Spanish frigate Méndez Núñez
Méndez Núñez (F-104) is an Álvaro de Bazán-class frigate of the Spanish Navy. She is the fourth ship of her class, entering service in 2006. She is named after the 19th-century Spanish Rear admiral Casto Méndez Núñez. It was the first Spanish Navy vessel to visit the Philippines since the end of the Southeast Asian nation's Spanish colonial-period in 1898.
Imagem: Contanto Estrelas · BY-SA · Openverse
Méndez Núñez was ordered along with four other ships of the class on 31 January 1997. A fifth ship, F105, which became Cristóbal Colón, was ordered in 2005. Construction started on 16 May 2003 and she was launched on 12 November 2004. She was delivered to the Spanish Navy on 21 March 2006. While taking part in FTM-12 exercise on 22 June 2007 in Hawaiian waters, Méndez Núñez became the Spanish Navy's first ship to detect and track a ballistic missile. On 21 April 2008, while part of the Royal Navy's HMS Illustrious Combat Group in the Red Sea, Méndez Núñez was ordered to move to Somalia's coast in support of the tuna vessel Playa de Bakio, which had been seized by Somali pirates. After the tuna boat was released, pirates attempted to seize it again, but the frigate's helicopter and zodiacs manoeuvred to prevent it. In March 2009, she participated in the NATO exercise Loyal Mariner, in the waters of southern Sardinia, along with other Spanish ships.
