Taiwan's first indigenous submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, this morning conducted its first submerged sea trial and was expected to dive to a snorkel depth of 10m to 20m.
CSBC Corp, Taiwan, the main contractor for the prototype of the Hai Kun, yesterday announced the trial in a news release, marking the first time the shipbuilder has publicly announced the submarine’s testing schedule.
The submerged trials would proceed in stages, beginning with snorkel-depth testing at depths of 10m to 20m to verify watertight integrity, underwater balance and stability, as well as the functionality and integration of all onboard systems, CSBC said.
Photo: Lee Hui-chou, Taipei Times
That would be followed by shallow-water submerged trials at depths of 50m to 100m to further verify watertightness and balance stability, it said.
Deep-water submerged trials would then be conducted from 100m to the submarine’s maximum design depth, again testing watertightness and balance stability, with pressure resistance evaluated progressively from shallow to deeper waters, CSBC said.
After the submerged trials are completed, the submarine would enter the evaluation testing phase, it said.
The first stage would involve technical evaluations conducted by the shipbuilder to verify that the platform and combat systems meet operational requirements, it said, adding that test items would include endurance, underwater noise levels, sonar performance, the combat system and simulated weapons launches.
After completing the tests, the submarine would be delivered to the navy for tactical evaluation, it said.
The submarine would operate in designated exercise areas to conduct technical and tactical assessments to verify overall combat capability, CSBC said, adding that test items would include live weapons firing, single-vessel tactical employment, multi-vessel coordinated operations and long-duration patrol maturity testing.
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