On Monday, July 1st, 2024, the fourth year students (GGMM 2º) of the Degree in Mechanical Engineering taught at the Defense University Center at the Spanish Naval Academy (CUD-ENM), visited the facilities of the company Navantia at its shipyard in Ferrol (A Coruña), accompanied by the professor Mr. José María Núñez Ortuño.
Navantia is a leading Spanish public company in the design and construction of high-tech military and civilian ships, with more than 300 years of history. Its main customers, in addition to the Ministry of Defense itself, include navies from different countries. Its business lines range from military platforms (frigates, aircraft carriers, patrol boats, submarines, etc.) to offshore wind platforms.
The GGMM 2º were received by Mr. Rafael Seijo (Technical Director of the F-110 program), Mr. José Antonio Cabanas (Coordinator of the F-110 program) and the CN (SE) Mr. Antonio González-Llanos (Head of Safety and RR. II. Navantia Ría de Ferrol). Mr. Cabanas then explained to the students, around the shipyard model, the history of Navantia.
Later, the students received a general talk about the company and its main business lines, given by Mr. Cabanas. In the talk, several innovative bets of Navantia were presented with the aim of being at the forefront of shipyards, such as the “Fabrica Digital de Bloques” (pre-assembled blocks manufacturing workshop), with an expected investment of 110 M€. Mr. Seijo continued the talk by commenting on the main characteristics of the new F-110 frigates and indicated that the first 33 blocks of these ships, corresponding to the F-111, have already been built. He also informed about other ongoing programs, such as the replacement of the PODs of the LHD Juan Carlos I, the modernization of the F-100 frigates (MLU-F100), the new BAM nº 7 and 8, and the new BAC.
Afterwards, a brief visit was made to the Technical Office of the Frigates and Intervention Ships Business (NFBI) where Mr. José Romero, Engineering Director of the Ría de Ferrol Shipyard, explained and showed the operation of the Mechanical Systems Department and the Electricity and Control Department.
In the pre-armament building, the students saw the first blocks of a frigate of the F-110 series, currently under construction, as well as a full-scale replica of the frigate’s mast, which will be installed in the LBTS building in Rota. From this building, the visitors moved to the turbine factory (SEANERGIES) where they had the opportunity to see, from the hand of its director Mr. Jesús Lourido, the turbines, shaft lines and gears which were at that moment being manufactured for the future F-110, as well as the machines used by the Verification and Dimensional Control department to check the quality of the product they manufacture.
Later they visited the “Innovation and Robotics Center” where they observed the operation of a robotized welding inspection cell and later they participated in a demonstration of the new Integrated Services Systems (ISS) which will be incorporated in the F-110 frigates. The ISS is a joint technological project between Navantia and the University of Vigo which aims to significantly reduce the wiring on the ships. Through a network with 2,000 nodes, various functionalities such as lighting, public address, monitoring, television cameras, wireless access services and a variety of sensors are integrated, also allowing interaction with crew members.
To conclude the visit, the students went to the slipway (dry dock) where the first modules of the F-111 “Bonifaz” are already assembled, prior to the launching.
The visit to the facilities of Navantia Ferrol ended at 2:30 p.m., at which time the visitors went to the Shipyard House, where they had an informal lunch before returning to the ENM.
