French submarine Ouessant (S623)

Career
Name:	Ouessant (S623)
Builder:	Arsenal de Cherbourg
Launched:	1978
Decommissioned:	2001
Fate:	Training submarine, 2005–2009
Status:	Transferred to Malaysia 2011
General characteristics
Class and type:	Agosta-class submarine
Displacement:	1,500 long tons (1,524 t) surfaced 1,760 long tons (1,788 t) submerged
Length:	67 m (219 ft 10 in)
Beam:	6 m (19 ft 8 in)
Speed:	12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) surfaced 20.5 knots (38.0 km/h; 23.6 mph) submerged 10.5 knots (19.4 km/h; 12.1 mph) submerged (snort)
Test depth:	300 m (984 ft 3 in)
Complement:	5 officers 36 men
Sensors and processing systems:	Thomson CSF DRUA 33 Radar Thomson Sintra DSUV 22 DUUA 2D Sonar DUUA 1D Sonar DUUX 2 Sonar DSUV 62A towed array
Armament:	• SM 39 Exocet • 4 × 550 mm bow torpedo tubes • ECAN L5 Mod 3 & ECAN Fl7 Mod 2 torpedoes

Ouessant (S623) is an Agosta-class submarine built for the French Navy. She was completed at the Arsenal de Cherbourg in 1978 and served the French Navy until her 2001 decommissioning. From 2005 to 2009, Ouessant was employed as a training vessel to train Royal Malaysian Navy personnel who will operate the three French-built Scorpène-class submarines planned for the Royal Malaysian Navy. Despite official statements in 2009 that Ouessant had been sold to Malaysia ^[1], the position remained unclear.^[2] Because of the Ouessant's role in the establishment of the Malaysian submarine forces, plans to return the vessel to Malaysia to serve as a museum ship were announced in July 2009.^[3]; Ouessant was formally transferred to the Malaysian Government on 23 September 2011^[4] to be transported to Klebang, Malacca to become a museum.

References

1. ^ "Ministry of Foreign Affairs". http://www.diplomatie.gouv.fr/fr/article_imprim.php3?id_article=79184. 
2. ^ "So Who Owns The Ouessant Actually?". http://securemalaysia.blogspot.com/2009/01/so-who-owns-ouessant-actually.html. 
3. ^ "Ouessant To Be A Museum In Malaysia?". http://securemalaysia.blogspot.com/2009/07/ouessant-to-be-museum-in-malaysia.html. 
4. ^ "Transfer of submarine Ouessant". http://www.kln.gov.my/web/fra_paris/home/-/asset_publisher/8pPT/blog/signing-ceremony-for-the-transfer-of-ownership-of-the-agosta-70-type-submarine-to-the-malaysian-government-paris-23-september-2011?redirect=%2Fweb%2Ffra_paris%2Fhome.