The Algeria Navy commissioned two new submarines, the Ministry of defense announced on January 9.
The commissioning took place during a visit by Chief of Staff Lieutenant-General Ahmed Gaïd Salah to the Mers el-Kébir naval base. The submarines are called Ouarsenis (031) and Hoggar (032).
According to Russian media reports in February 2014, Algeria had ordered two new Project 636M ‘Kilo’-class boats from Admiralty Shipyards in St Petersburg.
Ouarsenis (031) and Hoggar (032) are part of a 2013 order for two new Project 636 Varshavyanka (Kilo class) vessels from Russia. Ouarsenis (031) arrived in Algerian in mid-2018.
The tear-drop hulled submarine is 72.6m long, 9.9m wide and can dive to 300 meters. Underwater, it can cruise at a speed of up to 25 knots.
The submarine has an endurance of 45 days. The crew consists of 52 people are intended largely for Algerian coastal defense citing that the country’s rich offshore oil and natural gas deposits.
