The João Coutinho class corvettes were a series of corvettes built for the Portuguese Navy

Portuguese Navy

The Portuguese Navy is the naval branch of the Portuguese Armed Forces which, in cooperation and integrated with the other branches of the Portuguese military, is charged with the military defence of Portugal....

 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

Portuguese Colonial War

The Portuguese Colonial War , also known in Portugal as the Overseas War or in the former colonies as the War of liberation , was fought between Portugal's military and the emerging nationalist movements in Portugal's African colonies between 1961 and 1974, when the Portuguese regime was...

 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

Blohm + Voss

Blohm + Voss , is a German shipbuilding and engineering works. It is a subsidiary of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems; there were plans to sell 80% of Blohm + Voss to Abu Dhabi Mar Group, but talks collapsed in July 2011.-History:It was founded on April 5, 1877, by Hermann Blohm and Ernst Voss as a...

 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

Angola

Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...

, Mozambique

Mozambique

Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...

, Guiné-Bissau and Cabo Verde. After the African colonies gained their independence, the corvettes were assigned to patrol duties in Portuguese territorial waters.

The João Coutinho served as the basis for several other designs: Baptista de Andrade class

Baptista de Andrade class corvette

The Baptista de Andrade were a class of four corvettes built for the Portuguese Navy by BAZAN in Spain in the 1970s. They are an updated version of the João Coutinho class corvettes - designed by the Portuguese naval engineer Rogério de Oliveira - with more modern armament and sensors...

 corvettes (Portugal), Descubierta class corvettes (Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

 and Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

) and Espora class

Espora class frigate

The Espora class corvettes were all commissioned between 1985 and 2004 for the Argentine Navy, the first four in 1985-1990 and the last two in 2001-2004....

 (MEKO 140

MEKO 140

The MEKO 140 is a frigate design by the German Blohm + Voss shipyard as part of the MEKO family of vessels.- Concept and development :MEKO is a concept in modern naval shipbuilding based on modularity of armament, electronics and other equipment, aiming at ease of maintenance and cost reduction...

) frigates (Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

) and D'Estienne d'Orves

D'Estienne d'Orves class

The A69 type Avisos are small warships mainly designed for coastal anti-submarine defence, but are also available for high sea escort missions . Built on a simple and robust design, they have an economical and reliable propulsion system which allows them to be used for overseas presence missions...

 (A-69

D'Estienne d'Orves class

The A69 type Avisos are small warships mainly designed for coastal anti-submarine defence, but are also available for high sea escort missions . Built on a simple and robust design, they have an economical and reliable propulsion system which allows them to be used for overseas presence missions...

) (France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Argentina and Turkey

Turkey

Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

) .

Ships

Pennant Number	Name	Builder	Commissioned	Current Status
F471	NRP António Enes	Bazán	1971	In service
F475	NRP João Coutinho	Blohm + Voss	1970	In service
F476	NRP Jacinto Cândido	Blohm + Voss	1970	In service
F477	NRP General Pereira D'Eça	Blohm + Voss	1970	In service
F484	NRP Augusto de Castilho	Bazán	1970	Decommissioned
F485	NRP Honório Barreto	Bazán	1970	Decommissioned