S-80 Plus-class submarine vs Shallow Water Combat Submersible

S-80 Plus-class submarine — licensed reference photograph

ASubmarines

S-80 Plus-class submarine

Submarine with air-independent propulsion (AIP)

Credit

A Guy Named Nyal · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Resized · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Source ↗ · Modified

Shallow Water Combat Submersible — licensed reference photograph

BSubmarines

Shallow Water Combat Submersible

Submersible , diver propulsion vehicle

Credit

CAPT Kate Dollof · Public domain · Resized · Public domain · Source ↗ · Modified

First system

Second system

At a glance

Side by side

Length comparisonOne shared metre scale

S-80 Plus-class submarineLength

81.05 m

Length source ↗

Shallow Water Combat SubmersibleLength

6.8 m

Length source ↗

Lengths retain their source configuration and measurement scope.

S-80 Plus-class submarinelarger figure on 2 of 2

Length+1092%
Beam+679%

Shallow Water Combat Submersiblelarger figure on 0 of 2

None

Counts only measures both sources give with the same scope. A larger figure is not a better system.

Measured figures

Head to head

16 of 28 rows sourced on both sides

81.05m

6.8m

Length+1092%

All recorded figures & sources

81.05 m

Length

Single source

81.05 m (265 ft 11 in)^[source]

6.8 m

Length

Single source

6.8 meters (22 ft)^[source]

11.68m

1.5m

Beam+679%

All recorded figures & sources

11.68 m

Beam

Single source

11.68 m (38 ft 4 in)^[source]

1.5 m

Beam

Single source

1.5 meters (4.9 ft)^[source]

7.3m

1.5mDraft

Draught

All recorded figures & sources

7.3 m

Draught

Single source

7.3 m (23 ft 11 in)^[source]

1.5 m

Draft

Single source

1.5 meters (4.9 ft)^[source]

2,965tSubmerged

Displacement

All recorded figures & sources

2,965 tonnes

Submerged

Single source

2,965 t (2,918 long tons) submerged^[source]

4.5 tonnes

Displacement

Single source

4.5 tonnes (5.0 short tons)^[source]

32plus 8 troops

62 crew, 4 passengers

ComplementScopes differ

All recorded figures & sources

32 people

plus 8 troops

Single source

32 (plus 8 troops)^[source]

6 people

2 crew, 4 passengers

Single source

6 (2 crew, 4 passengers)^[source]

35km/hMaximum; Submerged

11km/hMaximum; Speed

SpeedScopes differ

All recorded figures & sources

35 km/h

Maximum; Submerged

Single source

22 km/h

Maximum; Surfaced

Single source

12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) surfaced 19 knots (35 km/h; 22 mph) submerged^[source]

11 km/h

Maximum; Speed

Single source

6 kn (11 km/h)^[source]

8,000km

—

Range

All recorded figures & sources

8,000 km

Range

Single source

8,000 km (5,000 mi)^[source]

30-55 days in immersion

12h

Endurance

All recorded figures & sources

30-55 days in immersion^[source]

12 h

Endurance

Single source

12 hours^[source]

Bars compare reported quantities only. A larger figure does not make a system better; configurations and test conditions differ.

Configuration

Details

S-80 Plus-class submarine and Shallow Water Combat Submersible configuration
Specification	S-80 Plus-class submarine	Shallow Water Combat Submersible
Thrust	1 shaft Etanol-AIP 3 bio-ethanol engines (3 × 1,200 kW) MTU-16V-396SE-85L 1 electric motor (3,500 kW), 1 AIP fuel cell unit (300 kW) Vulkan couplings RATO-S G-561W. 280 kN·m^[source]	—
Builders	Navantia^[source]	Teledyne Brown Engineering^[source]
Operators	Spanish Navy^[source]	United States Navy Royal Navy (planned)^[source]
Preceded by	Galerna class^[source]	SEAL Delivery Vehicle^[source]
Cost	€ 3.935 billion (2018) for 4 units € 983.75 million (2018) per unit^[source]	$383 million (program cost)^[source]
Built	2005–2029 (planned)^[source]	—
In commission	2023-present^[source]	—
Planned	4^[source]	—
Building	2^[source]	2^[source]
Completed	2^[source]	2^[source]
Active	1^[source]	—
Type	Submarine with air-independent propulsion (AIP)^[source]	Submersible , diver propulsion vehicle^[source]
Test depth	460 m (1,510 ft)^[source]	>190 feet (58 m)^[source]
Armament	6 × 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes with: Torpedoes: DM2A4 Mark 48 (option) Black Shark (option) Spearfish (option) Torped 2000 (option) Anti-ship missiles: UGM-84 Sub-Harpoon block II (option) Exocet (option) Joint Strike Missile (studies) Cruise missiles: Tomahawk (option) Cylindrical multi-influence mines MINEA smart bottom mines^[source]	SEAL team personal weapons, limpet mines^[source]
Notes	AIP reactor autonomy: 28 days^[source]	—
National origin	Spain^[source]	—
On order	—	7 USN, 3 RN^[source]
Propulsion	—	Lithium-ion batteries powering electric motors^[source]
Sensors & processing systems	—	Inertial navigation system , high-frequency sonar for obstacle/mine avoidance and navigation, GPS^[source]
Country of origin	—	United States^[source]Inventory Origin column; table 2, row 5, cell 2; revision 1373375989; retrieved 2026-09-30

FORCETALLY

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S-80 Plus-class submarine

Shallow Water Combat Submersible

Thrust

1 shaft Etanol-AIP 3 bio-ethanol engines (3 × 1,200 kW) MTU-16V-396SE-85L 1 electric motor (3,500 kW), 1 AIP fuel cell unit (300 kW) Vulkan couplings RATO-S G-561W. 280 kN·m^[source]

—

Builders

Navantia^[source]

Teledyne Brown Engineering^[source]

Operators

Spanish Navy^[source]

United States Navy Royal Navy (planned)^[source]

Preceded by

Galerna class^[source]

SEAL Delivery Vehicle^[source]

Cost

€ 3.935 billion (2018) for 4 units € 983.75 million (2018) per unit^[source]

$383 million (program cost)^[source]

Built

2005–2029 (planned)^[source]

—

In commission

2023-present^[source]

—

Planned

4^[source]

—

Building

2^[source]

Completed

2^[source]

Active

1^[source]

—

Type

Submarine with air-independent propulsion (AIP)^[source]

Submersible , diver propulsion vehicle^[source]

Test depth

460 m (1,510 ft)^[source]

>190 feet (58 m)^[source]

Armament

6 × 533 mm (21.0 in) torpedo tubes with: Torpedoes: DM2A4 Mark 48 (option) Black Shark (option) Spearfish (option) Torped 2000 (option) Anti-ship missiles: UGM-84 Sub-Harpoon block II (option) Exocet (option) Joint Strike Missile (studies) Cruise missiles: Tomahawk (option) Cylindrical multi-influence mines MINEA smart bottom mines^[source]

SEAL team personal weapons, limpet mines^[source]

Notes

AIP reactor autonomy: 28 days^[source]

—

National origin

Spain^[source]

—

On order

—

7 USN, 3 RN^[source]

Propulsion

—

Lithium-ion batteries powering electric motors^[source]

Sensors & processing systems

—

Inertial navigation system , high-frequency sonar for obstacle/mine avoidance and navigation, GPS^[source]

Country of origin

—

United States^[source]Inventory Origin column; table 2, row 5, cell 2; revision 1373375989; retrieved 2026-09-30