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. From now on, the boat with the hull number S-81 will be called 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, but has significant differences. At 80.8 metres, it is almost twenty metres longer and the diameter of the hull is about one metre larger at 7.3 metres. When submerged, the boat displaces around 3000 tonnes. The Spanish S-80 class is also designed as an air-independent boat and is equipped with a fuel cell developed by Navantia itself, called Best-AIP. However, the first two boats will still be equipped with conventional diesel engines from MTU, which will later be replaced by the AIP. Only from the third unit onwards will the AIP be available in the first phase of the boat's life. National products were also used for the command and weapon deployment system. The armament consists of DM 2A4 heavyweight torpedoes and UGM-84 Harpoon missiles. It is also possible to lay mines.

Isaac Peral in the production hall

King Felipe VI with his youngest daughter and godmother Sofia

Text: mb; Photos: Navantia