Navantia, heiress of a long tradition
The history of Navantia dates back to 1717, when Quartermaster General José Patiño ordered the construction of the first modern shipyard in our country, the Real Arsenal de la Carraca, which was followed in 1731 by Cartagena and further on in 1750 by Ferrol. These military arsenals were dedicated to the construction and repair of the Spanish Navy ships. The same dams and terraces that now give life to the most technologically advanced ships (Norwegian F-100 and F-310 frigates, S-80 submarines, LHD “Juan Carlos I” and Australian ALHD, among others) were also witnesses of historic landmarks such as the development of the great line ships of the 18th century, of the first mechanically propelled ships, or of the first electric propulsion submarine in the world, the “Isaac Peral”.
In 1908, the shipyards of Cartagena and Ferrol became part of the Naval Construction Society (popularly known as “La Naval”) to which also belonged civil shipyards such as those located in Matagorda and Sestao, which would become part of Spanish Shipyards
group (AESA) in the late sixties of the twentieth century. At the end of the Spanish Civil War, the State took control of the military arsenals and created Bazán in 1947. Both companies would join at the beginning of the 21st century in the public company IZAR, a brief project that marked the beginning of a new time, the merge of two long traditions of the Spanish naval industry, the military naval construction (represented by the extinct Bazán) and the civil one (grouped at that time under the also disappeared Spanish Shipyards group).
Lastly, Navantia was born in 2005 as a result of the split up process of IZAR, with the fundamental aim of improving its business efficiency.
