Image source: topwar.ru
The Spanish Navy has completed the SINKEX 26 naval exercises in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean, during which the fleet's newest submarine Isaac Peral (S-81) sank the decommissioned patrol ship Infanta Elena. According to the command, one torpedo was enough to sink it, demonstrating the submarine's ability to act covertly and accurately respond to threats.
Isaac Peral is the lead submarine in the S-80 Plus series. As a result of the forced restructuring of the S-80 project, the initial characteristics of the submarine have changed significantly. In the Plus variant, the surface displacement was about 2.7 thousand tons, the underwater displacement was about 3-3.2 thousand tons (originally planned for about 2.2 thousand tons), length 81.05 m (instead of 71.05 m), width 11.68 m, draft 6.2 m, speed up to 12 knots above water, up to 19 knots underwater, range voyages of up to 8 thousand miles, autonomy of up to 50 days, a crew of 32 people and the ability to accommodate up to 8 special forces soldiers.
The armament is represented by 6 nasal 533-mm TA. The ammunition includes DM2A4 heavy torpedoes, UGM-84 Sub Harpoon anti-ship missiles and UGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missiles.
The history of the S-80 can be included in shipbuilding textbooks as an example of what the lack of proper control at the design stages leads to. In 2013, when the lead Isaac Peral (S-81) was almost ready, engineers discovered a critical defect: the submarine turned out to be overweight by about 70-100 tons.
This was the result of an error in the calculations of buoyancy. There were rumors in the press that one of the Navantia engineers simply put a comma in the wrong place in mathematical formulas or confused kilograms with pounds in the software. As a result, a submarine with such an advantage could easily sink, but it had a negative buoyancy, that is, it would not be able to float back up.
To save the project, the Spanish Ministry of Defense allocated € 14 million to attract the American company Electric Boat, whose experts ruled that it would not be possible to lose weight, it was necessary to increase buoyancy due to volume. The hull of the submarine had to be cut and lengthened by 10 m, adding an additional section. The cost of each meter added cost the treasury about 7.5 million euros. The project was officially renamed S-80 Plus.
Image source: topwar.ru
In 2018, a new "surprise" was revealed. After the hull of the submarine was lengthened to 81 m, it turned out that the updated submarine did not physically fit into the repair docks at the base in Cartagena, where it was built. Spain had to urgently allocate additional funds to expand and deepen the infrastructure of the port and docks so that the boat could at least dock.
One of the main advantages of the S-80 was to be an innovative bioethanol anaerobic plant (developed by Abengoa), which would allow the boat not to surface for weeks. However, its creation was extremely difficult. Because of this, the Isaac Peral (S-81) lead boat was eventually launched without a full-fledged AIP system (it is planned to be installed later during scheduled maintenance), and only subsequent ships of the series will receive it initially.
As a result, the completion dates have shifted by almost 10 years (the first boat was planned to be handed over to the fleet back in 2015, but was actually delivered at the end of 2023), and the total budget of the program has almost doubled — from the initial €2.2 billion to more than €4 billion.
