The Navy celebrated this Sunday the Patron Saint of all men of the sea, the Virgen del Carmen, with a military act at the Cartagena Arsenal. The Chief Admiral of the Arsenal (Alarcart), Vice Admiral Pedro Luis de la Puente García-Ganges, took stock of this naval course, in which “we have seen our resources increase.”
This increase means that 2023 will be a particularly demanding year for the heads of maintenance, supply and infrastructure because the increase in financial resources is “putting the contracting capacity of the Arsenal and the Administration to the limit. And it is being just as demanding for the inspection of constructions that see their work multiplied with the sea trials of ‘Isaac Peral’, while they continue their inspection work with the S-82, 83 and 84”.
The admiral listed the efforts to try to recover the maximum operation of the Force, “which is our main mission, to recover infrastructures and catch up on those matters that we had fallen behind on. Last year we executed almost 100% of the budget and this year we are pursuing the same”.
De la Puente valued all the units and personnel of the Navy. “We form a team: from the general officers to the soldiers and sailors so that the Navy fulfills its mission, fulfills Spain.”
He stressed that the “indisputable maritime condition” of Cartagena continues to generate wealth, with its port, its shipyard and with “this Arsenal as engines, among others, of the Region’s economy. For 3,000 years it has been nothing more and nothing less than a naval base around which it has grown to become the city we know today. And since the 18th century around this Arsenal».
One of the main challenges this year is the delivery of the new submarines of the S-80 program to the Navy by Navantia. The admiral, who participated in the first dynamic immersion at the beginning of the month, insisted that “the program continues its course” and announced that “the tests will begin in mid-August until reaching the maximum operational level to be able to deliver the ship at the end of anus”.
For de la Puente, “the city of submarines,” as he describes Cartagena, is “a world benchmark in the forefront of shipbuilding thanks to the S-80 submarine program.” However, the delivery of ‘Isaac Peral’ to the Navy has been a challenge of considerable dimensions that has been overcome, slowly but surely, thanks to the professional competence of all the military and civilians involved in it”, he highlighted.
Regarding the modification of the project to adapt the docks of the submarine base to the new S-80 to preserve archaeological findings, information published today by LA VERDAD, the admiral noted that “the graves continue their course. We have found archaeological remains, the reports have been requested and the measures to preserve the archaeological remains have been established. The graves will be ready, according to the admiral, in November, and when these works are finished “we will build a transversal pier that does not exist right now.”
The activities in honor of the Virgen del Carmen, Patron Saint of all seamen, began with the celebration of a mass in the military church of Santo Domingo.
The military act, chaired by the chief admiral of the Cartagena Arsenal (ALARCART), Vice Admiral Pedro Luis de la Puente García-Ganges, included the review of the Force and the imposition of decorations. This was followed by a tribute to Navy personnel who have recently been transferred to reserve status, with a brief address by their most senior officer.
Marino Fernández-Bravo Álvarez, the senior assistant at the headquarters of the Maritime Action Force in Cartagena, highlighted the dedicated and disinterested life to the Navy and Spain, as well as the satisfaction of the duty fulfilled by the 17 Navy comrades who said goodbye of active life in the Navy, of the almost 30 members who this year have gone to the reserve in Cartagena.
For the already Navy reservist, with 40 years of service, “everything I know I have learned from the men and women of this extraordinary but sacrificed profession with the acquisition of values such as camaraderie, loyalty and the spirit of sacrifice” .
In the military act there was also a heartfelt tribute to those who gave their lives for Spain, and to those who died at sea in the merchant, fishing, scientific and recreational marines. The chief admiral of the Cartagena Arsenal (ALARCART), Vice Admiral Pedro Luis de la Puente García-Ganges, highlighted the death of Corporal Ardila, as well as the missing fishermen on the Galician ship ‘Villa de Pitanxo’.
The act was attended by the Admiral of Maritime Action, Vice Admiral Alfonso Delgado Moreno, accompanied by other civil and military authorities, as well as representatives of the fishing, merchant and sports marinas, with which the Navy shares the Virgen del Carmen as patron saint. Among the authorities were the president of the Regional Assembly, Visitación Martínez, the government delegate, Francisco Jiménez, the mayoress of Cartagena, Noelia Arroyo, and the acting counselor for the Presidency, Tourism, Culture, Youth, Sports and Spokesperson, Marcos Ortuño .
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