Experts fear that the Isaac Peral will not surface again if sent to sea
The mistake will cost £9million over three years to rectify
A US company is to present a range of options to Spanish officials
The project could be set back two years by the error
By STEVE NOLAN
A £1.75billion Spanish submarine project has run aground after officials realised that the vessel is more than 70 tonnes too heavy – because an engineer put a decimal point in the wrong place.
A former Spanish official has described the mistake, which has led to fears that the submarine might not resurface if sent to sea, as ‘fatal’.
The Isaac Peral, the first in a new class of diesel electric submarines, was almost complete when the problem was noticed.
Spain will now pay US Navy contractor Electric Boat £9million over three years to assess the issue and carry out the work required to correct it, according to the Spanish Defence Ministry.
Rafael Bardaji, former director of the Office of Strategic Assessment at Spain’s Defense Ministry said that officials will review options suggested by Electric Boat.
Too heavy: The Isaac Peral, a new, Spanish-designed submarine is more than 70 tons too heavy, and officials fear if it goes out to sea, it will not be able to surface. Officials are pictured next to the engine of the vessel last November
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Math students: Pay attention to your teachers !!!
Its hard to believe such mistake propagated; advance engineering design techniques such as model-in-loop and hardware-in-loop simulations almost eliminate these sorts of errors.