The new ship 'Carnota' A-61 of the Spanish Navy and the Galician origin of its name

@DefAviation ES 12·04·2023 · 21:23 0

Today the Spanish Navy held the official handover ceremony of a new ship that will be based at the Ferrol Arsenal.

Photos of the delivery of the submarine 'Isaac Peral' S-81 to the Spanish Navy
The broadcast of the official delivery of the submarine 'Isaac Peral' to the Spanish Navy

This new unit is the Multipurpose Ship "Carnota" A-61. The ship was launched on August 21, 2013 at the shipyards of Zamakona Yards in Pasajes (Guipúzcoa), being baptized as "Ocean Osprey". It was commissioned by the Norwegian shipping company Atlantic Offshore, in order to serve as a supply ship for oil platforms in the North Sea. The same Spanish shipyard built a second identical ship for the Norwegian shipowner, the "Ocean Marlin". Here you can see images of the launching of the "Ocean Osprey":

During her service as a civilian ship, the Ocean Osprey initially sailed under the flag of Norway, using the radio call sign LAVG8, and later under the flag of the British colony of Gibraltar. , with the callsign ZDSI9. She was homeported in Bergen, Norway, and sported a high-visibility scheme, with a red hull and white superstructure.

In September of this year, the Spanish Navy acquired this ship for 14,965,242 euros, in order to use it as a multipurpose ship and deep-sea tugboat. The ship has been adapted for military life by the Metalship & Docks shipyard in Vigo, receiving the classic gray paint of the ships of the Spanish Navy. In this video published two days ago by Jorodmon we can see the ship "Carnota" with its new decoration arriving at the Ferrol Military Arsenal:

This Monday's delivery ceremony was held at the Ferrol Military Arsenal, with the presence of civil and military authorities. Here is the video of the event, published by Inaxete:

You can see a series of photos of this event here.

The new ship measures 66.8 meters in length, 16 meters wide, 5.4 m deep and 3.9 m draft. She has a displacement of 2,284 tons.In addition to her tugboat function, she can also be used as a rescue ship.

With its delivery, the "Carnota" A-61 is added to the list of ships of the Spanish Navy whose names correspond to place names related to Galicia. The largest of these is the Amphibious Assault Ship "Galicia" L-51, which is named after this community. There are also the "Tambre" M-33 minehunter, the "Toralla" P-81 patrol boat, the "La Graña" A-53 deep-sea tugboat and the "Arosa" A-72 and "Aguete" A-79 sailboats.

The A-61 is named "Carnota" in honor of the town of the same name located in the province of La Coruña, on the famous Costa de la Muerte. The choice of this name was intended to honor a historical event: the running aground of the destroyer "Ariete" D-36 of the Spanish Navy in that town on February 25, 1966, when it was sailing from Ferrol to Cartagena. The ship was dragged by a strong storm towards the vicinity of Ardeleiro Beach, in Carnota, breaking its hull.

The residents of Carnota did an admirable job of rescuing the destroyer's crew, putting their lives at risk to save the 168 sailors who were sailing on the ship. In recognition of that heroic rescue, the Carnota City Council received the title of "Very Humanitarian" in December of that year.

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Main image: Jorodmon. / Photos: Zamakona Yards / Armada Española / Delegación del Gobierno en Galicia.