SHAH ALAM: REMEMBER PCU Gagah Samudera? After almost a delay of three years, work has restarted to complete the first of two RMN new training ships. The fitting out of the 75-metre ship is being carried out at the Grade One Marine Shipyard Sdn Bhd in Lumut, Perak.
Industry sources told Malaysian Defence that work on Gagah Samudera = pennant number 271 – is expected to be completed by year end and commissioning by early 2016. If indeed Gagah is commissioned in 2016, it will mean that her entry into service is delayed for almost three years. It was supposed to enter service in RMN by mid-2013.
Gagah Samudera was launched on Dec 14, 2012 while her sister ship, Teguh Samudera – pennant number 272 – on Feb 27, 2013. Both were supposed to be commissioned within six months after their launch at the NGV Tech Sdn Bhd yard in Sinjangkang, Selangor.
However, both ships remained incomplete and uncommissioned as NGV Tech was foreclosed by Maybank sometime in 2013. NGV Tech signed the RM294 million contract with RMN for the construction of the training vessels at LIMA 2011.
Malaysian Defence had reported late last year that efforts were underway for the Defence Ministry to take possession of both ships so work on them could be completed. However, it was delayed for some months due to legal issues.
Once those were resolved both Gagah and Teguh were towed to Lumut from their berths, the RMN Hydrography Center in Port Klang and the former NGV Tech yard in Sinjankang, respectively. Gagah had been towed to Port Klang before NGV Tech was foreclosed while Teguh remained at Sinjangkang until recently.
Unfortunately, Teguh will not be completed for the time being as industry sources said only Gagah had been funded for completion and commissioning. It is believed work on Teguh will only start when funds become available, hopefully once Gagah is commissioned.
Gagah Samudera/Teguh Samudera numbers:
Length 76.5 metres
Displacement 1270 ton
Crew 45
Trainees 80
Endurance 21 days
Speed 20 knots
Twin diesel engines
X-band navigation radar
S-band navigation radar
2 RHIB.
1 30mm RWS
Note. I referred this ships as PCU – Pre Commissioning Units as per the US Navy practice – as they have not been commissioned.
— Malaysian Defence
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View Comments (42)
What happened to NGV tech....first job failed so what next!!
With a good management, this type of vessel should be introduce to apmm for it opv requirement. A 27 unit program is sufficient to patrol our waters
The plan is for Hang Tuah to be retired once these 2 enter service. If I'm not mistaken Samsung Thales is supplying the FCS and Kelvin Hughes the navigation suite. A school mate was intended to be the CO of one of the ships but delays in their completion led to him being given a Kedah to command.
Looks like a ship for basic seamanship trg -- navigation, watchkeeping, etc, at the moment.
I was reading the linked article, Marhalim, and I agree a 76/57 mm A gun would be more useful than the 30 mm -- at least for gunnery trg. I wonder if there's a flight deck. A bit strange for a training ship to have two cranes, maybe they want to add other things later apart from RHIB, (which can use davits).
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Yes there is deck space aft for helo landing up to the Super Lynx, I believed. The cranes will be used to lower the RHIBs.
Even though this is training ship, why don't we install 70mm oto melara naval gun instead of 30mm RWS? Can this ship being upgraded to Corvette (install ASM, torpedo and SAM) since the displacement is same with the standard Corvette size. Is this ship a modular design as Kedah class?
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They could have upgraded to a FAC or corvette design if they had completed the training ship on time and under budget. As it is the requirement for a 75 metre FAC remains but AFAIK not funded in RMK11.
John Rambo,
The MMEA doesn't need 27 ships of this displacement; a few yes but not more than that. A lot of what they do and the areas they operate in require something smaller.
What went wrong with ngv tech?
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I was told that they were building a ship meant for offshore support but as the customer was supposed to be under sanctions they had to find another buyer. However they failed to find a new customer for it. Because of this they failed to service their loan and the bank got the order to seize all of their assets including the two training ships.
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=2301133
Nice close shot of 271 last august. The ship certainly looks good. I just hope the funding is forthcoming for 272 so in end with both sisters can be operational , it can then be used for patrol duties on top of the primary training role. Will at least help to the shortage of patrol crafts
As a training vsl, IMHO vsl is good enough and I'm glad vsl will be operational soon which can put some relief on lack of hulls for normal TLDM duties . I'm not surprised when we receive news Gagah Samudera re-roled as a PV. Endurance of nearly a month, armed with a cannon (30mm is small for Position A compared to bigger DPs cannon on other TLDM vsl) and 2 type of radar band could "lured" flag country to send it to patrol duties.
http://img703.imageshack.us/img703/3900/ngvtechdsmermntrainingv.jpg
maybe it's just me, but doesn't the bow look a bit short compare to the 3D model image
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Any CGI is not representative of the actual ship.