Méndez Núñez was ordered along with four other ships of the class on 31 January 1997. A fifth ship, F105, which became
Cristóbal Colón, was ordered in 2005. Construction started on 16 May 2003 and she was launched on 12 November 2004. She was delivered to the Spanish Navy on 21 March 2006. While taking part in FTM-12 exercise on 22 June 2007 in
Hawaiian waters,
Méndez Núñez became the Spanish Navy's first ship to detect and track a
ballistic missile. On 21 April 2008, while part of the
Royal Navy's
HMS Illustrious Combat Group in the
Red Sea,
Méndez Núñez was ordered to move to
Somalia's coast in support of the
tuna vessel
Playa de Bakio, which had been seized by
Somali pirates. After the tuna boat was released, pirates attempted to seize it again, but the frigate's helicopter and zodiacs manoeuvred to prevent it. In March 2009, she participated in the
NATO exercise Loyal Mariner, in the waters of southern
Sardinia, along with other Spanish ships. On 11 September 2009
Méndez Núñez, her sister ship
Álvaro de Bazán, and the
Santa María-class Navarra, and their respective air units, carried out exercises with the students of the
Naval School in the estuary of
Pontevedra. At the end of October 2009, after completing a deployment in NATO's
Operation Active Endeavour in the
Eastern Mediterranean, she relieved
Canarias in
Operation Atalanta to combat piracy in
Somali waters, to enable the
Canarias to carry out maintenance and replenishment. During the liberation of the Spanish fishing ship
Alakrana, the helicopters of the frigates
Canarias and
Méndez Núñez, tried without success to capture the last pirates that left the ship. Between 21 and 30 June 2010
Méndez Núñez and the Spanish oiler
Patiño took part in Exercise Swordfish in Portuguese waters, together with units from
Portugal,
Italy and
France. On 18 July 2010
Méndez Núñez received a flag of combat from the
Infanta Elena while docked in the
Port of Vigo. Later that day
Méndez Núñez participated in the exhibition
A safe maritime environment for the XXI century held in
Vigo next to the vessels
Galicia,
Juan Sebastián Elcano and
Chilreu. On 19 March 2011 the
Government of Spain announced that
Méndez Núñez would be part of the force sent to intervene in the
Libyan Civil War, as part of
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973. The ship returned to her base on 29 June 2011 after 101 days, in which she inspected 22 ships of different types. Between 20 and 22 February 2012,
Méndez Núñez participated in the national air defense exercise Sirio-12, which took place south of the
Balearic Islands and in the
Alboran Sea. Between 2 and 5 July 2012, the frigates
Álvaro de Bazán and
Almirante Juan de Borbón, the logistics supply vessel
Cantabria, the submarine
Galerna and
AV-8B aircraft of the 9th Navy squadron participated in the MAR-22 exercise on the
Atlantic coast of
Galicia. On 23 November 2012,
Méndez Núñez sailed to
Somalia, where on 6 December, she relieved
Castilla in
Operation Atalanta the anti-piracy operation off Somalia.
Castilla had been the flagship of the operation. On 19 December,
Méndez Núñez and another coalition vessel completed their second mission escorting a ship of the
World Food Programme and managed to prevented the hijacking of the
North Korean ship
Dae San. On 19 February 2013,
Méndez Núñez and the
Dutch frigate
HNLMS De Ruyter took part in the arrest of nine pirates. On 9 March,
Méndez Núñez assisted the
tanker Royal Grace, which was released after being hijacked on 11 May 2012. After receiving assistance from
Méndez Núñez, the
Royal Grace continued her voyage escorted by the Spanish patrol ship
Rayo, bound for the
port of Salalah in
Oman.
Méndez Núñez returned to
Ferrol Naval Base on 11 July 2014. Her arrival coincided with the other four ships of her class being present in Ferrol. The five frigates of the class made a joint training exercise for first time as part of the 31st Escort Squadron of which they are part. In September 2014
Méndez Núñez and
Álvaro de Bazán took part in Air Force exercise DACEX-14 (Canary Air Defense). In mid-October
Méndez Núñez participated in
NATO exercise Noble Mariner-14 in the waters off
Cartagena, along with 24 other surface vessels and 6 submarines from sixteen countries. On 6 April 2015 she sailed from her base in Ferrol to participate in
Scottish waters in the
NATO Exercise Joint Warrior, after which she visited the
port of London before returning to her base. At the beginning of June,
Méndez Núñez was incorporated into
Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 as a command vessel, relieving
Álvaro de Bazán. In the course of this deployment, the frigate participated in the
Northern Coasts 16 exercises in
Baltic waters, involving 38 vessels from eight countries. She returned to Ferrol after being relieved by the
Álvaro de Bazán on 30 September 2016. On 2 February 2017, the
Méndez Núñez and the oiler
Patiño joined
Standing NATO Maritime Group 1. This deployment ended on 12 May 2017. In April 2019,
Méndez Núñez was deployed with U.S. Navy
Carrier Strike Group-12 for seven months. However, as of May 2019, the frigate has been recalled from this joint deployment. On 5 September 2019,
Méndez Núñez made the historic port-visit to the Philippines, making it the 1st Spanish Navy vessel to do so, since the
Battle of Manila Bay during the
Spanish–American War in 1898. ==References==