SA Navy (SAN) Chief, Vice Admiral Monde Lobese, explaining cancellation of a planned voyage to Russia by SAS Amatola (F145) put it down to “technical challenges” manifesting in machinery that has not worked properly for a number of years.
The three-star used his regular column in the SAN publication Navy News to elaborate on Amatola remaining alongside and unseaworthy as well as keeping options open on SAS Drakensberg (A301) transiting the Atlantic en route to Cuba.
“The decision not to deploy Amatola to Russia,” he writes in the latest Navy News, “was made by the entire Naval Command Council and it was based on reports received by the fleet on the state of readiness to SAS Amatola to deploy”.
“I am very much aware of the monumental effort of the entire ship’s company as well as hundreds of members in the fleet who worked so hard to try and get the vessel ready in time to complete this very long voyage to Russia. I have asked, urged and instructed these people for many months to do all in their power to get the ship ready for the deployment. They have heeded my call.
“Unfortunately, when you are dealing with machinery that have not worked properly for a number of years, there are bound to be technical challenges that are not always visible. Thus, as SAS Amatola was preparing all her systems, there were constant technical problems that emerged. As soon as one problem was solved, another one raised its head. At the end of the day the Navy Command Council decided that there will always be another opportunity to attend this parade.”
The Amatola transit to Russia for that country’s June navy anniversary parade in St Petersburg was made public by Lobese at a medal parade in February with the cancellation put down to “current defects to the vessel” by SAN Public Relations in June.
Lobese further informed Navy News “the safest decision was to ensure that all systems on board SAS Amatola functions (sic) optimally and then attempt this voyage again next year”.
He was slightly more upbeat on the Drakensberg Cuba visit saying the sole SAN support platform was not scheduled to attend a specific event on the Caribbean island.
“There will still be time in this financial year for SAS Drakensberg to undergo this voyage to Cuba with the understanding that when the ship sails, the Navy Command Council is going to be convinced that she can complete the voyage safely.”
