The Navy on Tuesday held a “keel laying” ceremony for an indigenously built submarine prototype a year after work began to signal the completion of the vessel’s first construction phase.
The ceremony was presided over by Navy Commander Admiral Liu Chih-pin (???) and Cheng Wen-lon (???), chairman of Taiwan shipbuilder CSBC Shipbuilding Corp., which is responsible for the project, according to a Navy statement.
Liu called on all parties involved in the submarine’s construction to prioritize safety and maintain confidentiality to ensure that the project is completed on schedule.
The ceremony was closed to the media, and the Navy did not provide any photos or disclose where it was held for confidentiality reasons.
“Keel laying” is a term used in the shipbuilding industry to formally recognize the start of a vessel’s construction, even for submarines, which do not have keels, a military source previously told CNA.
In submarine building, the ceremony means the builder has successfully connected the submarine’s sail, the tower-like structure on the surface of submarine, to its main hull and passed required pressure tests, according to the source.
The government has allocated NT$49 billion over seven years to build an indigenous submarine, with the goal of boosting Taiwan’s defense capabilities amid China’s growing military prowess.
The prototype is scheduled to be completed in 2024 and delivered to the Navy in 2025.
Taiwan’s Navy currently has four aging submarines in its fleet, two of which were purchased from the United States in the 1970s, and two others were bought from the Netherlands in the 1980s.
Source: Focus Taiwan News Channel