An Anonymous, on August 26, 2024 asked if I could "Pls write an entry or conduct some coverage regarding KD Pendekar thank you." While I mainly write about vessels that intentionally submerge my brief occasionally covers vessels that accidently submerge, like KD Pendekar.
There being a wide range of publications that have already covered KD Pendekar's demise I have selected a succinct and excellent one by Miriam Soukaina Nenni for ScandAsia(dot)com of August 26, 2024 at https://scandasia.com/swedish-built-malaysian-naval-vessel-sinks-off-johor-coast/
"Swedish-built Malaysian naval vessel sinks off Johor coast"
"Salvage operations are in progress after the KD Pendekar, a Malaysian naval vessel built in Sweden, sank off the coast of Johor on Sunday, August 25th. The Royal Malaysian Navy confirmed that all 39 crew members were safely rescued before the ship was completely submerged, with no injuries reported.
The KD Pendekar, commissioned in July 1979, was constructed in Sweden and is a fast craft measuring 43.6 meters in length. It was armed with a Bofors 57mm main gun, a 40mm secondary gun, and Exocet anti-ship missiles. The vessel sank two nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Penyusop in Kota Tinggi after reportedly hitting an unidentified underwater object, which caused severe flooding in the engine room.
The navy has announced that a special investigation board will be established to determine the cause of the incident."
Pete Comment
Luckily no deaths or injuries were recorded. The asset value of the vessel would be very low after 45 years - so that is no tragedy.
Sinkings of old or new vessels generally happen due to equipment/technical failure or human error.
Equipment might be central electrics of an old vessel failing or sonar mapping equipment of the seafloor (even recent equipment) failing.
As an aside Malaysia's Handalan-class missile boats [1] which included KD Pendekar seem much better armed (57mm and 40mm guns, had Exocet missiles) than Australia's much larger more recent Arafura-class OPVs (25mm gun, no missiles) [2]. Australia does not appear to have decided what it wants the Arafuras for.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handalan-class_missile_boat
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arafura-class_offshore_patrol_vessel
9 comments:
Thank you, Pete
The KD Pendukar’s service was extended because of the Malaysian LCS issue, and as Malaysian Defense points out, the vessel did not undergo an obsolescence program that included ‘new hulls’ and power pack, so if you drive a 45 year old truck 100km daily, expect things to break.
Also, the area where it sank is shoaly, and right next to the shipping lanes, so it could even be a ship deck plate that fell over board,
https://www.malaysiandefence.com/old-is-gold/
https://www.malaysiandefence.com/bravo-zulu-kd-pendekar
Thanks Shawn C at 8/26/2024 9:27 PM
So a rusty old hull might be very vulnerable to rupture by even water pressure or a mild bump. Also a very old power pack would be more prone to failure in turn disabling the sonar seafloor mapping device in a shallow "shoaly" seascape.
Interesting at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/08/26/kd-pendekar-nearly-50-years-old-at-time-of-sinking-says-defence-minister Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin. has very rapidly said:
"That is why the government is currently making significant efforts to ensure that the new ships we are building are completed according to schedule, while also continuing with the procurement of new vessels."
A cynic might suspect that KD Pendekar's safe, slow, sinking might have some element of scuttling to justify (more rapid long delayed for want of funding) LCS replacement.
Pete,
The Pendekar was armed with the Bofors 57mm mk1 and the 40mm L70, both of which had to be manually crewed, though a small CMS upgrade was rumoured to enable remote control of the 57mm. By comparison, the contemporary Singapore Seawolf class MGB, which had a similar gun armament and Gabriel III ASMs, replaced the 40mm for Mistral SHORAD in 1994, and were decommissioned in 2008.
My opinion on Malaysian military procurement is that every procurement program is a way to graft public funds - I recently found a speech by the then Malaysian Opposition Leader in 1976 remarking how the original FAC tender was ‘jacked’ by two Admirals and inflated an additional 60% (https://bibliotheca.limkitsiang.com/1976/08/21/the-166-million-%E2%80%9Cspica-m%E2%80%9D-rmn-fast-strike-craft-scandal/)
This has only worsened in fifty years (1MBD scandal), and we all know what happened to that pretty Mongolian lady who was hired to translate French. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/11/25/man-convicted-in-murder-case-that-rocked-malaysia-claims-paid-for-silence
As the sinking occurred in shoal waters I presume it is unlikelyy that the obstacle they hit was a foreign submarine.
Recorded at https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2024/08/26/kd-pendekar-nearly-50-years-old-at-time-of-sinking-says-defence-minister Defence Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Khaled Nordin appears to exhibit dismissive foreknowledge of the reasons for KD Pendakar sinking when he states in part:
"the cause of the sinking of KD Pendekar was not the vessel's old age"
One hopes the investigation regarding the incident is as well choreographed...
Pete,
The fact that a MINDEF said this the day after a navy ship’s sinking shows a politician’s usual effort to rewrite the narrative without evidence, and he does have morale issues with the entire Malaysian military, with the RMN in particular quite low over the recent helicopter collision that took out a new AW139 and a Fennec, leaving 2 AW139, 4 Fennecs and 4 Super Lynxs (2 more in storage due to lack of funds).
The RMN still operates 15 vessels over the age of forty, and their sailors should be rightly concerned about their ships.
Sad news, a Royal Malaysian Naval Diver, Leading Seaman Arman San Hermansa, has died during salvage operations on the KD Pendekar wreck.
Eternal Father, strong to save.
Whose arms hath bound the restless wave.
O hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in peril on the sea.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/malaysia/malaysia-navy-diver-dies-ship-vessel-kd-pendekar-johor-coast-salvage-4572321
Very sad.
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