Publication: Cape Times Issued: Date: 2008-05-26 Reporter:

Outwit and Outlast to Survive as a Submariner

 

Publication 

Cape Times
Date

2008-05-26

Web Link

www.thetimes.co.za

 

Huddling tightly around their sonar screens men listen quietly as a Brazilian frigate frantically searches for them just metres above their heads.

As the ship rushes around in desperate zig-zag manoeuvres the submariners and their captain, Commander Andrew Souma, wait in the ocean off Cape Point where they have just "crippled" an international fleet by sinking their re-supply ship.

With the sonar of five frigates booming through the Class 209 submarine, the SAS Queen Modjadji's crew carefully dive before coming up kilometres away to periscope depth.

Peering through the periscope Souma and his executive officer carefully watch as one of the world's most advanced warships, the SAS Amatola, steams through the sight.

Sonar operators call out bearings in the darkened control room, the only light coming from their screens and dimmed red lights

Suddenly a warning is yelled out as a Uruguayan frigate picks up their signature. Counter measures see the submarine being taken deep as their "enemy" searches for them, zeroing in on their position.

Depth gauges show the submarine going deeper as engine and sonar noises get louder booming through the headphones of the sonar operators as warships from Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and South Africa join the search.

Some of the sub's crew listen intently while others watch their screens following the paths of their unseen hunters desperately searching for them.

Holding their breath as the frigate passes overhead the submarine goes back up to periscope depth in the wake of their attackers.

"Fire, fire, fire."

The command rings out and within minutes a "torpedo" is rushing towards the ship.

A flare shot up metres beneath the water burns highlighting the path of the multi-million rand warhead.

This is what it is all about, says Souma.

It is a cat-and-mouse game. It is about outwitting and outlasting if you hope to survive.

Souma and his crew have for the past 45 days been sailing the Queen Modjadji I to its home in South Africa.

Their final test before they berthed was to take part in Exercise Atlasur 7, an international naval exercise pitting two South African submarines, the SAS Queen Modjadji I and the SAS Charlotte Maxeke, against some of the world's most technologically sophisticated warships. *1

Souma and his 40 crewmates know that this is a very real and plausible situation. *2

"Submarines are deadly. They are a force multiplier which can decimate an entire naval force *3.

"The thing about submarines is that you never know where they are. You know that they are there but you do not know where. And that is the beauty of the game," he said.

South Africa's three multi-billion rand submarines are not about to go out and take on the world.

Instead they are to be used for their stealth in intelligence gathering.

"That is their primary use. Intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. *4 That is what we do best *5," he said citing the deployment of their sister boat, the Charlotte Maxeke, to Marion island where she will be patrolling South Africa's economical fishing zone *6.

Souma said they were there to watch the country's waters for, among others, poachers, pirates, smugglers and illegal fishing vessels.

"We take note of their positions and actions and report back to the South African authorities who decide what action is to be taken."

Souma said it took a special person to be a submariner.

"It is not anyone who can hack the job. It's things like dedication and utmost trust in your crewmates that makes a good submariner," he said, adding that he would put his life in the hands of any of his crewmembers.

"I trust them and they trust me."

* This article was originally published on page 7 of The Pretoria News on May 26, 2008

With acknowledgements to Cape Times.
 


*!*2    This is not a very real and plausible situation.

Operational analysis, including that undertaken by the Institute for Maritime Technology (IMT), the SA Navy's research and analysis entity, shows that a coastal submarine will in the vast majority of cases be defeated by a modern surface combatant equipped with anti-submarine sonar and anti-submarine torpedoes or depth charges and especially if operating in conjunction with an anti-submarine helicopter fitted with dunking sonar and/or sonar buoys (which is the case in 99% of the time when conducting anti-submarine warfare).

It stands to reason - a helicopter can travel at several hundred knots and a frigate can travel at 30 knots plus. A coastal submarine's top speed is 1 5 knots and a torpedo's is 40 knots with a maximum range of 30 nautical miles. Unless the ocean conditions are very shallow or otherwise unfavorable, a anti-submarine frigate and its organic helicopter can usually find a lurking submarine relatively quickly and kill it with the helicopter's torpedo or its own depth charges or possibly its own heavyweight torpedo. They can do this from an effective stand-off position without exposing themselves to fire.

A hunted submarine will very rarely compromise its position by maneuvering into a firing position or firing its own torpedo. It will only do this as a last resort defensive measure.

Even if a submarine fires a torpedo at a frigate, the chances of a hit are not high as the frigate can often outrun the torpedo and/or defeat it with decoys. Then it comes back for the kill.

The anti-submarine helicopter is the submarine's biggest threat because the torpedo does not have wings.

A few navies equip their submarines with tube-launched anti-helicopter missiles, but these are normally only effective against the hovering helicopter and in a last ditch scenario.

The SA Navy could not afford anti-helicopter missiles.


*3      The only entire naval force that could be decimated by a single coastal submarine with 8 torpedoes is an entirely idiotic one.


*4      The primary use of a coastal submarine is not intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance. It is to sink merchantmen.


*5      That maybe what the SA Navy's submarine flotilla does best. But it is not the reason why we spent R9 billion (2008 Rands) is acquiring them.


*6      Patrolling South Africa's economical fishing zone is also not the reason why we spent R9 billion (2008 Rands) is acquiring them.

With all considerable respect to the Patagonian Toothfish, the fishery is worth a few tens of millions of US Dollars per year.

One simply does not acquire or even deploy multi-billion submarines to to perform intelligence gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance on fishing vessels. It is not only not cost-effective, but what does a submarine do with a fishing vessel once observed. It cannot sink it and it probably could not catch it or keep up with it once escaped.

The Department of Environmental Affairs is responsible for the fishery and it has vessels costing a fraction of this to perform this task.


A submariner's job is maritime warfare *7, not bullshitting.


*7      Of the strategic kind.