Production of new submarines started
Kiel, 08/21/2007.
Fight enemy navies, conduct covert reconnaissance and worldwide operations, this is the mission spectrum of the new Class 212A submarines. Production of second lot started in Kiel.
On 21 August 2007 the production of the second lot of the Class 212A submarines started at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH in Kiel. Numerous high ranking civilian and military officials, representatives of the German Navy and of the companies involved in the production attended the ceremony.
Walter Freitag, member of the board of directors of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems GmbH, welcomed the guests. In his speech he underlined Germany’s leading role in the conventional submarine construction worldwide.
Harald Stein, vice-president of the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement, described the requirements of the new submarines arising from the actual mission spectrum. He presented the enhancements compared to the current Class 212A boats and wished all parties involved much success for the realization of the project.
The submarines of the second lot are based on the technology of the first lot. They will also have an air-independent fuel-cell propulsion with extremely low-noise emissions. In addition to improvements of the reconnaissance and communications systems the boats will be optimized for worldwide deployment and special forces missions.
The order for the delivery of two Class 212A submarines of the second lot was placed by the Federal Office of Defense Technology and Procurement on 22 September 2006. The contracting partner is a consortium formed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH, Kiel, and Nordseewerke GmbH, Emden, both being companies of Thyssen-Krupp Marine Systems AG.
