KRI Nanggala was ordered on 2 April 1977. The boat was designed by Ingenieurkontor Lübeck of Lübeck, constructed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft of Kiel, and sold by Ferrostaal of Essen – all acting together as a West German consortium.[1] The boat was laid down on March 1978[6] and was completed on 6 July 1981.[7] Nanggala was first shown to the public on the 36th anniversary of the Armed Forces on 5 October 1981,[8] and was commissioned sixteen days later by Minister of Defense and Security General M. Jusuf.[9] The two Cakra-class submarines, Cakra and Nanggala, were the only active submarines in the Indonesian Navy for several decades, between the decommissioning of KRI Pasopati in 1994[10] and the commissioning of KRI Nagapasa in 2017.[11][12]