The ship “Martín Posadillo” will be sunk at the end of June

The tow of the light transport ship “Martín Posadillo”, which set sail on June 11 from the port of Cartagena, has arrived this morning at the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, following the wake of the auxiliary ship “Mar Caribe”. Several auxiliary units from Boluda Towage went out to meet it at the mentioned port to assist in the docking maneuver at the arsenal dock.

The stay docked at the port of the Gran Canaria capital will be brief, as puentedemando.com has already reported, it will be used as a naval target for the aeronaval exercise Sinkex 2023, which will take place between June 29 and 30, south of the Canary Islands. Therefore, it is ruled out that it would serve as a target for the new submarine “Isaac Peral” (S-81).

The mentioned exercise is expected to involve the LHD ships “Juan Carlos I”, the frigates “Méndez Núñez” and “Canarias”, the BAMs “Rayo” and “Relámpago”, the offshore patrol vessel “Centinela”, and the auxiliary ship “Mar Caribe”, which is towing the ship “Martín Posadillo”, as well as AV-8B Harrier II combat aircraft from the 9th Squadron and SH-60F helicopters from the 10th Squadron.

The transport ship “Martín Posadillo” (IMO 7332361) was decommissioned in December 2020 from the Official List of Navy Ships. It will follow the same fate as other Navy ships, such as the destroyer “Churruca”, sunk during maneuvers in 1991, and the frigates “Cataluña” in 2007 and “Andalucía” in 2008.

Formerly “Cala Portals”, formerly “Rivanervión”, it was built at the shipyard of the Duro Felguera Metallurgical Society (Gijón) and entered service in 1973. It belongs to a series of four ships built on behalf of Flota Suardíaz, pioneers in the transport of rolling cargo in Spain.

Photos: Nicolás Arocha for puentedemando.com