Capetonions can board the visiting Indian and Brazilian warships, as well as the South African ships, when they berth in the V&A Waterfront from 09 – 11 May 2008. These ships are in South Africa as part of the inaugural tri-nation IBSA (Indian, Brazil and South Africa) government initiative.

The fleet has just concluded a very successful series of exercises in Western Cape waters. Some of the exercises included surface gunnery shoots, anti-air warfare exercises, replenishment-at-sea (RAS) approaches, Officer-of-the-Watch maneouvering and boarding exercises (simulations of how to board vessels suspected of illegal activities). Although the recent spate of bad weather made the sea conditions less than pleasant, the professionalism of the sailors of all the ships was more than up to the task. The sailors are looking forward to some time off this weekend to explore Cape Town.

All the ships will be open to the public from 0900 – 1400 on Saturday and Sunday. The people of Cape Town are invited to go on board the vessels and to interact with the sailors of the three countries. There are no costs involved, but members of the public are kindly asked to refrain from carrying dangerous weapons when they visit the ships.

The Indian Navy’s INS MUMBAI (a destroyer) is a very large, impressive vessel and is nearly 160m long. Although the INS KARMUK (a corvette) is smaller, it is still armed to the teeth with 16 surface missiles and an armoury of other offensive weapons. Both the Brazilian ships, BNS INDEPENDENCIA and BNS DEFENSORA, are impressive ships that are about the same size as our own VALOUR CLASS frigates, SAS AMATOLA and SAS ISANDLWANA.

The fleet will be departing the V&A Waterfront on Monday 12 May and will then proceed to sea for a further series of more advanced exercises. During this phase the fleet will split in two, with an Indian, Brazilian and South Africa ship in each force. Then the two forces – red vs blue – will conduct a series of Battle Exercises during which they will simulate a war situation where the forces try to “kill” each other. This Battle Exercise will be a culmination of all the exercises that occurred this week and is a very good means of preparing sailors for war scenarios in peace time.

Source: SA Navy

Article and photo’s by Esn T.J. Mabina and WO1 M. Gounden

South African Naval frigate, SAS ISANDLWANA has departed from Valparaiso en route home. She was in Chile for a short while as part of the Chilean Exponaval 2006 following her participation in Exercise ATLASUR VI and visits to Brazil and Argentina. Also attending were the Chief of the South African Navy, V Adm Mudimu and the Director Maritime Warfare, R Adm (JG) Higgs. The Exponaval was attended by some 26 Navies from around the globe, with visiting ships from Colombia, Mexico, Argentina and South Africa.

The South African Navy’s attendance at the Expo stemmed from President Thabo Mbeki’s visit to Chile earlier in 2006, during which Trade Agreements between the two countries were discussed. The South African Minister of Defence, Minister Lekota, later signed a Memorandum of Understanding in order to forge, amongst others, maritime trade links between South Africa and Chile. The South African Navy, and SAS ISANDLWANA was identified as the platform to provide the impetus for these trade links.

SAS Isandlwana in Valparaiso - Image: SA Navy

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