Spanish government ordered building of submarines in Spain and the USA according to the Dutch magazine Marineblad 1916/1916 no. 5

An item referred to the German magazine Schiffbau reporting that the Spanish cabinet ordered 12 submarines from an American firm with as limitation that these were to built at Spanish shipyards with a royalty for each submarine of around 150.000 US dollars. Another 2 submarines were to be built in the USA.