The Type 540 Gal Class submarine is a slightly modified variant of the German HDW Type 206 submarine class (which includes the distinctive dome, or bulge, in the front of the boat), modified for Israeli requirements. The Gal class submarines were built to Israeli specifications as the Vickers shipyards Type 540 at Barrow in Furness in the UK rather than Germany for political reasons. "Gal" (גל - Hebrew for "wave") was the name of the son of Abraham (Ivan) Dror, 3rd commander of the squadron and head of the project.
The Gal class of submarines were the first Israeli Navy submarines built to Israeli Navy specifications. Previous generations of submarines employed from 1958 by the navy were refurbished and upgraded boats of the British S class and T class submarines whose hull designs dated back to World War II.
Since entering service in the late-1970s, these small but agile and sophisticated submarines were continuously upgraded with newer systems to maintain their technological edge. In the late 1990s, the Gal submarines were replaced with the new, much larger Dolphin class submarines. The Gal boats were decommissioned in the early 2000s. One was scrapped and two were sent to HDW in Germany in hopes of finding them a foreign buyer. When none was found, in October 2007 "Gal" was shipped back to Haifa, Israel and is now on display in the Israeli Naval Museum. Some changes were made in the submarine to make it accessible to visitors, such as an entrance cut into her side. Part of these changes were made with the financial help of the German Federal government.
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