THE BULLYTIN Official News Letter of Field Marshal Shellhole

18 FEBRUARY 2016

SPECIAL EDITION

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Remembering the“SAS President Kruger (F150)”

The editorial staff of “THE BULLYTIN” took a unanimous decision and decided to run a special edition in honour of those South African sailors who lost their lives on that fateful 18th day of February 1982 when the SAS President Kruger sank after a collision with the SAS Tafelberg.

Before we remember our fallen brothers in arms allow me to share with you as to how a MOTH shellhole namely “Field Marshal Shelllhole” situated in Irene Pretoria came to remember this day annually.

During the 2014 / 2015 MOTH year the number of ex-naval members to join the Field Marshal Shellhole rose “exponentially” from one to six. Suddenly Field Marshal Shellhole had a serious naval influence and probably the largest inland naval membership within the MOTH.

The idea of holding a memorial service annually came during our January 2015 meeting when under the agenda item “general” one of our members (who shall remain anonymous for now) smartly stood himself up and said “Old Bill just to say that we should remember the sailors of the SAS President Kruger who lost their lives on the 18 th

of February 1982…………….” The item was duly noted and in fact at that very moment the seed was planted for what was to become an annual calendar event of the Field Marshal Shellhole of the Memorable Order of Tin Hats. Our thanks to the Field Marshal executive at the time under the leadership of Old Bill Quintin Geyser for acknowledging the importance of this date, making it an annual event and allowing us the honour of remembering those sailors who were lost at sea.

In 2015 we were honoured to have Capt. (SAN) (Retd) A.J. Forrest as our guest of honour, Capt. Forrest having served on the SAS Tafelberg at the time of the collision shared his experience and emotions of that fateful day with the gathering, his account left many a Moth with a lump in the throat and tear filled eyes. Capt. Forrest unveiled the roll of honour which now forms part of the Shellhole’s wall of remembrance.

2016 will see us holding the second “PK” memorial service which we hope to see grow in attendance every year. This year we are honoured to have Capt. (SAN)(Retd) FC van Rooyen a survivor of the accident as our guest of honour.

Now Dear Reader it is time to reveal the anonymous Moth who called for us to remember the event…………….”I present Chief Petty Officer (Retd) Derrick Ernest “Stompie” Williams who had to endure that horrific ordeal on his 21 st Birthday” this is his story………

“The morning of the 18th February 1982 was nothing special, except that we had been at sea for almost 4 days, with a further week of submarine exercises in the Southern Atlantic still planned.

As per usual I took over the Tactical Communications voice circuit and settled down for what should have been a quiet and uneventful early morning watch.

Just before approximately 04h00, I was tasked with sending out the signal to re-orientate the screen which lead to the formation of ships, consisting of the two anti-submarine frigates SAS President Kruger (PK) and SAS President Pretorius (PP), the auxiliary tanker the SAS Tafelberg, changing direction by 154 degrees, a virtual reversal in direction. As per tactical prescripts, the two frigates which sailed ahead of the Tafelberg, had to change direction first to maintain their protective positions, against the submarine SAS Emily Hobhouse, ahead of Tafelberg on the new heading.

The PK located ahead on the port side of the Tafelberg, turned to starboard in an inward direction towards the Tafelberg. Partway through the turn, the operations room lost radar contact with the Tafelberg in the ocean clutter and high seas. After numerous commands and confusion the OOW (Officer of the Watch) was unable to recover the situation, and the bows of the much bulkier Tafelberg impacted the SAS President Kruger on her port side.

The scraping noise was extremely loud and then after seeing the Captain run through the operations room half dressed shouting something to the effect of “wat die v...k gaan aan” I knew this was not manoeuvre listed in the manuals.

I then went to the bridge to see whether I could resume my duties there but to my astonishment, I saw the two ships scraping past each other, and immediately returned to the operations room awaiting further instructions.

The order from the Captain to abandon ship followed, I then knew I was not in a good place, as swimming was definitely not one of my strong points, especially in the dark and in heavy seas. It should be noted that in those days it was not mandatory to wear your lifejacket all the times whilst at sea, so many of the crew had to first go and find their life jackets in their lockers, which in the majority of cases was well below decks.

Making my way down from the operations room to retrieve my lifejacket in mess nine which housed all the junior rate Communication ratings, also dubbed by the other crew members as the “Comms Girls” and the junior rate Radar ratings, I immediately saw that this was not just the touching of two ships, but something rather catastrophic, as water was flowing up the main alleyway, which is a passage that runs from the stern to bow of the ship.

Eventually I managed to find my lifejacket and together with my crew mates we made our way to our respective “life raft stations”. Mine was located on the port flight deck. With the ship now listing slightly to port and the stern taking on water, I met the SAAF Captain of the WASP helicopter who was trying see whether he could maybe fly the helicopter. However, the port side of the hangar and hangar door were damaged, thus no fly operations were possible. After a few minutes, I noticed that all the crew were making their way to the forecastle (the front of the ship) so I followed suit. I remember the wind was howling the sea was rough and it was dark.

On arriving at the forecastle we were instructed to jump into the water and find a life raft into which we would get into and then be rescued by the either the Tafelberg or the PP, in theory

this was easy, no sweat, I said to myself I can do this. By this time the PK had broadsided into the wind, with the wind blowing from the port side to the starboard side.I summed the situation up and had a quick look over the side, saw how high it was as the bow was getting higher as the water entered the ship, and thought to myself, I better take my non- skid shoes off and place them somewhere safe, not knowing the severity of the collision, as should we get back onboard I will at least have dry shoes and would not have to pay for a new pair. And not get into trouble from the Coxswain for not having shoes.

After watching numerous fellow shipmates jump off the bow I eventually stepped forward and plunged into the stormy, dark, noisy sea below. With life jacket inflated and full of thick Furnace Fuel Oil (FFO) that leaked from the ruptured fuel tanks I made my way to the first life raft. As I clung to the entrance someone shouted “life raft full”. Okay I said to myself, plan B find another life raft, it should be remembered that I would rather do sky diving than doing survival swimming or any swimming for that matter. Now very tired and full of FFO and after attempting to enter 4 other life rafts I managed to find one and entered it and found approximately five shipmates inside. I remember thinking to myself I made it, the worst is over, now it’s just a matter of being rescued by one of the other two vessels.

Little did I know that the life raft I entered was still attached to the PK’s port side just below the “flag deck” by means of a nylon lanyard which failed to automatically release when activated. There was scurry amongst us to find some sort of cutting tool to cut the lanyard so as to free us from the ship, which we eventually was accomplished. Now it was just a matter of pushing ourselves down the port side and past the stern before the ship sinks. It should be remembered that the wind was pushing us up against the ship. Thoughts of a massive whirlpool like those portrayed in the movies immediately came to mind.

As we made our way down the port side towards the stern with great vigour, only then did the magnitude of the collision hit us, as there was a gaping hole in the port side that spread across both the engine and boiler rooms, the two biggest compartments in the ship, she had no chance of staying afloat. Our problem of course was navigating passed the sheared metal of the ship trying to avoid the life raft from being punctured, which we indeed did achieve by courageous team work.Free at last we were in so called “open seas” and watched the PK take her last breath as one of her boilers blew. The last images I remember seeing was the Jupiter radar turning frantically and one or two lights shining through the portholes, I never witnessed the PK’s final sinking.While waiting to be rescued it dawned on me that it was my 21st birthday and I shouted to the guys by the way it’s my birthday, to which the life raft broke out into song wishing Stompie a happy and wet 21st birthday.

After two or so hours we were rescued by the SAS President Pretorius and were provided with clean overalls and a traditional tot of rum to warm the inners. The PP continued the search for our missing shipmates until nightfall, with the PP finally making her way back to the naval port of Simonstown, to off load her survivors. The PP subsequently returned to the area to continue the search for any possible survivors.

It should be noted that the force of the collision buckled the plates and crushed port Mess 12 on the SAS President Kruger, where the Petty Officers sleeping quarters were located, killing or trapping all those inside.

The President Kruger sank in 45 minutes approximately 78 nautical miles south west of Cape Point.

CPO Webb and Abe Benjamin were not trapped inside ship, as both were seen to abandon ship. The following morning, the body of CPO Webb was recovered from the sea by the SAS Protea. Abe Benjamin remains unaccounted for.

The story of the sinking and rescue of the crew of the SAS President Kruger, as well as the impact to families of both the survivors and the men lost, truly comes back to the PK’s motto “Out of the Storm came Courage” – Yours Aye Derrick “Stompie” Williams.

The images below were also provided by “Stompie”, taken by him during his days onboard the SAS President Kruger

“Helo” ops with Westland Wasp helicopter.

Jupiter Radar and Radar mast.

Ceremonial Guard of Honour onboard the SAS President Kruger

Alongside in Durban – SAS President Kruger and the SAS President Pretorius

RAS (Replenishment at Sea) exercise – picture taken of the SAS Tafelberg from the SAS President Kruger

“Rough Seas”

History

The SAS President Kruger was a frigate of the South African Navy. She sank in 1982 with the loss of 16 lives after colliding with her replenishment ship, the SAS Tafelberg, in the South Atlantic.

SAS President Kruger was one of three President-class type 12 frigates obtained by the South African Navy in the 1960s following the Simonstown Agreement with the Royal Navy. She was christened upon launch by the wife of Admiral Hugo Biermann;[3] her home port was Simonstown, near Cape Town.

On 5 August 1969, she was recommissioned after an extensive refit and modernization. [4]

She participated in various operations during the South African Border War, including the Ambrizete Incident.[5]:107[6]

USA visit

In 1976, this flagship of the South African Navy participated in an International Naval Review in New York as part of the bicentennial independence celebrations of the United States. In the process, she became the first South African naval vessel to visit the USA. She departed Simonstown on 3 June 1976, sailing via Walvis Bay, Abidjan and Las Palmas to Norfolk, Virginia. From there, she sailed in a fleet of 53 warships from 22 countries to New York for the Naval Review on 4 July. On 6 July, members of the ship's company paraded through the streets of New York, after which she sailed home to Simonstown via Charleston, South Carolina and Las Palmas.[4] Politician Tony Leon was the official photographer for this journey.[7]

End of life

The aging President Class frigates were earmarked for disposal in 1978, with newer D'Estienne d'Orves class vessels scheduled to replace them. However the imposition of United Nations Security Council Resolution 418 put an end to both the sale of the replacement corvettes, as well as any refurbishment of the President Class frigates. [8]

Accident and sinking

On 18 February 1982, while under the command of Captain de Lange, the President Kruger was conducting complex World War II-era anti-submarine exercises with her sister ship the SAS President Pretorius, the submarine SAS Emily Hobhouse and the replenishment ship SAS Tafelberg. The high-intensity exercises progressed from 6 am to

11 pm over several days, with different candidate submarine captains being given an opportunity of executing a mock attack against the Tafelberg. From 11 pm until 6 am, the ships followed a narrow zip-zag course that allowed the submarine repeated opportunities to engage the surface ships in lower-intensity exercises while the bulk of the crew rested.

The frigates too were using the opportunity to carry out anti-submarine exercises, with each ship given a patrol sector ahead of the Tafelberg. The escorts were expected to patrol their areas in a random fashion, between 2,000 feet (610 m) and 5,000 feet (1,500 m) from Tafelberg. The President Kruger's station was on Tafelberg's port side between 10 and 330 degrees. The President Steyn had a reciprocal box on the starboard side.

At approximately 4 am, the whole formation had to change direction by 154 degrees, a near complete reversal in direction. The frigates had to change direction first to maintain their protective positions ahead of Tafelberg on the new heading. President Kruger's options were to turn 200 degrees to port, or 154 degrees to starboard. While the latter turn was smaller and tactically sound, it was more dangerous as it involved turning towards the other two ships. Critically, the officer of the watch (OOW) elected to turn to starboard, and initiated a 10 degree turn. A 10 degree turn had a larger radius and would take longer to execute than a 15 degree turn, thereby allowing Tafelberg more time to close on the ship turning in front of her. Partway through the turn, the operations room lost radar contact with the Tafelberg in the clutter. At that point, an argument ensued between the OOW and the Principal Warfare Officer over the degree of wheel to apply. The OOW was unable to recover the situation, and the bows of the Tafelberg impacted the President Kruger on her port side at the senior ratings' mess. The President Kruger sank 78 nautical miles (144 km) south west of Cape Point, killing 16 people.

A Westland Wasp helicopter, operated by 22 Squadron SAAF from the other frigate, rescued crew members from the water.

Aftermath

A naval board of inquiry was commissioned, leading to a finding of a lack of seamanship by the captain and officers of the ship. The Minister of Justice introduced a retrospective change in law to allow him to hold an inquest into the death of one of the seamen. The inquest apportioned blame on the captain and PWO. However none of the officers was court-martialled.

As a result of an international arms embargo against apartheid South Africa, the ship could not be replaced, and was therefore a great loss to the capability and morale of the navy for many years afterwards.

The Navy's prestigious 'Cock of the Fleet' trophy, which had been won by her ship's crew in the annual rowing regatta, was lost with the ship.

Roll of Honour

Benjamin,G.T., AB Booysen,J.P., CPO Bothma,S.P., PO Brind,G.A.F., PO Bulterman,R.C., PO De Villiers,G.W., PO Koen,E., PO Lotter,H., PO Mc Master,R.A., PO Skeates,R.F., PO Smit,H.W., CPO Smith,W.R., PO Van Tonder,W.M.G., CPO Webb,D., CPO Whiteley,M.B.R., PO Wium,C.J., PO

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morning

We will remember them.