Type 214 submarine
Greek submarine Papanikolis (S-120) at the HDW building yard in Kiel, 2008.
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| Class overview | |
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| Builders: | |
| Operators: | |
| Subclasses: | Tridente-class submarine |
| Cost: | $330 million (2008) |
| In service: | 2007 |
| Building: | 2 |
| Planned: | 17 |
| Completed: | 13 |
| Active: | 12 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 1,690 t (surfaced), 1,860 t (submerged) |
| Length: | 213 feet 3 inches (65.0 m) |
| Beam: | 20 feet 8 inches (6.3 m) |
| Draught: | 19 feet 8 inches (6.0 m) |
| Propulsion: | Diesel-electric, fuel cell AIP, low noise skew back propeller |
| Speed: |
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| Range: |
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| Endurance: | 84 days |
| Test depth: | 250m (400m theoretical) |
| Complement: | 5 officers + 22 crew |
| Armament: | (8) 533 mm torpedo tubes, (4) subharpoon-capable |
The Type 214 is a diesel-electric submarine developed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW). It features diesel propulsion with an air-independent propulsion (AIP) system using Siemens polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) hydrogen fuel cells. The Type 214 submarine is derived from the Type 212, but as an export variant it lacks some of the classified technologies of its smaller predecessor, the most important of which is probably the non-magnetic steel hull, which makes the Type 212 submarine difficult to detect using a magnetic anomaly detector.
A contract to build three boats for the Hellenic Navy was signed 15 February 2000 and a fourth unit was ordered in June 2002. The first boat was built at HDW in Kiel, Germany and the rest at the Hellenic Shipyards Co. in Skaramangas, Greece. The Hellenic Navy named them the Papanikolis-class.
The Republic of Korea Navy has ordered nine Type 214 submarines, designated as Son Won-Il-class, to be built in Korea by Hyundai Heavy Industries and Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering; three first batch models had entered service since 2007, and six second batch models will enter service from 2012.
Due to improvements in the pressure hull materials, the Type 214 can dive nearly 400 meters. It can also carry food, fresh water and fuel for 84 days of operation.
The Greece Papanikolis U214 class is equipped with a hoistable radar mast which does not penetrate the pressure hull of the submarine. In the top of the radar mast the radar transmitter is installed. This transmitter is part of the SPHINX Radar System supplied by Thales Defence Deutschland GmbH in Kiel. The radar sensor is a FMCW transceiver which can't be detected by ESM systems in medium terms. This technology is so called LPI radar, which means "Low probability of intercept". The transmitting power is lower than the power of a mobile phone but the resolution more precise compared to high power Pulse radar. Thales SPHINX radar is a tactical radar, designed for submarines.
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