A private mechanical company in northern Thai Binh City is completing a submarine model called “Truong Sa 1”, named after the name Truong Sa (Spratly) archepelago in the East Sea.  The prototype is expected to be tested soon.

The designer of the submarine is Nguyen Quoc Hoa, director of  the Quoc Hoa Mechanical  Company, located in the Phong Phu Industrial Cluster.

Hoa told Tuoi Tre that he wants to create such a submarine simply to satisfy “his love for the fatherland  and his passion for scientific exploration.”

The submarine is 8.8 meters long and 3 meters wide, and has a displacement of 12 tons when it is submerged and 9.2 tons when it is on the surface.

Equipped with automatic independent propulsion (AIP) technology and advanced navigation equipment, the vessel  is expected to be able to operate for 15 consecutive days at sea, at a speed of 20-25 nautical miles per hour within a radius of 800 km.

It can dive to a depth of 50 meters and stay on the sea bed for 15 hours.

Hoa imported special steel that is 15 mm thick to make the body and the prow of the ship.

Since August 2012 Hoa, six other enginers and more than 30 workers have assembled the submarine. The vessel is nearly complated and will be tested soon, he said.

To date, the submarine has cost about VND700 million (US$33,000), and more expenses are expected from completing and testing the boat, a worker at Hoa’s company told Tuoi Tre.

Why not?

“As reported by local newspapers, our government has spent millions of US dollars on buying submarines. China is able to build submarines, so why can’t Vietnamese engineers do the same?” Hoa told Tuoi Tre.

Hoa said he has a degree in mechanical mold engineering fromGermany, where he worked for several years after graduation. He also has a chemical engineering degree from the Hanoi University of Technology.

He has 20 years of experience in working with mechanics, he said.

Hoa learned how to design and build a submarine through information from the US, Russia, Germany, South Korea and the Internet.

“After learning all of this material carefully, I believed that I  would be succesfful in making a submarine,” Hoa said.

“I am pursuing my submarine project  at my own expense. If I fail this time, I will try again and will keep trying until I achieve success. I expect a day when my submarine can operate in the waters around Truong Sa, and we will be proud to tell the world that Vietnamese can build submarines.”

“Therefore I named the first prototype ’Truong Sa’ as a way to give myself more motivation to make my project a success,” Hoa explained.

“Construction of a test tank is nearly completed. This prototype can accomodate only two people. Once the submarine passes the required tests successfully, I will design larger ones to carry more people and equipment,” Hoa said.