SHAH ALAM: KD Jebat caught fire as she berthed at the Lumut naval base this morning (May 02, 2017). The fire was detected at 2.30am and it was fully extinguished at 5 am. According to the RMN, early indications showed that the fire started during the preparation of food for sahur. The fire was apparently limited to the officer’s mess only.
An investigation to determine the cause of the fire will be conducted, says the RMN in its official release. The fire, though small, will continue Jebat’s reputation as an unlucky ship. As you may remember, Jebat was slightly damaged following a collision with a merchant’s vessel off Port Klang, on Jan. 15, 2014.
Her unlucky reputation, however, precedes that incident however though most likely it was because she was named Jebat, the rebel in the famous Hikayat Hang Tuah epic. The other RMN ship named after Jebat was KD Rahmat which was named KD Hang Jebat when she was first ordered in 1966.
She was renamed Rahmat I was told in an attempt to shake off the various problems suffered by the ship which started during her builder trials and continued to dog her while in service. Despite various attempts to fix her, including an engine change, Rahmat was never considered combat ready and she served as a training ship until her retirement in 2004.
Anyhow, following the fire it is likely the Jebat will undergo refit at the adjacent Boustead Naval Shipyard. BNS has the long term maintenance contract for the Lekiu-class frigates, KD Lekiu and Jebat. Perhaps this time around, the navy will decide to award the contract to upgrade the ship’s combat management system.
Industry sources told Malaysian Defence that the navy had not awarded the contract as the OEM, BAE Systems, had quoted a much higher price for upgrading the CMS. Therefore, the navy was still looking around for a cheaper solution.
I was also informed that both ships have yet to be installed with the new electro-optical system already selected in early 2016. It is also likely that other items selected for both ships have yet to be install on them.
The EOs for the Laksamana class in the meantime, are expected to be install within the next few months. These items if you may recalled were paid for by bartering the retired Otomat missiles.
— Malaysian Defence
If you like this post, buy me an espresso. Paypal Payment
View Comments (18)
Would it be good to sell off the Lekius before refit is required? Any middle eastern navy in quick need of a pair of Frigates?
Reply
Apart from Iran I cannot think of anyone....
The collision incident in 2014 was caused by a commercial ship that had strayed off the Traffic Separation Scheme. The ship made a run for it and a Lynx had to be sent to locate and ID the ship.
The only alternative to having BAE Systems upgrade the CMS would be to replace it with another one; that would cost more than upgrading NAUTIS. Something that can't be avoided in the 2-3 years will be replacing Seawolf; MBDA will only continue supporting Seawolf for a few more years. Curious as to why there are no plans to install Mirador, rather than Sea Eagle, as it already has been fitted to the Kasturis. Perhaps Sea Eagle has already been integrated to NAUTIS.
Reply
AFAIK, no integration has been done on the Nautis for the Sea Eagle. Anyway if it has been done, the integration work will have to be done again when the CMS is upgraded.
Marhalim...if i am not mistaken KD RAHMAT was renamed as such because of a fire incident while under construction at a shipyard in scotland.it was initially named as jebat.the news was in the papers of that time and on tv news.and Lekiu was contruscted first and launched before jebat to negate the misfortune that had befallen the earlier jebat @ rahmat.
Reply
No, Jebat was the one that was constructed first, that is why it has a lower pennant number 29 compared to 30 of KD Lekiu.
@ Marhalim
Actually lekiu is the older ship, that is why the ship class is called as such. The jebat has lower pennant as he is more "senior" than lekiu in the melaka fables, and as the lead ship of the malaysian navy fleet.
Jebat though given a lower pennant number was launch in 1995 lekiu was launched in 1994.
...... - ''Would it be good to sell off the Lekius before refit is required? ''
Just like how the army will only retire its Model 56s when they are literally falling apart and the RMAF will retire its Hornets when the airframes have no hours left; the RMN will never prematurely retire the Lekius. It also makes no sense to prematurely retire them before the next scheduled refit which is not too far far off as they haven't reached the stage - unlike the Laksamanas and FACs - where old age or wear and tear makes them prohibitively expensive to run.
P.S.
Also given that there at present is no certainty that the LCS will enter service on time and no indication the LMS will enter service with the capabilities lost on the Laksamanas and FACs; the RMN will want to hold on to the Lekius; at least until they become to expensive to run or their hulls weaken and the bulk of the systems can't be supported to due to old age [like the Laksamanas].
Is Jebat RMN flagship? It would be embarrassing for the navy if its flagship caught fire not in action but from cooking breakfast... Replacement for Seawolf would be the CAMM, or VL-MICA, when the time come? But is it sound to upgrade the SAM knowing that the Lekiu-class is not going to be around much longer as the navy proceeds with the 15 to 5 plan, assuming no major hiccups in the future...
why so many fire incidents? This is embarassing.
"Replacement for Seawolf would be the CAMM, or VL-MICA, when the time come? But is it sound to upgrade the SAM knowing that the Lekiu-class is not going to be around much longer as the navy proceeds with the 15 to 5 plan, assuming no major hiccups in the future…"
As we know the Seawolf will be maintained for 'a few more years' to come, if by the time it is EOSL and the LCSs are not ready then the 2 Lekius will have to use GPMG to fire at any aerial threat... :) Ok, they still have the 30mm gun but the effect is similar.
Since we already settled for VL-MICA, is it possible to install it on the Lekius, and by the time they are retired move the missle system to the OPVs? I always think that the FFBNW idea of the OPVs is a way to fool our naval service into accepting mere gun boats as fighting ships... I think the cost saving part is good, but unfortunately when the need arises (tension rise, the skirmishes, then war starts.) when can we get the necessary weapon system easily and quickly? Shouldn't we have the weapon modules ready albeit in a smaller quantity (say maybe 2 sets for 6 ships?) Just my thought.