The last thing was a Navy submarine for 130,000 euros

The Spanish Navy embarked on the path of renewal some time ago, one in which the old glories are left without a place and must make way for new generations. Within this strategy, Spain put up for sale last year one of the last submarines of the S-70 family, a Tramuntana which for almost 40 years was the backbone of the country’s submarine force.

The price? Little more than what it costs Xiaomi SU7 Ultraand it is an important step in the cycle of weapons renewal in which Spain finds itself.

What you pay. The S-74, baptized ‘Tramontana’, was the fourth of the Navy’s S-70 series submarines. Based on the French designs of the Augustaleft the shipyards of the old Navantia in 1984 and served the Navy since 1985. With about 68 meters in length, capacity for 60 crew members, four torpedo tubes and a propulsion system with a double diesel engine of 3,600 HP and an electric engine of about 3,500 kW, the submarine could last up to 45 days without surfacing.

After participating in numerous exercises and the occasional international deployment, his moment came in February 2024. After 38 years of service, and after a stretch in his useful life while awaiting the ddeployment of the first S-80the Tramontana was decommissioned and immobilized at the docks of the Cartagena Military Arsenal, ready to await its fate.

What you take. In May of last year, the BOE published a resolution detailing the sale of the Tramontana. As is usually the case with this type of sales, it is not about anyone arriving and being able to get hold of a military submarine: the operation aims to serve as scrap metal. The base price was set at 138,468.53 euros and whoever was interested had to leave a provisional deposit of the base price: 27,693.70 euros. The final deposit will also be 20% of the amount reached in the auction.

Is it easy to sell one of these things? Not at all, and if not… Ask the Prince of Asturias. The legendary Spanish aircraft carrier that was once the spearhead of the Navy also went up for auction after completing service. After having to repeat them with succulent discounts because no one wanted it even for scrap, he undertook a last trip to the Aliaga ship cemetery in Türkiye, where it ended up scrapped.

In fact, the BOE already contemplates in these operations that, if no one opts for it, three additional auctions will be held, one every seven days and with a 15% discount compared to the previous auction if the previous one is void.

Emblematic. For some it will be sad, but when something so enormous reaches its life cycle, there are only two alternatives: keep it as an element of maneuvers for training or auction it to recover money and have it scrapped. Unlike the aircraft carrier, the S-73 Mistral submarine has already been acquired by a scrapping company in Cartagena. A third option is to display it, but it is something much easier to do with a plane than with a submarine (although there are some, of course, as a museum ship).

Scrapping. Speaking of the Mistral, after decommissioning it in 2021 after 35 years of service, it sold for 150,000 euros to a scrapyard that dismantled the vehicle to recover the valuable metals inside. The starting price was slightly lower than that of the Tramontana: 136,078.53 euros. Inflation affects everything.

If we get philosophical, it is a bitter end for a submarine that, for decades, acted as a protection element in the Mediterranean. He participated in several NATO missions, but perhaps the most remembered operation was when he patrolled the waters around the Perejil islet in the dispute with Morocco in 2011.

The S-73 Mistral, to get an idea of ​​the size

Renewal. In the most pragmatic sense, it is still a 40-year-old submarine, so it didn’t make much sense to sell it to other nations (especially when looking for clients for the S-80newer and whose sale would help defray the costs of development). Because Spain has been creating for years – not without a few problems – its new fleet, the aforementioned S-80. They represent a generational leap in absolutely all their capacities, and they held out for the S-74 as long as possible until the arrival of the S-81 Isaac Peral.

Now, the only one of the veteran submarines operational is a S-71 Galerna which keeps alive that strategy of at least two ‘live’ submarines at a time in terms of defense. And when the next units of the S-80 begin to arrive, the easiest thing is for the S-71 to have the same fate as its brothers the Siroco, the Mistral and the Tramontana.

It’s still the weapons cycle, which can be stretched to a certain point, but when the time comes… better to get some money than have a dead asset.

Images | José María González, Alberto Hernandez

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