A Spanish frigate fired a missile at a former United States amphibious aircraft carrier

A live-fire exercise near Hawaiian Islands during RIMPAC 26

The frigate “Álvaro de Bazán” F-101 is currently sailing in the waters of the Pacific Ocean, on a deployment of more than five months.

Spanish Navy Harrier IIs rehearse long-range attacks in the North Atlantic
Five ships of the Spanish Navy at the Canadian naval base in Halifax

This deployment has led the Spanish ship to visit the Hawaiian archipelago, visiting the famous joint base of Pearl Harbor-Hickam earlier this month, the moment to which this photo published by the US Navy corresponds:

This long voyage of the frigate “Álvaro de Bazán” is to participate in RIMPAC 26, the world’s largest multinational naval exercise, which this year includes the participation of 30 nations, with a total of 30 surface ships, 5 submarines, 190 aircraft, 15 land forces, and 30,000 men and women in total. This is the 30th edition of this exercise, which was first held in 1971.

Above these lines we can see the Spanish frigate “Álvaro de Bazán” F-101, in the foreground, with the US Navy’s aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN-71) and the Republic of Korea Navy’s destroyer ROKS Jeongjo the Great (DDG-995) in the background.

The RIMPAC 26 exercise is taking place from July 24 to 31, according to a statement released by the U.S. Navy on Thursday, July 23. Above, we can see the aforementioned Spanish frigate in the foreground, sailing parallel to the modern ocean patrol vessel ARM Benito Juárez (POLA-101) of the Mexican Navy and the cutter USCGC Kimball (WMSL-756) of the United States Coast Guard (in the background). The photo was taken on July 22 near Hawaii.

On July 16, DVIDShub.net published this photo taken two days earlier showing the Spanish frigate “Álvaro de Bazán” firing its 127mm Mk.45 Mod.2 gun during an exercise.

The United States often uses decommissioned ships as targets in this exercise. The first target was sunk on Sunday, July 12. The former guided-missile cruiser USS Mobile Bay (CG-53), a Ticonderoga-class vessel, was sunk in a combined attack by U.S. Army AH-64 Apache helicopters, launching NLOS SPIKE missiles, and the Royal Canadian Navy submarine HMCS Corner Brook (SSK 878), using a Mark 48 torpedo. The other victim was the former aircraft amphibious aircraft carrier USS Peleliu (LHA-5), of the Tarawa class, pictured above surrounded by tugboats. Launched in 1978 and commissioned in 1980, it was decommissioned in 2015. It is a 250-meter-long ship, 32.5 meters wide, and has a displacement of over 39,000 tons. That is to say, a larger and heavier ship than the Spanish amphibious aircraft carrier “Juan Carlos I” L-61.

This photo was taken on July 17, during the RIMPAC SINKEX exercise, in which naval forces from Australia, Canada, Spain, the United States, Italy, Japan, and New Zealand participated, in addition to the US Army and Air Force. The frigate in the image is the “Álvaro de Bazán” firing an RGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missile at the USS Peleliu. The missile was fired from the port launcher. In the first photo, we see the launch from the bow, and in the next image, we see the missile leaving its tube:

According to Naval News, US Navy submarines also fired Harpoon missiles at the USS Peleliu. Below we can see the state of the ship after receiving several hits to its hull (we see three large holes on the port side, but it remained afloat). This is a screenshot from a video published by the US Navy.

In that same video we can see the explosion caused by one of the impacts on the ship, specifically on the starboard side and at the base of the island, next to its bridge.

The Spanish Navy has explained the purpose of RIMPAC: “The main objective of this type of exercise is to train units in the use of live weaponry against naval targets, validating tactics and procedures, as well as verifying and improving interoperability between the units of the participating navies.” The Spanish naval force added: “The controlled sinking of ships represents one of the most complex and realistic exercises, integrating capabilities and systems from multiple sources.” nations in a high-intensity naval combat scenario.”

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Images: US Navy / Armada Española.