According to the contract, the first
submarine was to be ready for induction into service within seven years of signing the contract and the remaining five
submarines delivered at intervals of one year each thereafter.
Leveraging the experience and the transfer-of-technology of the Scorpene project, with enhanced and upgraded infrastructure, MDL, is ready for undertaking construction of the next generation
submarines.
During the 1971 war four
submarines were actively deployed on both the Eastern and Western Maritime theatres of operations in the Bay of Bengal and the Arabian Sea.
During WWI, the German Navy used the Belgian port of Zeebrugge as a base for its
submarines, known as U-boats during that time, to attack trade shipping in the North Sea.
The new
submarines are able to maintain such a low profile thanks to a clever implementation of a next-generation anti-reflective acoustic coating and a new improved hydro-acoustic system, Buzakov said.
Other two Agosta 90-B
submarines (PNS Khalid and PNS Saad) were locally overhauled and retrofitted with air-independent propulsion systems in 2011.
According to experts, the new
submarine outperforms the
submarines of Varshavyanka (project 636) class which are now believed to be the most silent
submarines in the world.
Nevertheless, despite the rapidly increasing number of countries buying
submarines and counter to conventional wisdom, I argue that the threat to international security from the current
submarine proliferation around the world may have been exaggerated.
Submarines with women currently serving on board are USS Florida (SSGN 728), USS Georgia (SSGN 729), and USS Wyoming (SSBN 742), homeported in Kings Bay, Georgia; and USS Ohio (SSGN 726), USS Louisiana (SSBN 743), USS Maine (SSBN 741), and USS Michigan (SSGN 727), homeported in Bangor, Washington.
Apart from the new diesel- electric
submarines, the Navy's demand for buying five " minisubs" for its marine commandos ( Marcos) was also approved.
All the 13
submarines are over 20 years old, while eight of them have crossed 25.
The next two
submarines, named Ho Chi Minh and Haiphong, are expected to be handed over to Vietnam this year.
Beijing, of course, is leagues ahead with 47 diesel-electric
submarines and eight nuclear-powered ones.
In action, fantasy and science fiction movies the
submarine theme looms large, too, like in 'Operation Petticoat' (1959), which Koldau calls the ultimate
submarine movie, in 'Yellow
Submarine' (1968) as well as in the medialisation of the
submarine myth in toys, computer games, the internet, or in documentaries and in
submarines used for research purposes.
The INS Tanin and two additional
submarines that have been ordered will double the number of existing Israeli
submarines.
