Dr Eduardo Minguito Cardeña reflects on his 40-year career as he retires from NAVANTIA


Dr Eduardo Minguito Cardeña, Head of Tests and New Technologies Department at Spanish shipbuilder NAVANTIA, is a familiar face to anyone involved in CRS and he has been a regular visitor to MARIN for more than 35 years. On the eve of his retirement Report interviewed Eduardo about his views on the growth of CFD use and why he has always chosen to return to MARIN over the decades, and also if it will be possible to leave hydrodynamics behind as he embarks on a new phase of life.


E


duardo estimates that he has probably seen 150 vessels built over the decades, and laughs that perhaps


he is not the easiest person to interview because his career is ‘a game of two halves’ – from 1981 he worked with Astilleros Españoles (AESA) building merchant ships and then from 2005, he has led the Engineering and Innovation Direction Department at NAVANTIA where most of his work concerned navy ships and consequently, remains confidential.


We believe your first project with MARIN was already a considerable challenge - sea trials for the Rio Tinto in 1983 - which were definitely ‘a plunge into the deep end’ for a fresh-faced hydrodynamicist?


“Yes I was straight out of university and was the youngest involved in the Rio Tinto team but my professor at the University of Madrid and leader of the hydrodynamic department at AESA had already taken part in a lot of projects at MARIN. ” (The team is pictured when they arrived safely back ashore.)


“Rio Tinto was in the context that Astilleros Españoles wanted to investigate a new propeller type for tankers and bulk carriers. Spain and all of the European shipbuilders were trying to be more competitive, as Japan had started to take the flag from Europe. They had developed a new propeller prototype for the Rio Tinto, which was a very big tanker of 250,000 dwt. We were onboard to collate the solid sea trial data.”


Patrol vessel tested in waves 6 report


“However, things didn’t go to plan at all. Seawater was flowing rapidly into the engine


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