The Zwaardvis class conventional attack submarine (Swordfish in Dutch) was developed as the replacement for the older Dolfijn class in the Royal Netherlands Navy.
The teardrop hull design of the Zwaardvis was based on the Barbel class, which were the US Navy’s last conventional submarines. The teardrop design also required a
single screw, which was a departure from the twin-screws of the Dolfijn class. In several ways the Zwaardvis subs were revolutionary for the Royal Netherlands Navy.

Two submarines were laid down on July 14, 1966 at the Rotterdamsche Droogdok Maatschappij (RDM) shipyard. Zwaardvis (S806) was launched on July 2, 1970 and
commissioned on August 18, 1972. Tijgerhaai (S807), which means Tiger Shark in Dutch, was launched on May 25, 1971 and commissioned on October 20, 1972.
Both submarines served the Royal Netherlands Navy well for about 22 years. They were decommissioned in 1994 and 1995 respectively after the new Walrus class
boats were put into service.

In September 1981 the Republic of China (Taiwan) ordered two modified Zwaardvis class submarines, known as the Hai Lung class, which were built in Holland. Both
boats were commissioned in the late 1980s and are still in service. An order for 4 additional boats was turned down by the government of the Netherlands because of
pressure from the People’s Republic of China.
Several attempts were made to sell the decommissioned Dutch boats to other navies (Indonesia, South Africa, and Malaysia) but they were unsuccessful. Both
submarines are in Malaysia, where they were transferred to and essentially stranded after negotiations fell through. Both are slated to be scrapped but at this time their
fates are uncertain.

The Kit - Naval Models is a Dutch resin kit producer and retailer that specializes in, what else, ships of the Koninklijke Marine or Royal Netherlands Navy. They have
several resin kits in their catalog and the Zwaardvis is one of the newer releases.

This kit, like most resin modern submarine kits, has a low parts count. There is a total of 16 resin parts not including the 3 parts provided for a display stand. The
largest part is of course the one piece full hull, which has a casting runner along the length of the keel. While it is hard to see clearly in my photos (cream colored resin
at times doesn’t photograph well), there is a good amount of detail cast and scribed into the hull and deck. Removing a casting runner like this will inevitably require
sanding and smoothing along the keel no matter how careful you are in the process. When I removed the runner in my kit, I found a number of small pinholes caused
by air trapped in the mold which will need to be filled in and sanded smooth in addition cleaning up the keel. Locator holes and slots are cast to attach the rudders, dive
planes, anchor and bow sonar. There is also a slight depression in the deck to accommodate the sail. Some excess resin needs to be removed from this area in order to
properly seat the sail.
The sail is cast as a separate part rather than integrated into the hull. The detail is adequate and casting fairly clean but some resin film needs to be removed as well as
a casting runner. The top of the sail has an open cockpit and indentations that mark the locations for the various periscopes, antennas and the snorkel. I did a quick
dry fit that showed that the bottom of the sail needs to be evened out a bit to sit properly and that a little filler will be needed hide the joint.

The smaller parts include the sail and aft dive planes, upper and lower rudders, shaft fairing and propeller hub, snorkel, anchor, sonar and the radar and
communication equipment that sit atop of the masts. These parts need a little more clean-up to remove wisps of resin film, roughness from where the parts where
attached to the casting runner and fill in some air bubbles.
A small photo-etch brass fret is provided with two styles of propellers (5-bladed and 6-bladed) and two windscreens, one of which will be a spare. Two lengths of
plastic rod in different diameters are included to use for the array of masts and periscopes. If you want something a bit sturdier you can substitute brass wire. A set of
decals is included that has the white pennant numbers for both boats in this class as well as draft markings in white and red. The decal sheet is common to the Naval
Models Walrus class kit, which is why the pennant numbers for the four boats in that class are also included. There are no flags included but Naval Models sells a
separate decal set with a number of flags in five different sizes.

There are seven pages of assembly instructions provided with the kit. The text is in Dutch, which will pose a problem with non-Dutch speakers. However key parts of
the text could be figured out, such as color references on page 2 and the section on page 4 which tells you which diameter plastic rod to use and what length to cut it
for the different scopes and masts. At worst, there are always Google or Bing translation tools to help decipher some of the words. The last two pages of the
instructions have a photograph of the kit parts with a number key and line drawings of the submarine showing the locations of the various parts referenced by their
number.
The Zwaardvis kit from Naval Models helps to fill a void in my fleet of modern submarines and with not too much effort should build into a good model of the either
boat in the class. The Zwaardvis was an important evolutionary step in Dutch submarine design and a good example of a conventional attack submarine. This kit would
also be a good basis to build one of the Taiwanese boats but you will have to research what the differences are since this kit meant build into a Dutch version out of
the box. My thanks to Naval Models for the review sample.
Felix Bustelo
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