Four-billion-euro submarine launched
The S-81 will undergo testing and will not enter into service until 2023
SPAIN’S new military submarine, the Isaac Peral S-81 was officially launched at a ceremony led by the royal family in Cartagena last Thursday.
The S-81 was christened by its ‘godmother’, 15-year-old Princess of Asturias Leonor de Borbón, who was also joined by her younger sister, the Infanta Sofía.
The ceremony was ‘austere’, in line with pandemic health precautions, and attended by civilian and military dignitaries including mayoress Ana Belén Castejón, regional president Fernando López and defence minister Margarita Robles.
Sra Robles acknowledged there had been ‘difficult moments’ during the construction of the first 100% Spanish designed and built modern submarine. The first of four being constructed by shipbuilder Navantia, their total budget has ballooned since its inception in 2003, from €1.8 billion to over €4 billion.
Resolving expensive design flaws delayed its original completion date of 2012 and Navantia president Ricardo Domínguez said it had taken three million hours.
In 2013 it was detected that the vessel was up to 100 tonnes
overweight and might not be able to resurface after diving, which Associated Press reported was due to a decimal point being put in the wrong place.
This was addressed by extending the hull length by 10 metres but in 2018 it was announced that this made it too long to fit in the port so the
quay had to be extended as well. Furthermore there have been problems with the pioneering air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, which will enable it to stay underwater for up to four weeks but is still not ready and will have to be retrofitted.
The S-81 will now undergo extensive testing and will not enter into service until 2023, followed in 2024, 2026 and 2027 by the S-82, S-83 and S-84 respectively.
It is named after the inventor of the world’s first all-electric submarine in 1889, whose birthplace in Cartagena is currently being turned into a museum by the city council.