Still water runs deep, they say in the Israel Defense Forces when describing the stealthy power of Israel's submarines. But this week, with Israel marking the arrival of its fifth vessel -- the INS Rahav -- there will be less stealth and more fanfare. The submarine was to be welcomed in Israel with an elaborate ceremony on Tuesday. The event, which was to take place at the Israeli Navy base in Haifa, was to be attended by President Reuven Rivlin, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and outgoing Navy Commander Vice Adm. Ram Rothberg. As part of the ceremony, a fleet of Israeli vessels including the existing four submarines, missile boats and naval commando ships were to escort the latest addition to its docking place. According to foreign reports, the latest submarine will provide Israel with second-strike capabilities in the event of a nuclear confrontation, making it an essential component of Israel's deterrence mechanism. The INS Rahav, the fifth of a planned six Israeli submarines, left the shipyard in Kiel, Germany, in mid-December. The submarine is carrying 50 crew members, including a senior Israeli Navy officer. The new Dolphin-class vessel traveled 5,550 kilometers (3,450 miles) from Germany to Haifa, stopping 430 kilometers (270 miles) off the coast of Israel to honor the INS Dakar, an Israeli Navy submarine that sank there in 1968 with a crew of 69 on board. The fourth submarine, the INS Tanin, held a similar memorial service on its way to Haifa when it arrived last September. At 68 meters (223 feet) in length, both the Rahav and the Tanin are longer than the Israeli Navy's older submarines (57 meters, or 187 feet). Both feature air-independent propulsion systems, which allow them to stay underwater for significantly longer than conventional submarines without resurfacing, using fuel cells to supplement their diesel-electric engines. "With a second AIP sub, Israel has seriously bolstered its naval capabilities," an Israeli Navy official said. A senior defense official said recently that the Israeli Navy plans to make do with five submarines, and that once the sixth German-made sub is delivered in 2019, the oldest Dolphin-class submarine still in service will be decommissioned. Dolphin-class submarines are multipurpose vessels capable of carrying out a diverse range of missions. The Rahav is equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance and countermeasures systems, allowing it to avoid detection by enemy vessels, as well as satellite communications capabilities and other systems for electronic warfare, making it one of the most advanced submarines in the world, the naval officer said. Each Dolphin-class submarine costs around $500 million, a third of which was sponsored by the German government. These submarines serve as the long arm of the Israeli Navy and, according to foreign reports, provide Israel with second-strike capability in the event of a nuclear conflict, making them an important element of Israeli deterrence. Israeli submarines carry out covert missions on a daily basis.
