The Spanish public company Navantia has delivered this Thursday with unusual discretion the first military ship sold to Morocco in 40 years. It is the patrol boat Moulay Hassan valued at more than 100 million that now belongs to the Moroccan Navy.
Sources from Navantia confirm to this newspaper the signing of the delivery milestone and emphasize that it is about “fulfilling the contract”. Traditionally, the delivery is accompanied by a ceremony, in this case at the San Fernando shipyards where it was built, but the agreement has been to do it discreetly. “Navantia and the client have jointly decided that there will be no ceremony”, these sources indicate. They do not specify reasons, but the context of the Ceuta crisis undoubtedly hangs over this order.
Navantia does not provide details of the armament of the “offshore patrol vessel” but points out that “it has a length of 87 meters and a total beam of 13, and will be able to have a crew of 60 people on board.” “It also includes a technical-logistical support package (spare parts, tools, and technical documentation), including technical training services for the Royal Moroccan Navy personnel in Spain.”
According to Navantia, “the patrol boat is a solution that guarantees long periods of deployment at sea with very low operating and life cycle costs. To achieve this, the design of its systems aims to maintain operability, maintainability, and reliability with a reduced crew.” It does not specify the price, but the Moroccan government announced in 2022 that it had obtained a loan from Banco Santander worth 95 million euros to fulfill its contract with Navantia. The loan was approved by the Prime Minister himself, Aziz Akhannouch.
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Contrary to the current discretion, there was indeed an important ceremony paradoxically in other previous phases of the order when relations with Morocco were less tense. On May 27, 2025, the president of Navantia, Ricardo Domínguez, presided over the launching ceremony and highlighted the importance of the purchase made by the Royal Moroccan Navy. “The program not only represents a construction milestone but also the strength of a collaboration that consolidates over time and is a testament to the shared commitment between Spain and Morocco for security and technological excellence.”
The announcement that the order would arrive was made in 2021 by the then Minister of Finance, María Jesús Montero, and the current president of Sepi, Belén Gualda. They already pointed out that it would mean “resuming” sales of military ships to Morocco after four decades.