Indonesia, the world’s largest archipelago nation with more than 17,000 islands, has faced growing challenges to its maritime claims in recent years, including numerous incidents involving Chinese vessels near the Natuna islands. More than 60 of the Type 209 class submarines have been sold and have served in 14 navies around the world, ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems spokesperson, Eugen Witte, said. It had been maintained and overhauled in Germany, Indonesia and most recently in South Korea. The German-built submarine, which has been in service in Indonesia since 1981, was carrying 49 crew members, along with its commander and three gunners, the Indonesian defence ministry said. Owen said the submarine could be recovered from 500m without any damage but could not say if it would have imploded at 700m.
He said a rescue submarine would make a waterproof connection to a disabled submarine with a so-called skirt fitted over the rescue seat so that the hatch can be opened without the stricken vessel filling with water. Owen, a former submariner who developed an Australian submarine rescue system, said the Indonesian vessel was not fitted with a rescue seat around an escape hatch designed for underwater rescues. So they can survive at that depth, but not necessarily operate.” “They can go deeper than that because they will have a safety margin built into the design, but the pumps and other systems that are associated with that may not have the capacity to operate. “Most rescue systems are really only rated to about 600m (1,970 feet),” he said. He said his company upgraded much of the submarine’s internal structures and systems but lacked recent information about the vessel.įrank Owen, secretary of the Submarine Institute of Australia, also said the submarine could be at too great a depth for a rescue team to operate. The Indonesian navy believes the submarine sank to a depth of 600-700m (2,000-2,300ft) – three times greater than the depth at which pressure would begin to crush the vessel.Īhn Guk-hyeon, an official from South Korea’s Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering, which refitted the vessel in 2009-2012, said the submarine would collapse if it goes deeper than around 200m. The US defence department was sending “airborne assets” to assist in the submarine search, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said on Twitter.
Indonesia said several countries had responded to requests for assistance, with Malaysia and Singapore sending ships, and Australia offering “help in any way we can”.
He said they were waiting for a navy ship with underwater detection facilities to arrive in the area before they could investigate further. Yudo Margono said rescuers had found an unidentified object with high magnetism at a depth of 50-100m (165-330ft) and that officials hoped it was the submarine. An aerial photo shows oil spills are seen in the water where the search operation for the Navy submarine KRI Nanggala that went missing Photograph: Eric Ireng/EPA
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