The Type 540 Gal Class submarine was built in Vickers shipyards at Barrow in Furness in England according to Israeli designs, based on Germany's HDW Type 206 submarine class, for the Israeli Navy. "Gal" (גל - Hebrew for "wave") was the name of the son of Abraham (Ivan) Dror, 3rd commander of the squadron and head of the project.

The Gal class of submarines were the first submarines in the Israeli Navy that were built to the specific requirements of the Israeli Navy from the ground up. Previous generations of submarines employed by the navy were refurbished and upgraded boats whose hulls were originally constructed during WWII.

Since going into service in the late-1970's, these small but agile and sophisticated submarines were continuously upgraded with newer systems to maintain their technological edge. However, in the late 1990's, the Gal submarines were replaced with the new Dolphin class submarine. In the early 2000's the Gal boats were decommissioned. One was scrapped and two were sent to Germany in hopes of finding them a foreign buyer.

Ships

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The first ship commisioned was Gal in December 1976.

The next 2 Gal class submarines were named after two ancient sea monsters mentioned in Isaiah 51:9:

"Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the Lord; awake as in the ancient days, In the generation of old! Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab, (Rahav, commissioned 12/1977) and wounded the dragon? (in Hebrew, Tanin, commissioned 7/1977)"

General characteristics

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• Displacement: 660 metric tons submerged, 600 on the surface
• Leangth: 48.9 m
• Beam: 4.90 m
• Speed: 11 knots on the surface, 17 knots submerged
• Crew: 23
• Armament: Sub-Harpoon Missiles, NT 37E torpedoes tubes.

Submarine classes | Naval ships of Israel

U-Boot-Klasse Gal | גל (צוללת)