The SA Navy's acceptance of an internationally popular minimum crew policy has cost the frigate SAS Amatola dearly during a recent high profile Royal Navy evaluation.

While undergoing the Royal Navy's stringent testing of battle readiness at Plymouth recently, several weaknesses in the ship's running were exposed as it was put through its paces during simulated and practical exercises.

But, to their credit, the crew were given glowing praise by the testers who described them as a highly motivated team who were "clearly keen" to get the best out of their training and had made "commendable" progress across all disciplines (of work aboard ship).

The evaluation, known as basic operational sea training (BOST), is applied to all Royal Navy warships, and warships from other nations can also be put forward for testing. The SAS Amatola was the first South African Navy ship to be evaluated since 1963.

It eventually was awarded an overall rating of "satisfactory" out of the four BOST ratings of "below standard", "just satisfactory", "satisfactory" and "very satisfactory".

The two most critical departments in which the ship was rated below standard were navigation and aviation. In the overall rating, its sustainability was considered below standard.

During the evaluation, new and relatively untested naval hardware suffered debilitating teething troubles, while some old equipment, such as the ship's 20mm machine guns, broke down.

According to the testers' report, of which the Cape Argus has a copy, the minimum crew policy (or lean manning, as it was referred to) forced the ship's captain to make his food preparation department also responsible for the aviation department.

This meant that the galley staff had to be at hand to handle the landing and flying off of helicopters. As a result, during combat state 1, aviation support tasks could not be performed.

Leak stoppage and shoring was another problem identified under the ship's sustainability. Because of a lack of personnel and equipment, it would not be possible for the crew to make effective damage repair.

The weapons electrical department also suffered from a lack of manpower and skills.

Defence analyst Helmoed Romer Heitman of Jane's Defence Weekly said the results were "very good" under the circumstances.

"We must not forget that several of the disciplines in which the crew achieved satisfactory and very satisfactory ratings, were basically started from a zero base of experience and knowledge," he said.

"The fact is though that the lean manning concept does not work, although it is a popular concept around the world."

The chief of the South African Navy, Vice-Admiral Johannes Mudimu, said the navy should let go of the lean manning concept.

With acknowledgement to Henri Du Plessis and Cape Argus.