Spanish Navy submarine 'Galerna' calls at Malaga Port

It has now moored at the Muelle de Levante, within the security zone, which means that it is not open to visitors.

The 'Galerna' is making a technical stopover in the city between 6 and 9 October, according to the Port Authority. It regularly calls at Malaga as part of its voyages.

The S-71 is 67.9 metres long, with a beam of 5.4 metres and a draught of 5.4 metres. It displaces 1,490 tonnes when sailing on the surface and 1,740 tonnes when submerged, at which depth it can reach up to 300 metres. It has a power output of 4,600 caballos, thanks to two diesel engines and one electric motor. Its cruising speed is 12 knots, although when submerged it can reach 20.5 knots.

The crew consists of 60 people, who spend up to 45 days at sea. Its range is 9,000 nautical miles on the surface (at 8 knots); 8,500 at nine knots while snorkelling; or 350 while submerged at 3.5 knots.

The main armament consists of four 550 mm torpedo tubes; 20 torpedoes (types F-17, F-17 MOD II, E-18, L-5); 19 mines and electronic warfare equipment

The 'Galerna' is an Agosta-class submarine, built at the Bazán shipyards in Cartagena and launched on 5 December 1981. It was handed over to the Navy on 21 January 1983.

This submarine, like the others in its class, had a projected service life of 30 years, but due to delays in the S-80-class programme, it underwent numerous repairs and, in the summer of 2017, underwent another major refit (the fifth) to bring it up to standard and extend its service life until the delivery of the new generation of submarines, which are due to arrive between 2021 and 2028.

On 8 October 2021, it was recommissioned and has been fully operational since October 2022. Its operational life following this latest refit will extend until 2028, according to information available on Wikipedia.

The Agosta class, known in Spain as the Galerna class or S-70 series, is a class of diesel-electric submarines developed by the DCN shipyards in France in the 1970s and built by DCN and, in Spain, by Bazán (now Navantia). The Spanish submarines are based on the design of the French Agosta-class submarines, which in turn incorporated technology from the Daphné class.

It remained in service with the French Navy until its final withdrawal in 2001 (one of its vessels was handed over to the Royal Malaysian Navy) and is currently used by the Spanish Navy (one unit in active service and a further three already decommissioned) and the Pakistani Navy (two basic Agosta-class submarines, plus three Agosta 90B submarines ordered in 1994).

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