The João Coutinho-class corvettes were a series of corvettes built for the Portuguese Navy for service in Portugal's African colonies. The corvettes were designed in Portugal by naval engineer Rogério de Oliveira, but the urgent need of their services in the Portuguese Colonial War meant that the construction of the ships was assigned to foreign shipyards. Six ships were built; the first three ships were built by Blohm + Voss and the remaining three by Empresa Nacional Bazán. The ships were launched in 1970 and 1971.
From 1970 until the end of the conflict in 1975, the corvettes were used for patrol and fire-support missions in Angola, Mozambique, Guinea and Cape Verde. After the African colonies gained their independence, the corvettes were assigned to patrol duties in Portuguese territorial waters.
The João Coutinho-class served as the basis for several other designs: Baptista de Andrade-class corvettes (Portugal), Descubierta-class corvettes (Spain, Egypt and Morocco) and D'Estienne d'Orves-class (A-69) avisos (France and Turkey) .
The ships were finally decommissioned in 2015-2016.
Specifications[]
- Type: Corvette
- Service Period: 1970-
- Characteristics:
- Length: 265 feet 9 inches (81 meters)
- Beam: 33 feet 10 inches (10.31 meters)
- Draught: 10 feet 10 inches (3.3 meters)
- Displacement: 1,252 tons (Standard); 1,401 tons (Full Load)
- Crew: 93
- Propulsion: 2 x OEW Pielstick diesel engines, 2 x shafts, 10,560 hp
- Range: 5,000 nautical miles (9,260 kilometers) at 18 knots (33.34 km/h)
- Speed: 24 knots (44.45 km/h)
- Sensor Suite:
- Type 978 Navigation RDF
- Type 912 Fire Control RDF
- QCU-2 ASDIC
- Countermeasures:
- Armament:
- 2 x Otobreda 76mm/62-caliber Super Rapid naval guns (1x2)
- 4 x Bofors 40mm/70-caliber anti-aircraft guns (2x2)
- 1 x Hedgehog ASW mortar - removed in 1987
- 2 x depth charge racks - removed in 1987
Unit Run[]
- NRP João Coutinho (F475)
- NRP Jacinto Cândido (F476)
- NRP General Pereira d'Eça (F477)
- NRP António Enes (F478)
- NRP Augusto de Castilho (F479)
- NRP Honório Barreto (F480)