_Galicia.JPG) Galicia near Santander in 2009
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Galicia class |
| Builders | Navantia |
| Operators |  Spanish Navy |
| Cost | $132 million |
| Completed | 2 |
| Active | 2 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Landing platform dock |
| Displacement | 13,815 t (13,597 long tons) full load |
| Length | |
| Beam | 25 m (82 ft 0 in) |
| Draught | 5.9 m (19 ft 4 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph) maximum |
| Range | 6,000 nmi (11,000 km; 6,900 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
| Boats & landing craft carried | 4 LCM-1E |
| Capacity | 543 fully-equipped soldiers and 130 APCs or 33 MBTs |
| Complement | 189 |
| Sensors and processing systems | DA08 air / surface search IRSCAN SATCOM, Link 1, JMCIS |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | 4 SH-3D or 6 AB 212 helicopters |
| Aviation facilities | 60 m × 25 m (197 ft × 82 ft) flight deck, hangar |
The Galicia class are two landing platform dock (LPD) ships in service with the Spanish Navy. Built by Navantia at Ferrol, their mission is to carry out amphibious warfare by transporting the bulk of the Infantería de Marina. These ships have both a large helicopter flight deck and a 885-square-metre (9,530 sq ft) well deck for large landing craft, as well as a 1,000-square-metre (11,000 sq ft) space for up to 33 main battle tanks.
Galicia was commissioned in 1998 and Castilla in 2000. Galicia and Castilla are based at the Rota naval base in Spain.
The class is the result of a joint project between Spain and the Netherlands for developing a common class of LPD that would fulfill the needs of both countries to replace older ships. This process produced the Enforcer design, which forms the basis of the Galicia class as well as the similar Royal Netherlands Navy Rotterdam class and British Royal Fleet Auxiliary Bay class.