KD Tunku Abdul Rahman arrived

The first Royal Malaysian Navy Perdana Class Scorpene submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman arrived in Port Klang this morning. Submariner Cdr. Zulhelmi Ithnain was in command.

Bernama.com:

September 03, 2009 13:41 PM

Malaysia’s First Submarine KD Tunku Abdul Rahman Arrives In Pulau Indah

 

PORT KLANG, Sept 3 (Bernama) — It was a historic moment for the nation when the Royal Malaysian Navy’s (RMN) first submarine, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman (TAR), arrived at KD Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, the naval base in Pulau Indah, here, Thursday.

The Scorpene submarine, with 32 officers and crew members on board led by commanding officer Zulhelmey Ithnain, reached the jetty at 9.20am.

As the surfacing submarine, which were pulled by two tugboats, approached the jetty, some of its crew members were seen waving at the waiting crowd.

Present to witness the submarine’s arrival were Yang Di Pertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, RMN’s captain-in-chief Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak and his deputy Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi.

Also present to welcome its arrival were the Malaysian Armed Forces (MAF) chief General Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin, RMN chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar, Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Tan Sri Musa Hassan, foreign military officials and family members of the KD TAR crew.

Tuanku Mizan, Sultan Sharafuddin, Najib, Muhyiddin, Ahmad Zahid, Raja Muda of Selangor Tengku Amir Shah, MAF chief, RMN chief and the IGP were then taken into the nation’s first submarine for a visit.

After the visit, Tuanku Mizan launched the commemorative stamps and first day covers in conjunction with the submarine’s arrival in the country.

The stamps and first day covers were issued by Pos Malaysia Bhd in collaboration with the RMN.

The KD TAR commemorative stamps are sold at 30 sen and 50 sen each, and a complete set of the stamps and first day covers at RM33.10 at all post offices.

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

It is one of two Scorpene submarines acquired by the Malaysian government to strengthen the RMN.

— BERNAMA

 

By: Ramjit

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This Perdana Class Scorpene submarine has a complement of 31 men and able to carry a combination of highly sophisticated 18 Whitehead Alenia Blackshark torpedoes and/or MBDA SM 39 Exocet submarine launched anti ship missiles (six in the tubes and twelve on the arms rack). It has the capability to dive over 300 metres and the communications and combat systems is equivalent to the French Navy  nuclear submarines. Malaysia is the second user of the fully digital high technology coventional French designed and constructed submarine, after Chilean Navy. Indian Navy ordered six submarines based on the Perdana Class specifications. If fitted with the MESMA Air Independent Propulsion (MESMA-AIP), then the submerge capability is extended. The 66 metre submarine has an operational weight of 1,700 tonnes and range of over 6,000 nautical miles.

Almost two years ago, the first of two RMN’s strategic weapon completed the assembly in Armaris facility, Cherbourg Naval Dockyard, North France. BigDogDotCom carried the story of the launch, which was done in full Malaysian style military honours. BigDogDotCom also earned international recognition when our original piece on naming of the first vessel  article on the Scorpene submarines was translated into French and uploaded into the French Navy offcial website.

The second Perdana Class submarine KD Tun Razak would complete sea trials and head home for Malaysia sometime early 2010. The Sepanggar Naval Base would be the permanent home for the submarine flotilla, along with the training submarine Agosta 70B Class named Ouessant.

This mark RMN’s embark into strategic weaponry and capability. When a naval force is backed by submarines, the operational reach and capabilities are far reaching. When the idea for the RMN to have the submarines was thought of and debated since the early 80s, it did not get then Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad’s explicit approval till 1999. RMN is today ready to be operationalised not only within the South China Sea, but as far as East Indian Ocean and Sea of Japan. When there exist incursion threat via the sea, a nation with a submarine force would multiple the surface warfare capabilities by a factor of 10. For RMN, it means the two Perdana Class submarines would have the equivalent deterent factor which could be played by a combination of 20 frigates, corvettes and armed off shore patrol vessels. The Scorpene is by far the most technologically advanced conventional submarine in Asia.

Congratulations, Royal Malaysian Navy. Congratulations also to people who made this happened, namely Fourth Prime Minister Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, Sixth Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Mohd. Najib Tun Razak (who was then Defense Minister when the project commmenced), Laksmana Tan Sri Abu Bakar Jamal (then Chief of Naval Forces), Tan Sri Hashim Meon (then Secretary General MINDEF), Tan Sri Subhan Jasmon (then Deputy Secretary General  MINDEF), Tan Sri Lodin Wok Kamaruddin (CEO Boustead Holdings Bhd), Laksmana Pertama Mohd. Rosland Omar (then Leader, Submarine Project Team,  Arsenal, Cherbourg, France) and last but not least, Allahyarham Musaffa Dapat.