SAS Charlotte Maxeke refit on hold

The second of the Navvy’s Heroine class submarines, SAS Charlotte Maxeke, will not undergo a refit in the immediate future because the Request for Offer (RfO) was withdrawn by Armscor.

 At the same time the Navy, though its public relations officer, Captain (SAN) Zamo Sithole, said the “refit is scheduled to commence once requisite funding has been identified”.

Charlotte Maxeke was commissioned on March 14, 2007, with the pennant number S102. Her sister underwater craft are SAS Manthatisi (S101) and SAS Queen Modjadji 1 (S103).

 According to Armscor’s operational purchases tender system, Tender ARMD/10/14 for the refit of SA Navy submarine S102 at the Armscor Dockyard in Simon’s town has been withdrawn. The state security acquisition agency’s manager: corporate communication, Barileng Dichabe, said the RfO was not cancelled but withdrawn. “It was issued as a single source to the original equipment manufacturer (Howaldtserke, Deutsche Werft in Kiel),” she said.

 Asked what effect the delay in refitting the second of the Type 209 submarines acquired by the maritime arm of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) as part of the Strategic Defence Procurement Packages (SDPP) would have on the Navy’s underwater capability, Sithole said “to all intents and purposes the Navy will continue to have two submarines in the operational cycle at any time”.

 

He explained: “The SA Navy normally has one submarine in refit and two submarines in the operational cycle, with phases of maintenance, training and operational availability.

“Owing to SAS Charlotte Maxeke preparing to go into refit and SAS Manthatisi completing harbour acceptance trials (HATS) this can be construed as the SA Navy having only one submarine (SAS Queen Modjadji 1) currently in the operational cycle. However as the refit of SAS Charlotte Maxeke has yet to commence, she can still be considered to be in the operational cycle and can still be put to sea following some minor work and training, if required.”

The refit, including a complete battery replacement, of SAS Manthatisi, has been underway since 2007. She was originally targeted to start HATS in May but this was delayed due to problems with supply of certain spare and replacement parts.

“Sea acceptance trials will only commence once the Navy is satisfied all HATS have been completed to rigorous Navy safety standards,” Commander Greyling van den Berg said in June.

“No hard and fast date has been set for her re-commissioning. The date will be determined by progress of the harbour acceptance trials.”

The Navy previously pointed out the re-commissioning of SAS Manthatisi was the first time this has been done to a Type 209 submarine in the Simon’s town dockyard and the experience gained would be put to good use on the other two Heroine class underwater craft.

 According to Sithole the Navy “is still intent” on the Charlotte Maxeke refit.

“It will be done as soon as possible and the refit will be completed within the planned timescales. No changes are foreseen to the Navy business plan for its submarines,” he said.

 

SA Navy ‘did not overlook cheaper British submarines’

State arms procurer Armscor’s project manager for submarines, Rob Vermeulen, on Monday refuted claims that South Africa had overlooked an opportunity to purchase cheaper, British-manufactured Upholder/Victoria-class submarines.

He was responding to a question put to him by arms procurement commission evidence leader Sammy Lebala SC, who asked whether there was any truth to critics’ claims that Armscor sidelined the cheaper submarines by opting for an expensive German model due to corruption.

Mr Vermeulen resumed his testimony after Armscor and the Department of Defence relented to the commission’s demand that they declassify all sensitive documents. Judge Willie Seriti had postponed the hearings to give the government time to declassify the documents, saying he wanted to see all of them.

Mr Vermeulen said independent experts helped the South African Navy set up criteria to evaluate prospective submarines. The top priority was to measure the capabilities of the submarines and the age of the technology aboard the ship. "It was a blessing in disguise that we did not get to use these submarines," he said.

He said the disadvantage of the British Upholder submarine — which ran on a diesel engine instead of a nuclear reactor — was that it was old technology designed in the UK in the late 1970s to supplement the Royal Navy’s nuclear submarine force. This would have made it difficult to repair them locally in Simon’s Town.

The four countries that were short-listed (Germany, France, Italy and Spain) were, however, offering the latest technology.

While the British submarines were seen as cheap, it was already known they had technical problems that eventually escalated their cost.

The British had sold the submarines to the Canadian Navy, and political parties in Canada had claimed the submarines deteriorated while in storage. "Many were never in service in Canada and this resulted in fruitless expenditure," Mr Vermeulen said.

Mr Vermeulen also denied that senior navy staff had interfered with the short-list scores of the procurement division.

Meanwhile, activist organisation Lawyers for Human Rights on Monday complained on behalf of Paul Holden, Hennie van Vuuren and Andrew Feinstein about the "secrecy regarding Armscor witnesses", saying they had only been informed by way of the commission’s website, on September 27, about witnesses scheduled to testify on behalf of Armscor from September 30.

"The testimony of Armscor officials — the state arms procurement corporation — is key to understanding who and how the procurement decisions were made," it argued.

It also expressed its concern about the failure of the commission to make available documents at its disposal to interested parties, despite the fact that both Mr Feinstein and Mr Holden had made a substantial joint submission — at the commission’s request — that included thousands of pages of supporting documents.

South Africa - Navy commences upgrade of fourth strike craft

The SA Navy’s ambitions to boost its offshore maritime patrol capability took a step forward on Wednesday when the fourth and final Warrior-class strike craft left Simon’s Town for refit in Durban, where it will be converted into an offshore patrol vesel.

It was revealed last year that the Navy was keen to retain three Warrior-class (ex-Minister-class) strike craft as offshore patrol vessels (OPV) for as long as possible. The Navy subsequently decided to retain a fourth vessel in service as well, with all undergoing a Life Extension Programme.

The four surviving strike craft, of nine originally received in the in the 1970s and 1980s, are being refurbished and converted into offshore patrol vessels by Durban-based Southern African Shipyards. The work conducted on the vessels relates to electrical, mechanical and general hull maintenance and involves refurbishment, replacement and repainting.

The first vessel, SAS Isaac Dyobha (P1565), arrived in Durban in October last year. Having discharged all her fuel, oils and stores, the vessel was transferred to a floating dock and mounted on specially constructed cradles, where refurbishment began.

The next vessel to undergo refurbishment was SAS Makhanda (P1569), which left Simon’s Town under tow on 3 November. SAS Galeshewe (P1567) arrived in Durban in mid-December, having just completed a patrol off the east coast.

With both SAS Isaac Dyobha (now alongside undergoing short-term maintenance) and SAS Galeshewe (operationally available) having completed their Life Extension Programme and SAS Makhanda almost complete, the stripped hull of SAS Adam Kok (P1563) left Simon’s Town for Durban on Wednesday, under tow by the hydrographic and oceanographic research vessel SAS Protea.

Since the commissioning of the four Valour-class frigates in 2004/5, strike-craft have been used in the OPV role. Late last year, Rear Admiral (JG) Bravo Mhlana, South African Navy Director Force Preparation, told defenceWeb that “what we are building with those patrol vessels is for the future acquisition of offshore patrol vessels under Project Biro. That is why we must keep those vessels as long as we can when we can transfer crews from those to the new patrol vessels.”

Another motive for refurbishing the vessels is to allow them to be used in the training role. “To ensure our sailors get maximum exposure, we are also going to use those vessels for the young recruits that we receive from (naval training base) SAS Saldanha where we promote a seagoing culture,” Mhlana said.

A further four ex-Mine Hunter vessels are also being operated in the OPV role. These include SAS Umkomaas (undergoing maintenance), SAS Umhloti (operationally available), SAS Umzimkulu (operationally available) and SAS Umgeni (undergoing refit).

The OPVs have also been used for fishery patrols when the patrol vessels operated on behalf of the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (DAFF) could not go to sea.

The patrol vessel fleet will be home-ported once the newly upgraded Naval Base Durban at Salisbury Island in the Port of Durban has been re-commissioned.

Rear Admiral Hanno Teuteberg, Chief Director Maritime Strategy, mentioned to defenceWeb in April this year that early Indications are that the life of the OPV vessels can be extended until for at least five years, to coincide with Project Biro, the new build Offshore/Inshore patrol vessel project.

South Africa - Modjadji submarine crew required counselling after seabed strike

Commander Handsome Thamsanqa Matsane stands in the conning tower of the SAS Queen Modjadji as he becomes the first black naval commander of a South African submarine.

The crew of the submarine SAS Modjadji required trauma counselling after the vessel struck the seabed off the Eastern Cape coast earlier this year.

This was revealed by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula in the National Assembly on Wednesday.

Responding to a question, she said a board of inquiry, convened by the SA Navy after the accident on July 18, had made various proposals.

These included recommendations on submarine standard operating procedures, current training "curricula", and "possible engineering changes that may have to be implemented on board the three SA Navy submarines".

She said the SAS Modjadji "did make contact with the sea bottom, mud and sand, on July 18 [this year], during a routine diving safety drill and hydraulic oil pressure failure exercise".

A technical investigation determined that the SAS Queen Modjadji had "suffered an indentation, that is approximately 1.5 metres by 1.5 metres, to the outer protective plating" near the bow, over its number five ballast tank.

There was no damage to the pressure hull or any of the equipment aboard the submarine. The cost of repairing the submarine was R500,000.

No crew member was injured.

"All crew members were psychologically evaluated after the incident as part of the normal procedure."

Mapisa-Nqakula later told MPs: "All of them, because of the trauma they went through, were then subjected to trauma counselling."

Frigate pulls out of anti-piracy patrols

South Africa's anti-piracy operations in the Mozambique Channel have been sunk.

Operation Copper, the defence force's anti-piracy operation in the channel, has ground to a premature halt with the withdrawal of the SAS Amatola, one of the navy's four frigates.

Navy sources said the withdrawal is believed to be linked to a diplomatic bungle in an agreement between South Africa, Mozambique and Tanzania.

The navy launched Operation Copper in the channel and off the coast of Tanzania last year.

The agreement allowed the signatories' naval forces to patrol the area, and to pursue and seize suspects linked to crimes at sea.

The Amatola began its patrols in August but returned to Simon's Town naval base in September. An air force Dakota maritime reconnaissance aircraft was also on patrol.

Within weeks of its return, it was taking part in exercise Atlasur IX - a naval exercise involving ships from South Africa, Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay.

It is now taking part in exercise Ibsamar III with naval vessels from South Africa, Brazil and India until October 30.

Military analyst Helmoed Heitman said: "It is strange that, when we already do not have enough vessels to deploy, one that is deployed is withdrawn and then used in naval exercises".

"It would be wise for the defence force to have its vessels redeployed as quickly as possible before the pirates realise that the navy is no longer in the area," Heitman said.