The S82 ‘Narciso Monturiol’, the second submarine in the S80 series, conducted its first static dive on Tuesday, in accordance with the schedule of safety milestones established for its trials programme. The dive took place near La Algameca Naval Base in Cartagena. The purpose of this test, conducted by Navantia personnel and the trials crew, is to verify the behaviour of the hull, the flooding of the ballast tanks and the vessel’s static stability ahead of subsequent submerged navigation trials. Alongside the S82’s achievement of the scheduled milestones, the programme is progressing according to plan on the other two submarines in the series. This July, the diesel engines were installed aboard the S83 ‘Cosme García’: three generator sets which, together with the main electric motor and the anaerobic air-independent propulsion (AIP) system, make up the propulsion system of the S80 submarines.
“The S80 programme is progressing in line with the agreed schedule, and the second submarine in the series will be delivered soon. Thanks to the close collaboration between the Ministry of Defence, the Spanish Navy and Navantia, the S80 programme is already making a significant contribution to the strategic autonomy of Spain’s submarine force and to the technological capabilities of our industrial ecosystem,” said Navantia Chairman Ricardo Domínguez.
The S-80 Plus class (or Isaac Peral class) is a Spanish class of four submarines being built by the state-owned[10] Spanish company Navantia at its Cartagena shipyard for the Spanish Navy. In common with other contemporary submarines, they feature air-independent propulsion. The class has its roots in the late 1990s, and Spain ordered the submarines into production in 2003. Due to problems with the design, it had to be extensively redesigned in the 2010s, and a Spanish government budget crisis forced additional delays. On November 30, 2023, the first submarine of the class entered service with the Spanish Navy.
They are oceanic submarines of medium tonnage with the capacity to carry out long duration missions in scenarios far from their base, and to do so stealthily. They will have an integrated platform control system that allows operation with a reduced crew complement and a high degree of automation with remote control. The characteristics of this class of ships place them at a level close to those of nuclear propulsion. The lead boat in the class, the Isaac Peral [es], the first unit in the series, was launched by King Felipe VI and his daughter, Princess Leonor, heir to the throne, on 22 April 2021 at the Cartagena shipyards, entered to service in 2023, after originally being targeted for 2011. In 2024, the delivery date for the second vessel had slipped to 2025. The S-80 class has also been offered for export.
