Navy training submariners
2005-05-10 15:19
Pretoria - The SA Navy was working hard at reducing a shortfall of submariners in time to receive its three new submarines, navy chief Vice Admiral Refiloe Mudimu said on Tuesday.
Eventually, it hoped to have four full crews broadly representative of South Africa's racial demographics, he told reporters in Pretoria.
Mudimu, who took up his post on March 1, said the core crew of the S101, expected to be commissioned to South Africa by September, were undergoing training in Germany.
The three submarines were acquired under South Africa's arms deal.
Training would continue until year-end and the submarine was expected to sail to South Africa under her own power early next year "once the crew has reached the required levels of competence and gained sufficient experience".
In addition, 20 officers were undergoing submarine combat and engineering training in India, with progress reports indicating they were doing "extremely well", Mudimu said.
The Germany Navy would train a further 24 South African artisans in an initial submarine course, starting in September.
Rear Admiral Rusty Higgs, director of maritime warfare, said the navy expected to have sufficient manpower to bring the S101 and its successor, the S102, to South Africa under their own steam. The S102 was expected in South Africa early in 2007, and the third and final submarine, the S103, about a year later.
As for the S103, Higgs said, "one or two" crew members from the S101 and S102 might be needed to boost numbers to ensure sufficient manpower to bring her home.
Black submariners
He could not say when the envisaged four full crews would be in place, outlining the difficulties of attracting and retaining submarine crew members. Each submarine required a complement of about 45, including 30 fighting crew.
Director of naval plans Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg said the lack of submariners arose after the navy's previous fleet of Daphne submarines was decommissioned about two years ago.
There was, therefore, no platform on which to train new, young submariners, and little point in starting training with the arrival of the new fleet a few years away.
Mudimu said much effort was being put into attracting black submariners. The contingent undergoing training in India included 16 black South Africans.
The navy chief also gave a breakdown of progress with the four newly acquired corvettes. The SAS Amatola has been fully fitted out and was busy with the second stage of sea acceptance trials. It conducted a successful surface-to-surface missile firing last month, and was expected to be commissioned towards the latter part of the year.
The SAS Isandlwana has been fully fitted out and has completed its first stage of sea acceptance trials. The SA Spioenkop has had its combat systems fitted, and was in the midst of harbour acceptance trials.
Fitting of the SAS Mendi would start in June.
- SAPA