Article Posted on : - Mar 08, 2016

A Soryu-class submarine. An MHI photo

TOKYO (BNS): Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. (MHI) has delivered the seventh Soryu-class diesel-electric submarine to the Japanese Defence Ministry on March 7.

The new vessel, named "Jinryu", was handed over during an official ceremony held at the shipyard's facility in Kobe, Hyogo Prefecture.

The Jinryu is the seventh Soryu-class submarine supplied to the Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF), and the fourth built by MHI.

MHI also built the first Soryu-class submarine.

The Japanese Navy has so far inducted six Soryu-class subs, the last of which was commissioned in March 2015.

According to MHI, the Soryu-class submarines are the world's largest conventionally powered submarines.

They have an excellent operational track record and are equipped with state-of-the art technologies, including air-independent propulsion (AIP) systems that enable them to remain fully submerged for long periods of time, and advanced stealth technologies that make them extremely difficult to detect.

Japan is one of the contenders to design and build the next-generation of submarines for the Australian Navy under a major defence contract worth nearly $50 billion.