S-31 Almirante García de los Reyes

Country:  Spain

Class, [Type]: Balao, [SS].

Builder: Manitowoc Shipbuilding Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin, U.S.A.

Launch date: 30 April 1944.

Commission date: 25 October 1959.

Decommission date: 01 April 1982.

Displacement ( tons ): 1.525 surfaced, 2.415 submerged.

Dimensions ( metres ): 95 x 8,3 x 4,7

Main machinery: 4 x General Motors diesel model 16-278 A , 4 x General Electric electric engines ( 1.375 hp each ).

Speed ( knots ): 23 surfaced, 11 submerged.

Range ( miles ): 11.000 at 10 knots ( surfaced ), 95 at 5 knots ( submerged ). Patrol endurance was 75 days.

Complement: 70 ( 10 officers ).

Guns: Originally 1 x 127mm, 1 x 40mm, 1 x 20mm. All removed when it entered service in Spain.

Torpedoes: 10 x 533mm tubes: 6 forward, 4 aft. 24 torpedoes: 16 forward and 8 aft. Initially armed with Mk14 torpedoes, in the last years of his career changed to Mk37.

Military lift: Fuel: 479tm.

Sonar: Passive: AN/BQR-2 B. Active: AN/BQS-4 C. At the end of his career used a BQR-2 taken from stricken S-33.

Comment: Ex - USS SS-370 Kraken. Ex - E-1. Transferred to Spain 24th October 1959, and then sold to Spain, 1st November 1974. Carried out four war patrols during WWII, earning a battle star. Named after Don Mateo García de los Reyes, first commander of the Submarine Division of the Spanish Navy. Nicknamed "Thirty Only-One" due to being the only capable submarine in the decaying submarine inventory of the Armada in the 1960´s. It was initially decomissioned on 16th September 1974, but had to be recomissioned again to replace S-33 Narciso Monturiol, which had suffered a major engine problem. Scrapped after being decomissioned in 1981. Makes ship number 1.300 in this site!.

Similar units:

 S32 Isaac Peral
 S33 Narciso Monturiol
 S34 Cosme García
 S35 Narciso Monturiol
 SS383 Pampanito