Taiwan’s difficult defense situation
Taiwan News
Date: 2017/01/21
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Work on the Navy’s 71-year-old Guppy II-class submarine will begin after the
The photo shows the oldest submarine in Taiwan. (Photo courtesy ROC Navy)
Lunar New Year in order to make it last at least until its 80th anniversary, reports said Saturday.
The Navy and the Taiwan International Shipbuilding Corporation reportedly signed an agreement last month to spend 18 months strengthening its hull and navigational elements. The submarine has already entered the repair yard at Zuoying in Kaohsiung and work is due to start shortly after the Lunar New Year, reports said.
As long as the country has not started building its own submarine, the SS-791 Sea Lion, as the ancient vessel is known, will be used for training of Navy crews.
The Navy command recently took the unprecedented step of telling the media that it was on an offshore mission, thus dispelling doubts about the World War II-era submarine still being useful and safe the next century. [FULL STORY]
