industry and technology
General State Budget for 2021, the
building order will be signed and the
contract will be awarded to Navantia
for the ship’s construction at the Cádiz
Shipyard, within the framework of the
agreement between the Ministry of
Defence and the public company.
LAUNCHED IN 1975
With a construction period of between
36 and 42 months since the signing of
the building order, the launching of
the BAM-IS is scheduled for the first
months of 2024 and entry into service
is expected for September of that same
year, provided that the intermediate
milestones are met.
Since the Neptune will soon the
decommissioned, it will likely coexist
with the BAM-IS for some time.
Removal from the Navy’s Official List
of Vessels is a lengthy process, and in
this case it will not be completed until
the new ship enters service in four
years’ time.
The Neptune A-20 has been in service
for 32 years since it was procured,
modified and delivered to the Spanish
Navy. Its original name was Amatista
and it was built at the Duro Felguera
shipyard in Gijón as a deepsea tug.
Since the Neptune’s launching 45 years
ago, it remains in service and continues
to accomplish the missions for which it
was conceived.
At the end of November last year,
the vessel located and identified the
wreckage of a crashed aircraft which,
together with the pilot’s body, was
sunk at 113 metres in waters close
to Castellón, both of which were
recovered in a joint operation between
the Guardia Civil and SASEMAR.
On 28 February last year, its crew
rescued the lifeless body of the pilot of
a C-101 jet aircraft that served in the
Patrulla Águila (Eagle patrol) and that
had crashed the day before in waters of
La Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia).
In mid-June 2018, the Neptune took
part in the recovery of the pilot and
the Air Tractor AT-8 aircraft of the
Divers of the
Neptune inject fresh
air through hoses
and extract stale
air in a distressed
submarine
simulation.
Submarine salvage and rescue
AFTER contacting crew members by all possible means of communication, the
first step is to bring in fresh air to maintain the right atmosphere inside the
submarine. At the same time, stale air must be removed to maintain a balanced
pressure and not create overpressure in the mini-submarine.
Rescue teams must also bring in watertight cylindrical containers with life-saving
supplies. If necessary, food, medicines, candles to generate oxygen chemically, and
escape suits are brought in through the deck hatch. Depending on the depth, these
interventions can be carried out by teams of divers or submariners. The final step is
the intervention of small submarines specialised in extracting people trapped inside
a submarine.
Balearic Institute of Nature, which had
crashed on the 12th of that same month
in Mediterranean waters, two miles
off the coast of Pollensa (Mallorca).
An operation involving minehunters
located and identified the aircraft 62
metres underwater, after which the
divers brought up the body and the
remains of the aircraft’s structure.
As a veteran Spanish Navy ship,
the Neptune and one or two submarines
conduct the national training exercise
Cartago on an annual basis. During
Armada
these exercises, all the participants have
to prove the operability of human and
technological means for safeguarding
the lives of submarine crews.
The Neptune also takes part in
international salvage and rescue
exercises of the Atlantic Alliance and
the community of NATO and non-
NATO countries, which regularly
coordinate their training to respond
in an expeditious manner to critical
submarine situations.
Juan Pons
Technological advances of the BAM-IS will allow it to
operate at much greater depths than the Neptune
44 Revista Española de Defensa April 2021