Baleares-class frigate
1970 class of Spanish frigates
The Baleares class were a group of five frigates built for the Spanish Navy in the late 1960s and 1970s. The ships were a modified version of the American Knox-class frigates. The key differences are the replacement of helicopter facilities by a medium-range surface-to-air missile system and associated radars. Constructed between 1968 and 1976, the Baleares class began entering service in 1973 and formed the 31 Escort Squadron, based at Ferrol. The five ships were upgraded several times during their service lives. The ships were retired beginning in the mid-2000s and replaced by the Álvaro de Bazán-class frigates on a one-to-one basis.
Background
In the 1960s, Spain sought to update its fleet of warships. The government entered into negotiations with the United Kingdom for the acquisition of four Leander-class frigates. However, the negotiations failed as questions were raised in the United Kingdom over dealing with the unpopular Spanish government. Instead, the Spanish government turned to the United States and on 17 November 1964 an agreement acquire five Knox-class frigates was signed.
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This entry incorporates text from “Baleares-class frigate” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.