Malaysian Second Scorpene SSK Begins Sea Trials

Malaysian Second Scorpene SSK Begins Sea Trials

(NSI News Source Info) February 18, 2009: This submarine will be delivered to the Royal Malaysian Navy in October, one year after it was floated.

On February 11th, Navantia began sea trials in waters off Cartagena of the second Scorpene submarine that the consortium formed by the French company DCNS and NAVANTIA is building for the Royal Malaysian Navy, and which had been christened “Tun Razak”.

The aim of this sortie was to commence checks on the operation of the different equipment that has been installed on the submarine.

This first phase of trials will last until the end of April. After a subsequent period of approximately 3 months during which the submarine will be in dry dock for routine maintenance work, the second phase of sea trials will be performed until October 25 of this year, the date scheduled for delivery of the Tun Razak to the Royal Malaysian Navy.

The Tun Razak submarine was set afloat and christened during a ceremony that took place at NAVANTIA’s shipyard in Cartagena on October 8 last year, which was presided over by their Royal Majesties the King and Queen of Malaysia. The first of the two submarines, named Tunku Abdul Rahman, was delivered to this Asian country’s Navy on January 26 this year in Toulon, France.

The main characteristics of the submarine are:

-- Length overall: 66.4 m.

-- Submerged displacement: 1,700 t

-- Autonomy: 50 days --Crew: 31