SA Navy submarines in the dry dock at Simon's Town Naval Base. S102, rear, is in
for routine maintenance, while S103, front, apparently hit the ocean floor,
hence the protective blue plastic hiding it from sight.
Image by: HALDEN KROG
South Africa's fleet of attack submarines, which cost an estimated R8-billion
in the infamous arms deal, are all in dry dock after the only operational vessel
crashed into the seabed.
The SAS Queen Modjadji, named after South Africa's rain queen who lived in
Limpopo, struck the ocean floor while
conducting training exercises between Port Elizabeth and Durban last week.
The Sunday Times photographed the German-built submarine undergoing repairs in
Simon's Town this week.
And yesterday the SA Navy acknowledged she had been damaged during a "training
exercise".
This means that all three submarines - meant to
police the oceans - are presently undergoing repairs and maintenance.
The SAS Manthatisi, the first of the country's submarines acquired in the
multibillion-rand arms deal, has been in the dry
dock since 2007 after a series of mishaps, including crashing into a quay
and damaging her steering mechanism.
Then a power cable was incorrectly plugged into her shore power-supply system,
causing damage. The vessel's propulsion batteries, which cost R35-million, are
being replaced.
The SAS Charlotte Maxeke is also busy with "routine maintenance", according to
navy chief director maritime strategy Rear Admiral Bernhard Teuteberg.
Now a full navy board of inquiry has been appointed to investigate what happened
to the Queen Modjadji.
The submarine was the only one of the country's three hi-tech submarines
operational at sea when she was damaged.
Teuteberg said: "We did a proper technical investigation and now we have
convened a board of inquiry to look at all the procedures to see whether there
is something we can learn from this.
"As soon as that is completed, we will adapt our procedures of conducting this
specific set of safety drills."
He downplayed the latest incident, and insisted the submarine could be back in
the water "within days".
However, he said repair work to the vessel's nose would be completed later in
the month.
The accident is the latest in a string of submarine incidents over the past two
years and comes three months after the Queen
Modjadji welcomed a new commander, Commander Handsome Thamsanqa Matsane.
The fleet of submarines cost over R6-billion - rising to R8-billion in interest
costs - and cost tens of millions every year to maintain and operate.
This week, the Sunday Times established that:
- The accident took place during a safety drill involving the Queen Modjadji's hydraulic system;
- The vessel's outer hull, about 7.8mm thick, suffered a serious dent on impact with the seabed;
- She surfaced after impact and continued sailing to Durban, where she was checked by a team of divers; and
- Afterwards, the submarine returned to Cape Town and was taken out of the water and inspected by senior officials.
Teuteberg said he flew to Simon's Town naval base to inspect the damaged
submarine.
"I personally went down from Pretoria to Simon's Town to go and have a look at
the submarine and speak to the crew.
"When I initially heard about [the accident], I thought, 'Hell, this must have
been a bump' ... I spoke to the captain and the officers. Some of them said
they didn't even notice the bump."
The vessel's black boxes - which keep a record of her movements and functioning
of her equipment - would help determine the cause of the incident, he said.
However, defence experts yesterday said the accident raised serious concerns.
Parliament defence portfolio committee member David Maynier said: "A full board
of inquiry will have to be convened to determine what went wrong and recommend
ways to prevent a similar incident in the future. There can be absolutely no
compromise when it comes to submarine safety."
South Africa purchased four frigates, three submarines, helicopters, jet
training aircraft and Gripen fighter jets in a Strategic Defence Procurement
Process that, in 1999, came with an estimated price tag of R30-billion. That
figure has since ballooned to an estimated R70-billion, taking financing costs
into account.
President Jacob Zuma established a commission of inquiry into the arms deal in
September last year to probe allegations of fraud, corruption and impropriety.
Arms deal activist Terry Crawford-Browne said the incident was further proof of
the folly of the arms deal. "South Africa has not yet paid for these submarines.
They are being financed by Commerzbank until 2016, these loans being
underwritten by Hermes and German taxpayers," he said.
Former ANC MP and author Andrew Feinstein, who has written extensively about the
international arms trade, said the latest submarine incident raised familiar
questions about the logic behind South Africa's arm deal.
"This is another example of what happens in arms deals all the time, but it
seems to be happening more than most in our deals. We were sold equipment that
seems to be of dubious quality, we were sold it at inflated prices because of
the bribes that were paid, and the performance of this equipment across the
board has been, to put it politely, very poor," said Feinstein.
He said submarine manufacturer Ferrostaal was under fire for corrupt dealings
with Greece and Portugal, whose own arms deals contributed to the current
European fiscal crisis: "This [South Africa's
submarine deal] is a déjà-vu situation with Portugal and Greece.
"South Africans need to ask ourselves, especially with the arms deal commission
of inquiry: was this an appropriate use of our money, given this latest disaster
with the submarines?
"Do South Africans who don't have enough to eat today, nor adequate shelter,
healthcare or education, believe that this was an appropriate way to spend
R70-billion?"
Hawks boss Anwar Dramat last year rejected calls to probe Ferrostaal, a member
of the German submarine consortium that supplied the three submarines to South
Africa. The company was implicated in making questionable payments to South
African "consultants" involved in the arms deal.
Teuteberg said in 2007 that it would cost the navy over
R34-million a year to operate its fleet of submarines - R7.8-million
each *1.
With acknowledgements to Paul Kirk and The Citizen.
*1
System support alone costs R70 million a year for frigates and submarines - say
R34 million for the submarines where this Admiral extracts this figure.
But that is only for contracted manpower. It does not includes spares and
special tasks. It does not include manning, nor navy support nor fuel.
It probably costs R340 million all told to operate the two submarines.
A good deal of that goes to Atlas Electronik, a part of TKMS, every year just to
"maintain" the software of its ISUS-90 combat management system.
The other one is corroding and decomposing as my magenta epistle is being
composed and read.
This is caused by humidity and condensation within the confines of the vessel
which would normally be combatted by anti-condensation heaters which are now not
operational after a maintainer error blew up the front end of the electronic and
power control system.
Dinkum.
It is going to cost between R500 million and R1 500 million to get S101 fully
operational - if that ever happens.
It probably never will.
More likely the DoD will extract R200 million and R300 million of our hard
earned income and give it to a German company, a subsidiary of HDW, who made
the darned things in the first place, to give it a lick and a promise in order
to get it off the hard into Simon's Town Harbour and perhaps the awesome 30
metre depths of False Bay in order to practice sink and escape.
This will all come in the "half life upgrade" which is not imminent and which
will be paid out of the secret Strategic Defence Account, because the navy
cannot pay this out of its running budget.
It couldn't even afford a R10 million unexpected expense, maybe not even a R100
000 one.
And submarines don't police oceans.
Naval submarines are strategic weapons systems deployed to undertake special
tasks in times of war or build up to war or to prevent war.
All the rest of the time they are effectively in training. They conduct patrols
in peace time, but this really has very little useful military utility.
They can deploy special forces, but we won't talk about that.
They are in essence a very expensive luxury for small-willied politicians to
wave at neighbours shouting "I nevertheless have something bigger than yours".
They are not only very expensive to acquire, operate and maintain, but they
require a very special sailor to man and very special skills to operate safely
and maintain.
They were almost completely unnecessary to acquire after the Daphnes had done
their bit in the Cold War and the Border War in the 1970s to 1990s - other than
for the Musketeers - Tony Ellingford, Jeremy Mathers, Llew Swan and Tony
Georgadis - to line their pockets and fill the troughs for their benefactors
with R300 million of filthy lucre (plus plus).
It's a howl a minute down there and up here.
If anyone disagrees with me regarding my view on
coastal submarines, please don't be shy.
Please respond and either educate me or at least give me your view.
Judge Seriti might also want to know.
So that he can put it in his report which his principal might or might not want
to publish in five years' time.