http://www.jpost.com, In a rare revelation of war games between Israel and one of its allies, a newspaper reported over the weekend that an Israeli submarine engaged in a mock underwater battle with a German rival and won.
According to Yediot Ahronot, the war game took place last week, lasted “a few hours” and involved depths of hundreds of meters. The Dolphin-class submarine “Tekuma” succeeded in tailing the German vessel. She followed the German submarine at a safe distance without being detected until the end of the exercise, the report said.
“The fact that we are surrounded by enemy countries and are in a constant state of operational action and not just engaged in exercises, has made our underwater operational capabilities some of the highest in the world,” Col. Eyal, the outgoing commander of the submarine flotilla was quoted as saying.
It was the first time since the three German-made Dolphin class submarines arrived in the country that the navy accepted a sub-to-sub challenge with a foreign navy, the report said.
With a crew of 33 and a captain who is only 31 years old, the Dolphins are the most expensive piece of weaponry in the IDF's arsenal the diesel-electric submarines, manufactured by Kiel-based Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG, were mostly paid for by the Germans. Israel has reportedly sought to purchase two more of the sophisticated submarines.
