€530m bill for Spain's 'sinking submarines'

The Local, Spain ^ | 20 May 2013

[sukhoi-30mki]

Dive, Dive, Dive: Calculations show that the S-80 would sink like a stone. Photo: Navantia

[GeronL]

So, it can sink just great, but the part where it comes back up is iffy?

[GeronL]

They are already building 4 of them? Will they be adding floaties to them?

[spokeshave]

So, it can sink just great, but the part where it comes back up is iffy?

Maybe they can sell them to the Muslim Brotherhood

They already funded pilots to learn how to take off....but not to land.

[GeronL]

lol

[dr_lew]

The €2.2 billion contract to design and build four S-80 underwater craft, billed as "the most modern submarine in the word" has been put on red alert after engineers found flaws in the plans and sounded the klaxon.

I think I see the problem.

[lefty-lie-spy]

How can it be possible to build four “advanced” submarines, let alone sinky bathtub toys for pomp and show for 2.2 billion Euros?! Yikes!

[lefty-lie-spy]

Exactly. Something about those socialist Euroweenies...

[GeronL]

Kind of like France building an aircraft carrier where you can’t see out of the control tower windows, too short to land AWACS planes, loses a propeller on the maiden voyage and almost shakes apart when all the washing machines are running (test, would never actually use them in real life)

[Bender2]

The poor old Spanish Navy just cannot get a break ever since their Armada... went north to kick England's ass back in 1588.

[DesertRhino]

Why on earth would Spain need a navy beyond a coast Guard type rescue and territorial patrol force?

And their 2.2 billin Euros in subs can be neutralized with 3 or 4 bombs on commuter trains. They are broke, have no real need, and will engage in no military mission that could not be ended with a few terror attacks.

[Wanderer99]

This is what happens when your engineers get a 3 hour siesta every day...

[Kenny Bunk]

tres, cuatro, sinko, baby!

[PA Engineer]

He explained that it had been reported as far back as 2005 that the development process was not being properly followed and that there was a lot of necessary improvisation due to the addition of new elements at the request of the Ministry of Defence.

Creeping featurism will destroy every development project.

[Kenny Bunk]

Why on earth would Spain need a navy beyond a coast Guard type rescue and territorial patrol force?

At any moment the UN may try to force them to take back their dysfunctional American colonies. They need the means to resist.

BTW, one of their more successful colonies builds pretty good submarines out of fiberglass in jungle boat yards. How hard can this be? Wonder if the caballeros of olde Spain thought of maybe outsourcing? http://sabotagetimes.com/life/narco-submarines-of-the-colombian-jungle/

[tanknetter]

They are already building 4 of them? Will they be adding floaties to them?

That's exactly what the USN did to the USS Freedom LCS when it determined it didn't have enough reserve buoyancy to survive a hit.

The solution's going to be to cut the subs in half and add volume. This has been done plenty of times before. The first class of ballistic missile submarine (USS George Washington class) were SSNs with missile compartments inserted amidships. The Washington and the second one were actually under construction as SSNs when the modification happened.

The USN also did this to the USS Parche, which was for the 2nd half of its service career the "special missions" sub. 100' section inserted in front of the sail to house specialized recce and recovery gear (including a "moon pool" for launching remote vehicles) that would be used for things like picking up spent Soviet/ChiCom/Nork ballistic missile pieces off the sea floor, or tapping underwater cables.

The third Seawolf-class submarine, USS Jimmy Carter (SSN-23) which replaced Parche as the special mission boat, had a similar extension inserted aft of the sail during construction ...

[GeronL]

cool

[SeminoleCounty]

Spain is the petri dish of proof that the EU and free trade do not work

Their subs sink faster than their economy does

[Right Wing Assault]

Those engineers were all educated after the schools removed the section on buoyancy from the science textbooks.

[MHalblaub]

For Israel the German Dolphin-class u-boats work very well. http://defense-update.com/20130429_israels-navy-receives-the-fifth-dolphin-submarine.html

And Germany gets another Type 212 u-boat http://sundodgers.com/2013/05/17/

Latest exercises with U 32:
http://seefahrer.blog.de/2013/04/24/manoevertagebuch-westlant-deployment-u-32-15-20-15785812/ (there is a Microsoft-Translator on the right side)
http://seefahrer.blog.de/2013/04/03/manoevertagebuch-westlant-deployment-30-15713582/
http://seefahrer.blog.de/2013/05/18/manoevertagebuch-westlant-deployment-11-13-05-u-16010202/