/ 18 November 2003

Last submarine goes down

Heralding the end of an era, the last of the South African Navy’s ageing operational submarines will finally rise from the water like a metal leviathan to settle in Simon’s Town as part of a naval museum.

”We intend having a museum of submarine technology… with interactive displays and simulators,” said director of fleet force preparation, Rear Admiral Arne Soderlund.

Soderlund was speaking on Tuesday on board the SAS Assegaai — one of the few remaining Daphne-class boats in the world, which completed an overnight voyage along with a group of privileged journalists. The submarine will be decommissioned next Friday.

Soderlund said he was ”optimistically hopeful” that the envisaged onshore submarine museum would be established by 2005, depending on when the estimated costs of between R1,5-million and R4,5-million could be raised. Of the SAS Assegaai‘s two sister subs, one has been sold for scrap metal and the other is in dry dock awaiting its fate to be determined.

All three will be replaced by a German-built Class 209 Type 1400 MOD diesel-electric submarine as part of the multi-billion rand arms acquisition.

On Tuesday the group of journalists were taken out to sea on board the SAS Assegaai, which is slightly more than 57 metres in length, has 12 torpedoes, a top speed of 16 knots, and a maximum diving depth of 300 metres.

The submarine, which has been in service for 31 years, was showing its age with flaking paintwork, rust and even leaks apparent.

”The valves don’t work so lekker… and every so often we spring a leak. Just last week we also had to put out three fires in the engine room,” said Able Seaman Denzil Martin.

Another submariner told of how in June this year a ”total hydraulic oil failure” occurred among the diving planes, which resulted in the submarine sinking at a perilous rate and angle.

Fortunately quick thinking saved the day, said control centre supervisor, Warrant Officer Michael Joos.

But Admiral Soderlund emphasised that the ship was safe and would not be sent out if the crew’s lives were in danger. The officer in command, Gary Kretschmer, said it was only fitting to say goodbye to the SAS Assegaai in a proper manner.

”Dockyard workers and others who have been involved with her will also be taken out… (as) part of her legacy,” he said. Kretschmer said South Africa would be without submarine capability for about one-and-a-half years, before the new Class 209 types arrived in Simon’s Town around mid-October 2005.

”It gives us time to prepare correctly and properly for the new boats… which are very modern, with fully integrated systems, and modern combat suites,” he said.

Kretschmer said that when the SAS Spear was cut up as scrap metal, it felt ”like cutting a piece of your own body out”. He said the old submarines had fulfilled their purpose, with exorbitant maintenance costs the primary reason for acquiring the new boats, which could last another 30 to 40 years.

The submarine’s primary role would be to prevent enemy ships from disrupting South Africa’s sea trading routes. Other secondary roles included deterrence to would-be aggressors, enforcement of state authority and the protection of natural resources, as well as intelligence gathering.

The journalists were taken out to deep sea, more than 15 nautical miles south of False Bay, where the old submarine gracefully performed manoeuvres in waters ideal for submarine warfare, even diving to a depth of 100 metres.

”There are lots of layers in these waters… and when someone tries to find us their sonar transmissions bounce off these layers, which are caused by for example salinity, pressure and cold,” said chief petty officer in the operations room Keith Mardon.

He said the SAS Assegaai‘s sonar was so powerful that it could hear music played on a surface ship from a distance of 20 kilometres, pick up whales from a distance of five to six-thousand metres, and even ”hear clams opening and closing in shallow water”.

According to both the admiral and the captain, submariners had to be ”special” people to be able to live in the cramped conditions and get along with other people — and there was ample evidence of this among a friendly, garrulous crew.

As the SAS Assegaai surfaced on Wednesday morning, and the journalists made their way cautiously up the conning tower to emerge from the self-contained environment, a paragraph from the submariner’s prayer sprang to mind: ”… Until we surface once again to drink the air and feel the rain. We ask your guiding hand to show a safe progression, sure and slow…” — Sapa