SHAH ALAM: I AM aware that many people do not believe in luck but the saga of the RMN’s training ships certainly call for a dose of good luck – in buckets literally. One of the two boats apparently caught fire this morning as they were being completed at a shipyard in Lumut.
The ship that caught fire was Teguh Samudera, pennant number 272, the second training ship. Teguh and her sister ship, Gagah Samudera, were towed to the Grade One Marine Shipyard in Lumut, in mid-2015, for completion after being left incomplete for almost three years. The original builder, NGV Tech Sdn Bhd, went bust shortly after Teguh was launched in 2013.
According to Sinar Harian, Teguh Samudera, had a fire in its engine room.
The report stated that firemen from the Sitiawan Fire and Rescue Department rushed to the shipyard after receiving an emergency call at 9.59am. The firemen took about 20 minutes to douse the fire which affected five per cent of the ship’s engine room, according to the report.
RMN, meanwhile, in a press release stated that the fire only affected the canvas cover of the engine and not the engines itself. It stated that the GOM, the shipyard, is fully responsible for the incident and the cost of repairs.
A full survey is however needed to find the extent of the damage cause by the fire and the costs to repair it.
From the image which appeared in the Sinar Harian report, it appears that both training ships, Gagah and Teguh, were in the final stage of completion. Probably RMN finally got the funding for the completion of both ships although the fire will probably delayed the commissioning of Teguh.
For more travails of the training ships check out Malaysian Defence previous articles on the two ships.
Previously, RMN’s hydrographic ship, KD Mutiara, had to be rebuilt after it caught fire while undergoing a refit at the MMHE shipyard in Johor. The most famous fire involving an RMN ship was of course the former KD Inderapura which was decommissioned after devastating fire back in 2009. She had earlier been repaired after another fire in 2002.
— Malaysian Defence
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Is there something with our shipyard or our skilled worker or whatever???
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More of the shipyard culture thing
Its not the first time a RMN ship had caught fire. RMN should in future enforce strict safety requirement on its cobtractors.
Must get the contractor to shoulder the loss this time. They must repair the ship ASAP .
More stringent Occupational Health and Safety guidelines are clearly needed.
Alhamdulillah,
Thanks God it was a minor incident
Both of them still gagah and teguh
to be commissioned soon, InsyaAllah.
“…stringent Occupational Health and Safety guidelines…”
OSH Act and FM Act are comprehensive and stringent enough, the big question is how far our shipbuilding industry commit, self regulate and obey to it?
Fire is a major incident for a ship, I suspect somebody done hot works and took too much a shortcut in fire prevention.
Call in HSE procedure/implementation as in Petronas/O&G.
Accidents will be reduced, but cost (to do work) will go up up and away…
Like all things in Malaysia, enforcement is the main issue.
Blacklist this shipyard
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They wont do so as this is technically a minor incident, compared to its past stellar record. Others had done worse
You’re a stubborn chap. You do know that against an enemy with a modern load of 5.56 rounds, you would be severely outgunned if you carried the same number as in the 70s (120 rounds) because you instead wanted a third RPG for the section?
It baffles me as to why the section needs so many RPGs at all.
Might as well say you did without body armour in the 70s so todays troops can do without.
Not too long ago, you were suggesting the JF -17 which shows less concern for the logistics burden and combat effectiveness of your country’s armed forces than for your opinion of China.
120 rounds?. Are you sure?. Even for 7.62mm we carried 6 full mags with two spares n 200 roungs in our pouches during those times. When things change from 7.62 to 5.56 the same amount was carried. Please calculate how much ammo per person
AM,
I’ve asked several veterans. According to them they hardly ever carried more than 5-6 magazines for the simple reason it was not expected that any engagement fought would require more ammo as most engagements lasted 2-3 minutes. The SOP of the bad guys would be to break contact to avoid being surrounded. The bad guys also were – in most cases – not as well armed or well equipped with ammo. Yes, as Lee will point out, there were cases in which engagements lasted more than 2-3 minutes but the fact remains that the bulk of the engineers fought were very short. Another matter is that troops on jungle patrol during that era not only had to carry rations but also stuff like spare clothing and ponchos/groundsheets. Troops today carry as much but the bulk of it consists of weapons.
I have nothing but the outmost respect for veterans (I know a few personally) but certain veterans tend to automatically assume that any future engagement our troops find themselves in will be similar to the 2nd Emergency. They also overlook future conflicts will be fought in different terrain and against people better armed and equipped and using different tactics compared to the CPM and NKCP.
No need to think of battle fought beyond boundries….there are enemies wirhin who will ensure all ur battle craft will not go out from the workshop or dockyard that is a sure thing….
Lee Yoke Meng:
I concur with Azlan’s sources. 6 magazines x 20 rounds = 120 rounds.
My father carried this load.
Well said, served you(us) right
Am
Im guessing ur father was using the SLR. During my father in law time (1970, he joined the army after the 13 Mei incident) he was already using the M 16A1 and he did say that the normal combat load was about 10 magazines. And a few extra round in his back pack if the operation was longer. He served until 1991 retiring with the rank of staff sargeant. But dindnt we start using the M16 during the late 70’s? Whe did we start phasing out the SLR’s?
Eh full mag is not 30 round meh?
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If it was the SLR, the magazine is for 20 rounds only. One strange thing I found nowdays is the tendency not to top up the magazines ie 15 rounds for the Glock 17 or 13 rounds for Glock 19 or 25 rounds for the M16s/Steyr/M4. The reason is always the same to save the spring on the magazines!
I hope in time of war, that “save the spring” is binned, every extra bullets counts.
Now how many rounds to be carried is the decision of the platoon commander. What type of weapons too. Smart commanders would ditch the mortar n the carl gustav. No commander would ditch the lmg n the grenade launcher.. if the platoon commander is young n inexperienced, the platoon sergeant will advice. I always made sure my men carries 8 fully loaded n two empty mag just in case. Then every man would be given 200 rounds put into a rayon plastic bag n tied up properly to be kept in the pouch. Normally the right pouch. We specify where all equipment must be worn or kept. Like first aid kid. Everyone in the platoon will know where to look for the first aid kid from the injured person. We never use our own kit for someone else. We always the kit of the injured. Otherwise if it comes to our turn, we wont have any for ourselves.
Weapons wise, i would like yo get my hands to one more grenade launcher if possible. During that time each section is limited yo only one lmg. Nothing more.
As a matter of prudence, the bullets are unloaded once we reach base camp. Leaving only two mags fully loaded at any one time. Reason is the jungle is wet n humidity is very high. . This is not to stress the magazine spring. If the spring is always under stress it becomes weak n lead to all sorts of stoppages. The famous hk 33 problem was with the spring. Nothing wrong with the gun. Its an excellent weapon. Better than even m16. But once on patrol, alk mags are put up to full or less one round. Again this is yo prevent two bullets being pushed up n causing a stoppage.
The slr is an excellent weapon. But it has shortcomings. Its too long n heavy. Try taking it into the jungle n you know what i mean. Its a self loading weapon n only semi auto for us. M16 is selective fire. Fire control is easier with the slr but not m16. This is be cause some guys will just switch to auto n start to bantai. A 30 bullet mag can be fired off in a matter of seconds. But great for the winning the fire fight phase of the battle.
The slr comes with an adjustable gas adjuster. So stoppage due to gas foul up is rare. Not the M16. But age catches on the working parts get worn out. .
Say whatever you like, what i says comes from actual experience.
Good Day Marhalim,
“One strange thing I found nowdays is the tendency not to top up the magazines ie 15 rounds for the Glock 17 or 13 rounds for Glock 19 or 25 rounds for the M16s/Steyr/M4. The reason is always the same to save the spring on the magazines!”
If I remember correctly, the reasoning behind this was to save the springs IF the magazines were stored fully loaded for an extended period. This is actually advice given to LEOs and civilian gun owners who would keep loaded magazines on hand. This would not be true for the military users however.
Lee Yoke Meng says:
January 22, 2016;
“But once on patrol, all mags are put up to full or less one round. Again this is to prevent two bullets being pushed up n causing a stoppage. “
That, plus the “ceremonial” tapping of the mag against the helmet before loading helps to prevent mis-feeds.
“Fire control is easier with the slr but not m16. This is because some guys will just switch to auto n start to bantai.”
The US Army had the same problem when the M16 was introduced. So much so that they had the full auto selection removed from the M16A1 and replaced with a three round burst selector mechanism.