Category: Shipbuilding

First Spanish S-80 christened

In the presence of Spain's King Felipe VI and his wife, the country's newest submarine was christened at the Navantia shipyard in Cartagena on 22 April. Crown Princess Leonor, the King's eldest daughter and Princess of Asturias, had the honour of performing the naming ceremony and smashing the traditional bottle of red wine against the ship's side. The boat with the hull number S-81 was henceforth named Isaac Peral . It is the first submarine to be built entirely in the country. Although the design is based in part on the French-Spanish Scorpene class, there are significant differences. At 80.8 metres, it is almost twenty metres...

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Launching of the fifth boat in the Astute class

The Royal Navy's latest submarine was launched for the first time on 20 April at BAE Systems in Barrow-in-Furness. Prior to this, the 7400-tonne unit, whose keel laying was celebrated in October 2011, was pulled out of the assembly hall. In future, the nuclear-powered submarine will sail the world's oceans under the name Anson. All seven boats in the Astute class are currently under construction or have already been delivered to the Royal Navy. Their unit price is around 1.7 billion pounds. In return, they offer the taxpayer the certainty of being able to fire up to 38 Tomahawk Block IVs worldwide, depending on the load. The length of the boats is 97 metres,...

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Start for number five

The keel of the fifth corvette for Saudi Arabia was laid at Navantia in San Fernando, Spain, on 15 April. The ship is the last unit of the class based on the Avante 2200 design for the oil state. The order, which was signed in 2018, has a total value of around 1.8 billion euros. Three of the corvettes have already been launched. Number four is still under construction and is due to be handed over to its element in July. The corvette is equipped with the Catiz command and weapon deployment system and the Hermesys integrated communication system. MTU engines and Renk gearboxes will provide the propulsion. With a length of 99 metres...

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US Navy receives another LCS

The US Navy has had another littoral combat ship since 17 April. The USS Oakland was officially commissioned in the presence of Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Harker. The ship of the Independence variant will find its home port in San Diego, California. The Littoral Combat Ships are fast, lightly armed vessels designed for use in coastal areas. Their outstanding feature is their modularisation, which allows them to be converted relatively quickly to meet the requirements of specific missions. Text: mb; Photos: US...

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Will Lürssen soon be building for Australia?

The Lürssen design of the Arafura class (Offshore Combat Vessel, Project Sea 1180) was selected by the Australian government at the end of January as a possible prototype for the Navy's newly planned mine defence and survey capabilities MMCMMS (Maritime Mine Coutermeasures & Military Survey, Project Sea 1905). In addition to the twelve 80-metre OCVs that have already been launched, a further six mine countermeasures and two hydrographic platforms with slightly longer hulls, but with very important common features, would then provide the Australian Navy with a technically and logistically coherent equipment in the boat segment from 2025. In addition to the existing armament components of the OCVs, the extended units are to carry further unmanned and autonomous underwater and surface capability carriers under the stern platform...

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