SAS Manthatisi on the surface at speed.
The woes that the suffering South African Navy continues to have to endure make for depressing reading. So to see one of her capital ships out at sea is always a tonic. Sadly, if said capital ship appears to be doing something strange, or misunderstood, then the tendency is for the race conspiracy theorists, the doom and gloom merchants, the fake news pushers, and the clueless keyboard warriors to come out and try to tell it how it is. Except that, as always, it isn’t! On Sunday 22nd July, some of the residents of Hout Bay, located just south of Cape Town, spotted something not often seen in their neck of the woods. It was a submarine, and she appeared to be lying close to the rocky shore, in shallow water, blowing hard, but going nowhere. What was going on, and why was she where she was? Immediately, the cry of ‘The Russians are coming’ hit the social media pages. Except that this submarine was too small to be one of the big blue water Russian attack or missile boats. Aaaah, maybe it is the Chinese, because a flotilla of them is due into Cape Town within 24 hours. Sadly, neither guess was close to the truth. The submarine lying before the eyes of the onlookers from Chapman’s Peak Drive was none other than SAS Manthatisi (S101) of the South African Navy.
SAS Manthatisi on the surface in Hout Bay. Photo: Janet Steen Ordered in 2000 from the Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft (HDW), and the Thyssen Nordseewerke shipyards in Germany, ‘SAS Manthatisi’ was laid down in May 2001, launched in June 2004, and commissioned into the South African Navy in November 2005, and given the pennant number S101. She arrived back in Simonstown in April 2006, under escort from Germany by the frigate ‘SAS Amatola (F145)’. She was the lead unit of the three Heroine Class submarines, the others being ‘SAS Charlotte Maxeke (S102)’, and ‘SAS Queen Modjadji (S103)’.
Her design is that of a Type 209/1400 submarine, and the order was to replace the three elderly French built Daphné Class submarines, all of whom were decommissioned by 2003 after more than 30 years of service. Named after the Female Warrior Chief of the Batlokwa Tribe, who came from the Harrismith area of the modern day Free State province. The Type 209 submarines were built by HDW exclusively for export. There were five variants of the design, with the 1400 variant being the South African Navy version. With a displacement tonnage of 1,454 tons, ‘SAS Manthatisi’ is a diesel-electric attack submarine, and is 62 metres in length.
SAS Manthatisi on the surface in Hout Bay.
She carries a crew of 30, and has an operational surface range of 11,000 nautical miles, and 400 nautical miles submerged. With an endurance of 50 days, ‘SAS Manthatisi (S101)’ has a submerged maximum operational depth considered to be around 500 metres. She can recharge her batteries either on the surface, via her diesel engines, or submerged using her Snorkel. Her main armament as a submarine was based around eight, 21 inch (533mm), torpedo tubes with an onboard arsenal of 14 AEG SUT264 torpedoes, plus an optional capability of firing UGM-84 Harpoon anti-ship missiles from her torpedo tubes. On one of her first operational exercises in September 2007, conducted off Cape Point with a mixed force of NATO and SAN warships, ‘SAS Manthatisi (S101)’ was said to have managed to have penetrated a seven warship anti-submarine screen, and sunk the protected target. She was then able to engage the screen, and managed to sink all seven of them in the process.
The exercise was named ‘Exercise Amazolo’, and it was the first time ever that the SAN was able to conduct maritime exercises with a NATO fleet. In the days when the ANC Government seemed to choose military partnerships with those naval forces of countries not actively engaged in sabre rattling, and threatening all of their neighbours, the NATO warships included the American Cruiser USS Normandy (CG70), the Dutch Frigate HMNLS Evertsen (F805), the Canadian Frigate HMCS Toronto (FFH333), the Portuguese Frigate NRP Alvares Cabral (F331), the Danish Corvette HDMS Olfert Fischer (F355), and the German Auxiliary FGS Spessart (A1442). The NATO flotilla formed what was known as SNMG1 or Standing NATO Maritime Group 1, which was usually Mediterranean based, but was conducting a circumnavigation of Africa. The participating SAN warships were the Frigates SAS Amatola (F145) and SAS Isandlwana (F146), the Strike Craft SAS Galeshewe (P1567), and SAS Manthatisi (S101).
Prior to the start of the exercise, the NATO warships were all alongside in Cape Town’s V&A basin, and open to the public. This is a tradition that is no longer allowed due to Transnet refusing to allow either Warships, or Passenger Vessels, to use the facilities of the V&A, to the benefit of all. One year later ‘SAS Manthatisi (S101)’ was withdrawn from active service, and placed into reserve. This was as part of the SAN plans to maintain only two of the three submarines in service. However, in 2010 she began a refit to bring her back to service. Yet, despite the refit not being completed, she re-entered service in October 2014. This failure to complete a planned, scheduled, refit was a sign of things to come, and the start of the refit malaise of the SAN fleet.
To emphasise how deep this malaise has become, on 18th May this year, Vice-Admiral M. Lobese SAN, Chief of the Navy, and Rear-Admiral B. Mhlana SAN, Deputy Chief of the Navy, were called to give a status briefing to Parliament’s Joint Standing Committee on Defence (JSCD). The briefing was to give the JSCD the current plan, and timeframes, for the repair and maintenance of both the Frigate and Submarine fleets. It made for depressing reading. The Frigate fleet report is for another day on these pages, but the submarine report confirmed that Armscor had failed to complete the planned ‘Refit 1’ schedule of works for ‘SAS Manthatisi (S101)’ back in 2014, yet she had still been released back into service. The scheduled Mid Life Upgrade (MLU) for her had been scheduled for 2022, but has yet to be commenced over one year later. The planned schedule for ‘Refit 2’ is set for 2030, with her life decommissioning being scheduled for 2038. For ‘SAS Charlotte Maxeke (S102)’, she was currently in the process of her refit, but which was still incomplete, despite being scheduled to have taken place in 2015. For ‘SAS Queen Modjadji 1 (S103)’, she was still undergoing preservation and refit planning activities. These were for a refit scheduled to take place in 2016, but had not yet commenced. So instead of the planned two submarines in service, the SAN currently only has one, and that has never completed a refit.
If anyone thinks that these figures are dreadful, the Frigate figures are even worse, but they are for another time. When questioned further, the Naval Chief’s excuse was that both the Submarine, and Frigate, fleets woes were due to a lack of spares, and parts, required to do preventative maintenance. As things stand, according to the Navy Chiefs, due to previous poor maintenance, none of the vessels would currently be able to reach their expected service lifespans. They continued that this was because maintenance costs were too high to be funded through the operational budget, and the dockyard lacked the capacity, and capability, to complete the maintenance work required. It really is a sad state of affairs. Why this has been allowed to continue for over seven years is incomprehensible. It brings into question the current serviceability of ‘SAS Manthatisi (S101)’, and may indicate why she was sitting just outside Hout Bay, in semi-open water, with very few people knowing what was going on, and with her being highly visible to all and sundry. She was noticed to be in that position from late morning onwards on the 22nd July.
Due to her proximity to the rocky shoreline, and the fact that she was not moving, and simply appeared to be wallowing in the same place, the keyboard warriors were out in force proclaiming that she had run aground. She had not! Anyone with a semblance of nautical knowledge will have noticed that she was flying a single black ball on her sail mast. If one cares to take a peek at the International Regulations for the Prevention of Collision at Sea, look up Rule 30, which gives information pertaining to Anchored Vessels, and Vessels Aground. Part (a) states; A vessel at anchor shall exhibit where it can be seen an all-round white light, or one ball. A vessel aground must display an additional two vertical red lights, and display three vertical balls. As such, it would have been clear to an educated observer that ‘SAS Manthatisi (S101) was, in fact, simply at anchor. It does not mean she did not have a problem.
As to why she was at anchor in such a partially exposed location, i.e. not within the confines of Hout Bay, were answered by a seasoned naval correspondent, who stated that her sloping deck angle was because she was trimmed for battery charging. This was supported by the fact that she was clearly running her diesel engines, as her exhausts were making plenty of smoke and kicking up a lot of spray, all of which was clearly visible at her stern. It still does not mean that she did not have a problem. One unusual, and visible, appendage was to be seen on her fore deck. It was a box shaped structure that is not visible on any other photographs of her online. Her forward watertight door on her sail was open, and there appeared to be a few members of her crew out on deck, and around the structure, but as to what it is, or what function it performs, that will have to be left to other experts.
One does wonder why a submarine on patrol, needs to come inshore to charge her batteries, and do so in broad daylight off a well-populated bay suburb of Cape Town. What is known is that she remained at anchor for the rest of the day, and was still there when the sun went down, and it got too dark to see her. The next morning, ‘SAS Manthatisi (S101)’ was gone, presumably to continue her patrol, or training exercise, or merely to head back home to the safe confines of Simonstown Dockyard. If she did have a problem, it was now solved.
It must have been quite a spectacle for those out for a Sunday drive along the world famous, and scenic, Chapman’s Peak Drive. It is not often that you see a SAN warship out at sea on a weekend, let alone a submarine. So much for the myth that an attack on South Africa is best done after 14h00 on a Friday Afternoon, and before 08h00 on a Monday morning, as the Navy will have gone home for the weekend. This weekend they didn’t. Source: African Ports & Ships She was at sea for trials and training. The photos show her anchored and charging batteries while the crew take a break – no other reason. The frigate SAS Mendi was also at sea. It should be noted that the Navy’s operating and maintenance budget is about 20% of what it needs!
AGS