I get very distressed by the negative attitude so many South Africans have towards the abilities of the "new South African" authorities and the apparent consensus that everything is going to the dogs as the staff from the "old South Africa" is replaced by the new.

Thus we find many of the "old salts" who have left the South African Navy assuming that there is no way that the "new Navy" can hope to operate our new ships effectively.

It was therefore with great satisfaction that I read the official Royal Navy report on the first of our Valour Class frigates, SAS Amatola, after the ship had completed its Operational Sea Training in UK waters under the eagle eye of their Flag Officer Seat Training (Fost) and his staff.

This training is recognised by all the many navies which send their ships there for training as being very demanding. Only those ships that display high standards of seamanship and operational efficiency pass the requirements set by Fost.

In this report, Amatola and her ship's company achieve an overall standard of "Satisfactory". Now this might not sound good to those who do not understand the process, but bear in mind the only higher accolade ever given is "very satisfactory" and is seldom achieved as an overall standard by any ship.

The report is also most complimentary on the way in which the ship's company learnt new lessons and improved over the weeks of sea training, in other words their willingness to work hard and learn, and then to apply what they had learnt.

For those who still doubt, let us keep in mind also that:

Amatola is the first ship of her class and thus not only the ship's company but also the ship, its design and the equipment as fitted were also under scrutiny and found to be good.

When Amatola was finally placed in operational commission in February last year, she was the first frigate to serve in our Navy for 20 years - and operating a modern frigate is a far more complex and demanding process than operating a strike craft.

Amatola was the first SAN frigate to successfully pass this form of training in over 40 years.

This demonstrates very clearly that our Navy, notwithstanding the usual political interference, has managed to maintain very high standards and we can be very proud of all those who serve therein.

I thus take this opportunity of congratulating our present Chief of the Navy and his staff together with the Captain and ship's company of Amatola on this achievement.

Rear Admiral Chris Bennett
South African Navy (Retired)
Tokai

With acknowledgements to Rear Admiral Chris Bennett and Cape Times