Fórum Defesa Brasil

Ships ahoy!

6 September 2007


Naval fleets from Denmark, Portugal, the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Germany this week took part in a South African Navy exercise as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s first-ever tour of the Southern hemisphere.



The Nato fleet joined in on Exercise Amazolo, which included the use of advanced sonar technology in the locating of a submarine as well as the search and seizure of a ship suspected of criminal activities.


Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said the exercise brought a skills transfer between Nato and the SA Navy, while also allowing SA a chance to earn the confidence of Nato nations.


The crews of SA’s frigates, the SAS Amatola and Isandlwana, plus the Charlotte Maxeke submarine and the Galeshwe strike craft took part in the exercise.




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Sowetan Online multimedia reporter Thobeka Magcai fought off seasickness and crossed the language barrier during her two days onboard a Portuguese warship off the coast of Cape Town.


Here, she tells us more about her experiences while on ship.


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ABOARD THE MARHINA N.R.P. ALVARES CABRAL, 3-4 September 2007:


We are approximately 15 miles South West off the Cape coast at the moment and although I thought I was strong, I’m starting to feel sea sick....


I feel better after lying down and having something to eat, although the food is not so inspiring but in order to avoid seasickness you have to eat something and what I realised is that it is better to work now than during the day.


I think the heat also contributes to that nasty feeling....


The crew are quite supportive although language is a bit of a barrier at the moment but they do try in as much English as possible which works in most of the stuff they explain to us, such as the direction maps and so on.


We are on board the Portuguese warship, Marhina N.R.P. Alvares Cabral, and I just had an interview with the captain, commanding officer Luis Carlos de Souza Pereira.


According to him, Nato decided to set sail to Africa and they decided that South Africa would be the best place to stop over and while they are here, to see if our navy could take part in some battle exercises with them.


They have been sailing for a month already and it will take them another month to arrive in Portugal.


From what he is saying there is no specific reason why they are here, however he couldn’t elaborate on other special missions such as whether there were any intelligence officers sent over before they began the trip.


However, he did say they were interested in the South African navy refining their skill and experimenting with the navy in "testing the capability of the South African navy to work with us".


The tasks are not very difficult for the Portuguese navy to perform, considering that this is what they do on a day-to-day basis. They continuously carry out on-board exercises such as emergency rescue missions to ensure that everybody is alert and knows what to do incase of emergency.


Their main purpose is to avail themselves to countries who request their help in military defence support missions and peacekeeping.


The ship has not been involved in a real war situation.


We have been sailing now from about 10:30am and since then it has just been the photo exercises, however, most of the crew are on standby and believe that an attack could start any minute now and what is crucial for the ship is to detect the submarine on time in case it launches a surprise attack.


The SA Navy’s Lieutenant Commander Prince Tshabalala says .... "The golden rule in the Navy submarine warfare is that if you cannot find the crew of the sub your ship is finished!"


However, the captain of the Portuguese navy is confident that they will find "the target", as the ship is equipped with a multitude of multi-range detection radars and a medium-range detection sonar for sub-surface detection.


Today the only exercises performed were the photo exercises.


All the warships taking part align themselves behind each other and then change and sail beside each other.


The purpose of this exercise is for the helicopter to take photos of all the ships together as they sail.


The onboard helicopter takes off and lands while the ship rocks from side to side, and apparently it is operated by a female pilot, with whom I am having an interview shortly.


This task is specifically for the SA Air Force to see how Nato performs its function with the onboard helicopters, the LYNX MK 95.


What is also interesting about this particular ship is that out of a crew of 180 personnel, 18 are women and although it is not much, they are fairly visible and have significant roles to play onboard the ship.


The Captain says that there will be some exercises with ammunition but not real explosives and they will be fired into the air and not directly at the ships.



The purpose of this is for the other ships to detect the attacks on their radar screens and act accordingly as though they are in a real battle. He also points out that, while they may not be here for a specific mission, "if in future we need to operate, the grounds are laid for future exercises that we might want to do".


Signing off now....

Vocês Tugas sabem me dizer por que foi retirado o "Pedro" do nome da Fragata Álvares Caral