Israel receives its largest submarine, with months of integration still ahead

Israel just parked a 2,600-ton secret in Haifa Bay. Nobody will tell you what's inside it.

INS Drakon pulled into the Haifa naval base on September 24, after a 24-day run from the shipyard in Kiel, Germany. It's the sixth submarine in Israel's fleet, the last of its Dolphin line, and the biggest boat the country has ever put underwater. About 240 feet long.

The selling point is staying power. Drakon runs on air-independent propulsion, so it can stay down far longer before it has to surface. Its commander says the extra length buys room for more weapons, plus the power and oxygen to stay out longer. The navy's number two officer went further. He agreed that kind of endurance could help with missions in places like Iran and Yemen.

Read that carefully. Those are ambitions. The navy hasn't said Drakon is headed anywhere, and it isn't saying what it carries. Foreign reports have long claimed Israel's subs can fire cruise missiles about 1,200 miles. Israel has never confirmed it, and it isn't starting now.

Getting here wasn't smooth. Norway and Denmark blocked the sub from their deep waters during sea trials, which pushed delivery back months. The order itself dates to 2012.

14 years from order to arrival.

And it still isn't ready. Crews now have to install Israeli systems, which should take a couple of months, with full operational status after that. Three more Dakar-class boats from the same German yard start showing up in 2031.

So for now, Israel has the largest submarine in its history sitting in port. It has a long list of places it might go and no public list of what it'll do when it gets there.

That's how submarines are supposed to work.