March 15, 2019
President Rohani has inaugurated what he said is the Navy’s first “semi-heavy,” submarine dubbed the Fateh (Conqueror). However, the sub was reported at sea more than four years ago.
It appears the Navy has had problems getting the sub to work properly and it has only now joined the fleet and gone operational.
The Navy announced that the Fateh was under construction in October 2011. In September 2013, the Navy said it would be launched before Now Ruz 2014. While there was no formal launching, news reports in November 2014 said it was operating at sea, suggesting it was undergoing sea trials.
It was only on February 17 of this year that Rohani attended what was called the formal “launching” of the ship at Bandar Abbas. This was more likely the formal commissioning of the ship, meaning that tests and sea trials had been completed and it was joining the fleet for regular operations.
The Fateh was described at the ceremony as it was back in 2011. It displaces 527 tons, which makes it much bigger than the 350-ton Qadir sub, of which Iran has made two dozen, but much smaller than the Besat sub, which displaces 1,200 tons. Iran has built only a single Besat, suggesting it doesn’t please the Navy.
Iran also owns four Kilo-class subs bought from Russia. They each displace 2,300 tons.
The Navy said Fateh is 100-percent Iranian. It also has made the same claim for its so-called destroyers, although newsmen given a tour of one a few years ago photographed a large piece of equipment on deck with a German firm’s manufacturing plate.
The Navy made a major point of saying the Fateh can fire a cruise missile at enemy targets while submerged.
At 527 tons, the Fateh is not large. The German Type 212, the major modern sub for close-to-shore defense such as Iran seeks, comes in at 1,500 tons. The current American ballistic missile Ohio-class sub displaces 19,000 tons and the largest sub ever made was the Soviet Typhoon-class at 48,000 tons.