Submarine exercise

On Saturday the Bakoven duty crew had an exercise with the SA Navy’s Queen Modjadji, a Heroine class submarine, that caused quite a stir off Camps Bay and Clifton.Bakoven’s duty coxswain, Bruce Davidson, said that it was a huge success and very interesting.Spirit of Rotary Table Bay took four submariners out to the 62 metre Queen Modjadji, meeting off Camps Bay and then moving to Clifton for the transfer.“ We moved into her lee and they lowered two fenders that look like pool noodles on steroids. Our fenders were out. There was quite a swell running down her hull, but by using bow and stern lines we managed to drop the four guys onto the sub and then had a short wait for the two men who we were to take off,” said Bruce.“ It is the first time that we have worked with a submarine. It was good experience.”

Some facts on the Queen Modjadji from Wikipedia :The Heroine class is a variant of the Type 209 diesel-electric attack submarine developed by Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werft AG of Germany, currently in service with the South African Navy. The submarine has a crew of 30. The hull has a length of 62m, breadth of 7.6m and height of 5.8m. It has a maximum diving depth of 500 meters.Max speed :10 knots (19 km/h), surfaced; 21.5 knots (40 km/h), submerged.Range: 11,000 nmi. at 10 knots, surfaced, (20,000 km at 20 km/h); 8,000 nmi. at 10 knots, snorkeling, (15,000 km at 20 km/h); 400 nmi. at 4 knots, submerged (740 km at 7 km/h)