Naval Technology

To date and including the submarines of Class 212A, GABLER Maschinenbau GmbH has built one hundred and ten snorkels for submarines all over the world, enabling us to reap the advantages of decades of experience and countless discussions with shipyards and customers, that have resulted in mature, future-orientated products. Depending on the customer’s wishes, our snorkels can be built in pressure-hull penetrating or non-penetrating versions.

Thanks to the use of modern materials and improved mast profiles, the weight of the system has been reduced while simultaneously enabling its use at geater speeds. Special coating of the snorkel head with RAM (radar absorbing material) reduces the likelihood of detection.

In the early days of snorkel technology, its sole task was to provide optimum air supply for the diesel engines. Today, in answer to additional requirements made by the navies to cover new tasks and as a result of far-reaching technological advances, the snorkel can also be combined with a number of sensors and antennas.

The implementation of such new technology is obviously selected when building a new submarine, but the concept lends itself very well to modernisation programmes, where the exchange of a single item of equipment or the addition of new components to the system can lead to an important increase in functionality of the submarine as a whole. The individual requirements of the customer are taken into account and importance is given to system integration.