Saudi Arabia; Navy commissions second Al Jubail-class corvette

The second Al Jubail-class corvette for the Royal Saudi Naval Forces, Al Diriyah, was delivered on 26 July during a ceremony at Navantia’s San Fernando shipyard in Spain.

The delivery of the corvette comes three years after the cutting of the first steel in May 2019.

Saudi Arabia contracted Navantia for five Avante 2200-based Al Jubail-class corvettes in November 2018, with the first ship of the project launched in July 2020.

The first-in-class Al Jubail was delivered in March 2022.

The corvettes have a length of 104m and a beam of 14m providing space to accommodate 102 crew plus additional personnel.

The third corvette in the programme, laid down in August 2020, will be delivered in 2023.

Ships four and five will be finalised and delivered locally in Saudi Arabia by a JV of Navantia and SAMI.

Local work will include installing, integrating and testing the corvette’s complete combat system.