PORT KLANG: The Royal Malaysian Navy’s first submarine, KD Tunku Abdul Rahman, arrived at KD Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah, the naval base in Pulau Indah here on 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, 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 DiPertuan Agong Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, RMN captain-in-chief the Sultan of Selangor Sultan Sharafuddin Idris Shah, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun 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 chief General Tan Sri Azizan Ariffin, RMN chief Admiral Tan Sri Abdul Aziz Jaafar, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Musa Hassan, foreign military officials and family members of the submarine crew.
The dignitaries were then taken into the nation’s first submarine for a visit, after which Tuanku Mizan launched 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 Tunku Abdul Rahman commemorative stamps are sold at 30sen and 50sen each, and a complete set of the stamps and first-day covers are available for RM33.10 at all post offices.
KD Tunku Abdul Rahman sailed from Toulon, France on July 11 and took 54 days to reach Port Klang, making stops at Jeddah, Djibouti and Cochin on the 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
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