenio:Cadarso
6. Defensa.com, ed. (20 May 2011). "Desactivación e incorporación de patrulleras de costa en Colombia" (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 May 2011.
7. Los Barcos de Eugenio:Bonifaz

Bibliography

Alejandro Anca Alamillo. Buques de la Armada Española del siglo XX (in Spanish). ISBN 978-84-9781-428-7.