Malaysia’s first submarine “KD Tunku Abdul Rahman”, arrived at the Pulau Indah Royal Malaysian Navy base, Port Klang on September 3, 2009 and was received by the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (King of Malaysia) Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin.

KD Tunku Abdul Rahman sailed from Toulon, France on July 11 and took 54 days to reach Malaysia, making stops at Jeddah, Djibouti and Cochin on the 6,000Nm journey, which included 32 days of submersion and 10 days of surfacing.

The submarine was jointly developed by the French company DCNS, and the Spanish company Navantia and is one of two Scorpene submarines acquired by the Malaysian government to strengthen the Royal Malaysian Navy.

With a maximum depth of 350 meters (1,148 feet), the Scorpene is able to achieve an average of 240 days at sea. The structure of the submarine uses high-yield stress-specific steel which allows for as many dives to maximum depth as necessary. Also the Scorpene allows for a greater load of fuel and ammunition thanks to the use of high-tensile steel that reduce the weight of the hull. The planning and design of the Scorpene was directed towards achieving an extremely quiet vessel with a great detection capability and offensive power. By using advanced hydrodynamics with an albacore bow shape the Scorpene has low radiated noise reducing risk of detection from enemy sensors. The equipment is mounted on elastic mountings and the noisiest systems have double elastic mounting. This greatly reduces the risk of noise profiles to be radiated outside the submarine.

Able to carry out anti-submarine or anti-surface ship warfare operations, as well as special forces deployment in coastal waters, the Scorpene is manned by a 31 man crew. The control room and the living quarters are mounted on an elastically supported and acoustically isolated floating platform. All living and operational areas are air-conditioned. The vessel is equipped with all the necessary systems to provide vital supplies, water, provisions, regeneration of the atmosphere, to ensure the survival of all the crew for seven days.

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