Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine arrives in Canada for joint drills

The Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine surfaced and glided into the pier at Canadian Forces Base Esquimalt in Victoria, British Columbia, on Saturday, the Korean flag flying from its conning tower and the Korean Navy ensign at its bow.

The 3,000-ton KSS-III-class vessel, the lead ship of the Dosan Ahn Changho class, had just completed a 14,000-kilometer (8,700-mile) voyage, the longest ever by a Korean submarine, and crew members lined up on deck to salute Canadian Rear Adm. David Patchell, commander of Maritime Forces Pacific, and Korean Ambassador to Canada Lim Ki-mo.

The arrival marks the first time a domestically built Korean submarine has crossed the Pacific. But the journey carries weight beyond the symbolic. With Canada expected to name a preferred bidder soon for its Canadian Patrol Submarine Project, worth up to 60 billion Canadian dollars ($43 billion), the voyage doubled as a live demonstration of the boat's long-range, open-ocean operational capability.

The Dosan Ahn Chang-ho had left Jinhae Naval Base in South Gyeongsang in March and sailed 14,000 kilometers via Guam and Hawaii before reaching Victoria. Despite being diesel-electric-powered, the submarine's submerged endurance rivals that of nuclear-powered boats, the Navy said. That gives it an edge in the kind of operations across the Pacific, Atlantic and Arctic Oceans that the Canadian Navy prioritizes.

In fact, two Royal Canadian Navy submariners boarded the Dosan Ahn Chang-ho in Hawaii. During a simulated wartime exercise, the submarine successfully communicated with Canada's Pacific command through its onboard command, control, communications, computers and intelligence system, also known as C4I.

It was the first time a Korean submarine had established C4I communications with a foreign military, the Navy said, a key marker of interoperability for combined operations in stealth submarine missions.

“This successful communications exchange will demonstrate the capability of our navy to expand its operational reach into multinational combined operations, including with NATO allies like Canada," Capt. Lee Byung-il, the Dosan Ahn Chang-ho's commanding officer, said.

The submarine and its escort, the 3,100-ton ROKS Daejeon frigate, will be officially welcomed at a ceremony hosted by the Canadian Navy on Monday.

"Korea has opened its arms to Canada and is taking every step possible to enhance and expand a relationship that started 75 years ago, when Canada sent more than 26,000 troops to help defend our nation," Ambassador Lim said.

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.

BY SHIM SEOK-YONG [[email protected]]