SHAH ALAM: 45-year-old fast attack craft – KD Pendekar -pennant number 3513, sunk off Tanjung Penyusop, south-east Johor, this afternoon (August 25) almost four hours after colliding with an underwater object. The thirty-nine crew members of the Handalan-class FAC were rescued by passing a merchant ship.
The ship struck the underwater object at noon, causing a leak in the machineries room, RMN said adding that the crew members abandoned the vessel when the flooding could not be stopped. The ship sank at 3.54pm, two nautical miles off Tanjung Penyusop, in Pengerang.
Video of their rescue circulating on social media showed the rescued sailors helping their colleagues who were still in life rafts. The video also showed a Singaporean police vessel at the scene, likely assisting in the rescue. Other social media posts showed a RMN FCB likely based the RMN Tanjung Pengelih, and a marine police patrol boat, next to the floundering vessel.
KD Pendekar, terkandas.
Awaiting detailed incident/accident investigation report. pic.twitter.com/cDibWRoZBT— Kaithi At Sea (@Kay4Kumar) August 25, 2024
“The leak was first detected in the machineries room causing uncontrollable flooding. The crew abandoned the ship after attempts to stop the leak and stabilising the ship was unsuccessful. RMN focus is now to salvage the vessel.
A special investigation board will be set up to investigate the cause of the incident.
The release:
πππππππππ πππππ ππ ππππ ππππ: πππππππ ππππππππππ πππππ ππ ππππππππ ππ ππππππππ πππππππ ππππππππ
TLDM mengeluarkan kenyataan berikut:
1. Kapal TLDM iaitu Kapal Diraja (KD) PENDEKAR telah mengalami kebocoran dan kebanjiran besar pada jam 12.00 tengah hari ini di posisi 2 batu nautika Tenggara Tanjung Penyusop, Johor ketika sedang melaksanakan penugasan operasi. Kebocoran tersebut dipercayai berpunca dari kapal terlanggar objek bawah air.
2. Kebocoran yang mula dikesan di Bilik Jentera kapal telah merebak dengan cepat dan tidak terkawal. Kesemua kru berjaya diselamatkan setelah usaha untuk mengawal kebocoran serta menstabilkan kapal tidak berjaya. Fokus utama TLDM sekarang adalah untuk melaksanakan operasi salvaj bagi menyelamatkan kapal.
3. TLDM akan menubuhkan lembaga siasatan khas dengan kadar segera bagi mengenalpasti punca kejadian.
4. TLDM merakamkan jutaan terima kasih kepada agensi-agensi yang terlibat atas tindakan pantas memberi bantuan terhadap insiden ini iaitu Agensi Penguatkuasaaan Maritim Malaysia (APMM), Polis Diraja Malaysia (PDRM) dan komuniti maritim yang berada di persekitaran.
5. Orang ramai dinasihatkan untuk tidak membuat sebarang spekulasi mengenai insiden ini. Sila rujuk sumber rasmi TLDM untuk perkembangan terkini dan maklumat sebenar.Additional release by RMN:
Tentera Laut Diraja Malaysia (TLDM) mengeluarkan kenyataan seperti berikut:
1.
Kapal milik TLDM iaitu Kapal Diraja (KD) PENDEKAR telah tenggelam sepenuhnya di posisi 2
batu nautika di Tenggara dari Tanjung Penyusop, Johor pada jam 3.54 petang ini. Usaha
menyelamatkan kapal melalui operasi salvaj masih dalam proses pelaksanaan.
2.
Usaha pantas komuniti maritim telah berjaya menyelamatkan kesemua kru KD
PENDEKAR seramai 39 orang sebelum kapal ditenggelami air sepenuhnya. Tiada
kecederaan dilaporkan. Mereka kini berada dalam keadaan selamat dan ditempatkan di KD
SULTAN ISMAIL, Tanjung Pengelih, Johor. Aset TLDM ditempatkan di lokasi kejadian bagi
memantau keadaan semasa dan keselamatan persekitaran .
Orang awam dinasihatkan untuk tidak menyebarkan maklumat insiden yang tidak sah.
Perkembangan terkini akan dimaklumkan melalui sumber rasmi TLDM.
The last time RMN vessel suffered the same fate was another FAC – KD Pari – in late 2011. She took in water after one of her shafts became dislodged while underway. Her crew managed to get to Pulau Layang-Layang to be moored but due to the flooding, she sank at the jetty. She was salvaged in 2012 and later returned to service after undergoing repairs.
Pendekar was based in Tanjung Gelang, Kuantan, which is the RMN First Regional headquarters. After their rescue, the crew were transferred to the Tanjung Pengelih base. Unlike her sister ship, KD Perkasa, Pendekar had not undergone the Obsolescence Programme. However, she and sister ship, KD Gempita, had been fitted with a new combat management system (CMS) allowing for her main gun – 57mm Bofors – be fired remotely. The Handalan class ships are fitted with an echo sounder for navigation.
— Malaysian Defence.
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Hope this ship can be repaired
OOT Mr Marhalim. Recently Malaysian Army through its social media shows that some of the new uav / drone (3 type if Im not mistaken) has entered in service. Some of them was the Polish-made kamikaze drone. Is that officialy inducted by the army or just in testing.
Likely testing. AFAIK there is no procurement contracts for drones for the Army apart from ISR ones.
Look like we going less one ship…
Rock – βHope this ship can be repairedβ
What do you think? Itβs 45 years old; is slated to be retired in some years and is underwater. Everything is soaked in saltwater and thereβs a hole in the hull. You reckon itβs worth even fixing?
The question is what she hit? The waters she is in are ours and have been well surveyed. The only consolation is everyone got off and sea conditions werenβt rough. A photo showed her listing to port before going under.
A warship that hits something in the water and sank. I thought warships are built with compartments that can be sealed if the hull is ruptured.
Quite embarrassing to lose military asset in peacetime.
>repaired
This is one of the handalan boats that didn’t undergo rehulling. The only thing of value is the CMS (which probably fried by now) and the rewired main gun
Most of RMN’s ships are old and obsolete. The government really need to expedite the procurement of LMS batch 3 and LCS batch 2, and in greater quantity.
Hasnan “Quite embarrassing to lose military asset in peacetime.”
Though murican subs had hit a mysterious mount under the SCS recently
@Zaft
Difference is Uncle Sam is a superpower with dozens of subs to spare, we on the other hand…so yes, its very embarrassing, this is simply the cherry on top of an already large pile of “chocolate ice cream” and worst of all it happened on Independence Month…
As usual, we only need to blame the Govt, so hammer away guys! Ini semua salah… !
Is that Swedish mod Spica 2 class built for RMN b4?
yup
Don’t these Navy vessels have a basic sonar that can detect underwater objects? The type used by fishing vessels. No, not sonars for ASW.
Yes, the Handalan class which is what KD Pendekar was and other RMN ships – are fitted with echo sounders. Whether or not it was working or not; or it was working and sound off the alarm but the crew ignored them are the things the investigation board needs to find out.
Another issue is whether the navvigation charts for the area is updated or not. The area where she sank is full of small islets and rock outcrops. For example, if the echo sounder was not working and the crew had to rely on old navigation charts she might ran into something. This is just my theory of course.
Hasnan – ”Quite embarrassing to lose military asset in peacetime.”
It is but it happens. The issue is that the ship could have been saved but the CO evacuated the ship without doing all he could to contain the damage. The sinking took time to happen; it was not like KLD Perak which sank fast. Crews are trained for damage control and they’re various things onboard in case they are needed; from pumps to planks to shore things up; to things which can help seal the hole. Granted the crew was in shock but they train for this; the 1st thing would have been to isolate the engine room and contain the flooding. It’s not as if the ship lost power. When it went under smoke was still bellowing; this says the generators were still running.
zaft – ”Though murican”
Is that a new country or one in the outer rim?
Mishaps do happen but how crews handle the situation is the question. How the CO handled the situation does not make the RMN happy. Steps could have been taken to save then ship. It did not sink fast. Anyhow his career is over.
A possibility is that she did not hit a wreck or a rock but something which was floating in the water. The breach was in the engine room in the engine room; the shaft area. Same as occurred with the Jerong years ago. In that incident flooding was contained despite the ship being partially underwater. The crew did a great job despite the dislodged shaft which caused massive flooding. In the 1980βs a PC ran aground in the Spratlys and had major flooding in the engine room. It was saved. There is a DC training centre at Lumut which includes a simulator. Crews are required to go there every now and then.
Interesting something floating, a log, maybe. So it may well be another shaft dislodged like KD Pari. Anyhow, in an earlier comment, you mentioned that smoke came out from the ship indicating the generators were still working. I was told that once the flooding began, the ship lost all power. They managed to alert Tanjung Pengelih base and other agencies, using their data link which was hooked up to a portable battery.
I am guessing that even if the generators were working, the switchboard might have been knocked out by the flood waters which probably the reason the powered bilges were not working. I believed the ship have manual bilges but I am guessing too much water had come in.
You’re probably right Marhalim. Was with a RMN friend who showed the video with the smoke. It was he who pointed it out. Anyhow an investigation will bring things to light.
Being so old and not yet undergone the OP, is it possible its containment system & bilges went kaput when they were started? Seals that were supposed to be watertight are no longer watertight with age?