|
Spain Navy
The Spanish navy (Armada) was relatively large, ranking
second in total tonnage, after the British navy, among
European
NATO nations. Its ship inventory, although aging, was
being
upgraded through a construction and modernization program.
As
part of its personnel reorganization, its strength had
been
reduced by 10,000 to 47,300 personnel, including marines,
as of
1987. Of this number, about 34,000 were conscripts.
Subordinate to the commander in chief of the fleet,
with his
headquarters in Madrid, were four zonal commands: the
Cantabrian
Maritime Zone with its headquarters at El Ferrol del
Caudillo
(Ferrol) on the Atlantic coast; the Straits Maritime Zone
with
its headquarters at San Fernando near Cadiz; the
Mediterranean
Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Cartagena; and the
Canary
Islands Maritime Zone with its headquarters at Las Palmas
de Gran
Canaria.
Operational naval units were classified by mission, and
they
were assigned to the combat forces, the protective forces,
or the
auxiliary forces. The combat forces were given the tasks
of
conducting offensive and defensive operations against
potential
enemies and of assuring maritime communications. Their
principal
vessels included a carrier group, naval aircraft,
transports and
landing vessels, submarines, and missile-armed fast attack
craft.
The protective forces had the mission of protecting
maritime
communications over both ocean and coastal routes and the
approaches to ports and to maritime terminals. Their
principal
components were destroyers or frigates, corvettes, and
minesweepers as well as marine units for the defense of
naval
installations. The auxiliary forces, responsible for
transport
and for provisioning at sea, also had such diverse tasks
as coast
guard operations, scientific work, and maintenance of
training
vessels. In addition to supply ships and a tanker, the
force
included older destroyers and a considerable number of
patrol
craft.
The largest vessel of the navy was the 15,000-ton
aircraft
carrier, Principe de Asturias, which had entered
service
in 1988 after completing sea trials. Built in Spain with
extensive United States engineering assistance and
financing, it
was designed with a "ski-jump" takeoff deck. Its
complement would
be six to eight Harrier vertical (or short) takeoff and
landing
(V/STOL) aircraft and as many as sixteen helicopters
designed for
antisubmarine warfare and support of marine landings.
The new carrier was to have as its escort group four
frigates
of the United States FFG-7 class, built in Spain and armed
with
Harpoon and Standard missiles. The first three were
commissioned
between 1986 and 1988; construction on the fourth was
begun in
1987. Also in the inventory were five frigates,
commissioned
between 1973 and 1976 and built in Spain with United
States
assistance. Six slightly smaller vessels of Portuguese
design,
classified as corvettes, were constructed in Spain between
1978
and 1982 (see
table 17, Appendix).
The fleet of eight submarines was built, based on
French
designs, with extensive French assistance. Four submarines
of the
Agosta class were constructed in Spain between 1983 and
1985.
They were equipped with the submarine-launched version of
the
Exocet antiship missile. Four submarines of the Daphne
class had
been completed between 1973 and 1975. A number of United
States
destroyers of the Gearing and the Fletcher classes,
constructed
at the close of World War II, were also in the 1988
inventory,
although the three remaining Fletcher class vessels were
scheduled to be retired by 1990.
The marines, numbering 11,500 troops, were divided into
base
defense forces and landing forces. One of the three base
defense
battalions was stationed at each of the headquarters at
Ferrol,
Cartagena, and San Fernando. "Groups" (midway between
battalions
and regiments) were stationed at Madrid and at Las Palmas
de Gran
Canaria. The fleet tercio (equal to a regiment),
available
for immediate embarkation, was based at San Fernando. Its
principal arms included light tanks, armored personnel
vehicles,
self-propelled artillery, and TOW and Dragon antitank
missiles.
Data as of December 1988
|
