SPS Cantabria is a naval replenishment oiler of the Spanish Navy (Armada Española), ordered in July 2005, laid down by Puerto Real of Cadiz on 18 July 2007, and launched on 21 July 2008. Although budgeted to cost €213 million, her final price tag was €238 million. Cantabria was commissioned into the Spanish Navy on 29 September 2010, and provides logistical support to the Spanish fleet during day-to-day operations, expeditionary operations, strategic projection deployments, and humanitarian and disaster relief efforts. Cantabria can refuel three ships simultaneously, one each to port and starboard and a third following astern.
On 3 July 2012, the Australian and Spanish governments signed a deal to permit Cantabria to support Royal Australian Navy (RAN) vessels between February and November 2013, while the RAN tanker HMAS Success was undergoing maintenance work. Over her ten-month deployment to Australia, SPS Cantabria performed 63 refuelling-at-sea operations and took part in the 2013 International Fleet Review to mark the entry of the first RAN fleet into Sydney Harbour on 4 October 1913.
The Cantabria design was subsequently considered by the RAN as a potential replacement for its existing tankers. Following a restricted tender competition, the Australian government announced the Cantabria-class as the winning design in March 2016. Two Australian Cantabria-class tankers, to be named HMAS Supply and Stalwart, will be known in Australia as the Supply-class .
As with the Australian agreement, the Canadian government signed a deal with Spain to allow Cantabria to provide logistical support services for Royal Canadian Navy ships from mid-September to November of 2016, following the unexpected decommissioning of HMCS Protecteur following a devastating engine room fire at sea on 27 February 2014.
Photo taken 23 October 2013
 |
| SPS Cantabria at the Garden Island naval base, Sydney, Australia, on 23 October 2013. The ship was |
SPS Cantabria - Specifications:
Displacement: 19,500 tons
Length: 170.4 metres (559 feet)
Beam: 23 metres (75 feet)
Draught: 8 metres (26 feet)
Propulsion: 2 x diesel engines generating 14,600 horsepower; single propeller shaft and a controllable-pitch propeller
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range: 6,000 nautical miles (11,000 km)
Capacity: 8,920 cubic metres (315,000 cubic feet) of ship fuel; 1,585 cubic metres (56,000 cubic feet) of aviation gas; 215 cubic metres (7,600 cubic feet of fresh water); 280 tons of ammunition; and 470 tons of general cargo
Aircraft: 2-3 helicopters (3 x Agusta-Bell AB.212 or 2 x SH-3 Sea King or 2 x NH90)
Complement: 122