January 27, 200917 yr From ARES Malaysia Takes Delivery of Its First Ever Submarine Posted by Christina Mackenzie at 1/27/2009 9:39 AM CST Malaysia took delivery today of its first ever submarine: a Scorpene built by French military shipyard DCNS in partnership with Spanish shipyard Navantia. The submarine, named the Tunku Abdul Rahman (after Malaysia's first Prime Minister following independence in 1957), completed its sea tests at the end of December and was handed over to Admiral Dato'Sri Aziz Hj Jaafar, chief of staff of the Royal Malaysian Navy at a ceremony in the Mediterranean port of Toulon. The vessel will sail to Malaysia in the summer and meantime the crew will complete their training on-board. A second submarine, the Tun Razak, is scheduled for delivery by the end of this year. Each submarine, 67.5 metres long for 1,550 tons, is crewed by 31 people. Although conventionally powered, these submarines have an autonomy of 45 days “making it one of the only conventional vessels able to undertake very long ocean patrols,” DCNS says in a statement. DCNS has sold 10 Scorpene submarines : 2 to Chili, 2 to Malaysia and 6 to India.
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