S-81 submarine Isaac Peral made in Cartagena formally handed to Spanish Navy
Twenty years after it was commissioned, the Isaac Peral sub is finally complete
The S-81 submarine ‘Isaac Peral’, built in Cartagena in the shipyards of the public company Navantia, is now officially property of the Armada, the Spanish Navy, after a handover ceremony held at the Arsenal facilities in the presence of the Mayor of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo; the President of the Region of Murcia, Fernando López Miras; and the Minister of Defence, Margarita Robles.
The Isaac Peral is the first of the four Series 80 submarines that are planned to be built for the Navy, and represents something of a technological leap for Navantia, the Navy itself and for Spanish industry in general. With the execution of this ambitious program, which has taken 20 years to come to fruition, Navantia becomes a Technical Design Authority and as such participates in the new Technical Office (OTACV) that will implement a new sustainability methodology.
Further reading: The history of the Isaac Peral submarine in Cartagena
At the ceremony, Mayor Arroyo said, “Today, history is being made again in Cartagena, the city of submarines, the city of underwater weapons. Today we once again pay tribute to Isaac Peral, the inventor of the prototype of the first submarine; but we have shown that we do not live anchored in the past, but rather that we have a great future ahead of us, and that is what has become clear today with the delivery of the submarine Isaac Peral.
“The S-81 is a triumph of Spanish industry made in Cartagena,” she continued, saying that the submarine “proves that we are at the forefront of engineering, and demonstrates our capabilities to devise, design and build technologically complex instruments.”
During the event, the signing of the delivery and transfer documentation was carried out between Navantia and the General Directorate of Armaments and Materials of the Ministry of Defence, and from the latter to the Cartagena Arsenal. In addition, the Flag has been delivered to the ship; and the first commander of the unit, Lieutenant Commander Manuel Corral, has taken office.
The S-80 Plus program means that Cartagena’s “historic shipyards have returned to the world’s forefront of shipbuilding”, since this new model has an Integrated Platform Control System and a Combat System which, while allowing the degree of automation to be increased, significantly reduce the number of people necessary to operate the submarine.
The sub’s crew has had to go through a rigorous training and certification process to understand that platform in depth, so that the submarine can be operated safely, both on the surface and underwater.
Images: Felipe G. Pagán / Ayuntamiento de Cartagena
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