It was a gathering of an elite cadre of 22 former Royal Malaysian Navy (RMN) men in Tanjung Gelang in Kuantan, Pahang recently.
The former navy officers shared a unique story, a bond. They were part of a group of officers and enlisted men tasked with ferrying the nascent RMN’s then-newest fast attack boats, the La Combattante-class.
The La Combattante-class patrol boat was a type of fast attack craft built in France for export during the ‘70s and ‘80s.
The Combattante Golden Jubilee was held on June 30 and July 1. The attendees had served on the four boats – KD Perdana, KD Ganyang, KD Ganas, and KD Serang – and formed the ‘Project Team’ to facilitate the introduction of the fast attack craft into RMN fleet service. Over dinner and drinks, they reminisced about their time at sea, serving the Royal Malaysian Navy.
Rear Admiral (Rtd) Datuk Danyal Balagopal Abdullah, who attended the ‘Celebrating 150 Years of Taiping’ in the heritage town in Perak on July 7, shared a souvenir book from the gathering of former navy men. Danyal, a former Port Dickson MP and Olympic Council of Malaysia vice-president, had in the book, shared about the four boats’ passage back to Malaysia in 1973.
He granted Twentytwo13 permission to reproduce his write-up:
“At this juncture of our Golden Jubilee, it’s worth noting our memorable experience with the Combattante Project in Cherbourg, France, and the exciting journey back to Malaysia with the Combattante squadron (May 5-July 1, 1973). In preparation to sail the squadron back to Malaysia from Cherbourg, four navigators were sent to HMS Dryad in Portsmouth, the United Kingdom, to attend a navigation specialisation course. It was held from August to December, 1972.
Upon completion of the course, the four navigators joined their respective ships that were under construction in Cherbourg. We reported just in time for the ships to commence acceptance trials, and attend the relevant Vega Pollux Weapons System and Exocet MM-40 Missile Courses, besides studying the ships’ systems.
All four ships were ready to sail back after acceptance trials by the end of April 1973. The navigators started the passage plan, sailing via the Suez Canal, but had to abort, since the canal was closed due to the crisis in the Middle East, just after the Yom Kippur war. The squadron was ordered to sail via the Cape of Good Hope and across the Indian Ocean to make it to the Malaysian Base Jetty in Woodlands, Singapore, by Navy Day on July 1, 1973.
All four ships, in respective seniority, sailed out of the Cherbourg breakwater at 10am on May 5, 1973, after a grand, and touching send-off by the local dignitaries that included the French Navy, and staff from Constructions Mécaniques de Normandie (CMN) and Societe Francaise de Construction Navales (SFCN) Shipyard.
The crew on board the four ships were:
KD Perdana (3501): Cdr Yacob Daud (Commanding Officer & Squadron Leader), Lt Cdr Mui Yoke Long (Executive Officer), Lt Abu Bakar Jamal (GO), S/Lt Mohd Anwar (NO).
KD Ganas (3502): Lt Cdr Mohd Khalid (CO), Ly Waili Suhaili (XO), Lt Faizal Abdullah (GO), S/Lt Yeo Tian Tia (NO).
KD Serang (3503): Lt Cdr Simon Wong Tet Fook (CO), Lt Ramli Bakar (XO), Kt Jaffar Sidek (GO), S/Lt Mat Rabi (NO).
KD Ganyang (3504): Lt Cdr Mohd Aminuddin (CO), Lt Siew Koi Seng (XO), Lt Allen Boudville (GO), S/Lt G. Balakrishnan (NO).
The journey started on clearing the Cherbourg basin breakwater. Hardly six hours into the open sea, the weather became adverse and it was unsafe to continue. The squadron leader then decided to turn back, and the squadron was back at Cherbourg Naval basin by 8pm, very much to the delight of the locals. However, the squadron did sail out again the following morning at 10am with a slightly encouraging weather report.
The first port of call was Brest in France. It was a brief one-day stop to tie up the loose ends of the contract. That evening, we were entertained by the French with some excellent seafood and wine. The following day, all ships sailed and entered the Port of Lisbon, purely for refuelling and replenishment. No shore leave was granted as the visit was on protestation due to Portugal’s apartheid policy. The beginning of political interference in the affairs of the navy’s day-to-day life.
The next port of call for replenishment after two days was Las Palmas on the Canary Islands. After a refreshing stay of two days, the next port of call was Dakar, the capital of Senegal, which was a French colony and the gateway to western Africa. Unfortunately, or fortunately to some, the stay had to be extended to six days, due to a delay in spare parts delivery for KD Ganyang’s main engine. It was, however, undoubtedly a welcome delay by the squadron, as it turned out to be a pleasant reminder of our French nostalgia. It was a good run ashore for a fatigued bunch of sailors.
The subsequent stopover after a more choppy sea trip was Lagos, Nigeria. We arrived at the port’s river mouth several hours early. The foggy and choppy seas made it unfavourable for a night’s layoff anchorage. The squadron leader decided to enter the port without a pilot as he was unable to get in touch with the port authority via radio. The journey up the narrow and meandering river by the four ships in formation was a harrowing experience. The ships berthed safely well past midnight, to the amazement of the port authority and Nigerian Navy.
After a replenishment and a pleasant run ashore, we set sail for another long journey heading to Mocamedes, Port of Angola. This was a disappointing and frustrating port of call as no shore leave was granted due to our protest against Portugal’s apartheid policy. Unfortunately, it was here that we had to disembark squadron leader Cdr Yacob for an emergency medical treatment. The commanding officer of KD Ganas, Lt Cdr Khalid assumed the role of acting squadron leader for the journey back home.
Then came the scariest part of our journey heading towards the Cape of Good Hope and into Simon’s Town for fuel, water, and rations. There was strictly no rest and relax due to South Africa’s apartheid policy. It was one of our longest legs in our journey home, hugging the west coast of Africa. It was during the leg (between Lagos and Luanda in Angola) that we indulged in a fun-filled traditional ‘Crossing the Line’ ceremony.
For the first time, the crew had a chance to see whales snorting. We made into Simon’s Town late at night, only to be received by the South African Navy duty officer and his staff. All he could say on welcoming us was that the Royal Malaysian Navy must be crazy to permit vessels of our size to traverse the ever treacherous waters of the Cape. Apparently, the South African navy does not allow small craft operations in these waters.
Although the South African navy was prepared to host us, our instruction was to avoid all social interaction. Only the pursers (officer responsible for administration) were allowed to go ashore to purchase fresh rations from their wet markets. The fresh fruits and rations purchased at their markets were just wonderful.
Upon replenishing our ships, we headed to our next port of call, Lourenco Marques in Mozambique. Ironically, as we entered the South African waters, the sea was mirror-calm. The new squadron leader got excited and decided to conduct non-delaying, high-speed manoeuvres on passage. This turned out to be a bad decision as KD Perdana had an irreparable steering gear failure during the exercise. She had to be aft steered to the next port. Aft steering is taxing on the crew but it was fine as long as the sea remained calm. The adage ‘The calm before the storm’ became a reality in our case. Less than an hour after the breakdown, the weather became bad and the sea became rough.
Poor KD Perdana had to literally limp into our next port of call. Again, another Portuguese colony exercising apartheid. However, the Royal Malaysian Navy became a bit generous, appreciating our passage struggle thus far, and allowed us restricted shore leave. It was a welcome respite for the crew.
KD Perdana’s defect couldn’t be rectified due to the unavailability of parts. Due to time constraints, the squadron leader decided to sail into the Port of Diego Suarez in Madagascar to collect the parts there. As we rounded the tip of the island, the sea became treacherous and we were caught in tropical (cyclone) Gale, between Forces 8 and 9. The irony was that we were only 15 nautical miles to the entrance of Antsiranana Bay at the north-eastern tip of the island. Port of Diego Suarez is located inside the bay. The ships were all like corks in boiling water. The squadron leader ordered all ships to act independently and to proceed into harbour.
KD Serang’s life raft was ripped off the upper deck by the strong waves and was floating away. KD Perdana was struggling to fight the gigantic waves and remain afloat. It took a good four hours to cover a distance of less than five nautical miles! In retrospect, our short but nightmarish experience at the Cape of Good Hope days earlier came in handy here. Thank God we made into the bay with KD Perdana sustaining upper deck damage. It’s no wonder when most of the crew, on reaching safety, fell to their knees in prayer. An excruciating and scary experience.
There were several sympathy signals to the squadron from the Defence Ministry in Malaysia. The crew had their deserved run ashore and rest in Diego Suarez. Once all the defects were rectified, and the ships fully replenished, we set sail for Mahe in Seychelles. Mahe was a pleasant and peaceful holiday resort. All the crew, probably, had their best rest and recreation here.
Our next port of call crossing the Indian Ocean was supposed to be Colombo, Ceylon (now Sri Lanka), where our two months’ of mail were waiting. However, the port was closed due to the civil unrest in Ceylon.
We were re-routed to stop over in Gan, under the British-ruled Addu Atoll in the Indian Ocean. The ships were fuelled from tankers, and limited provisions were obtained from the Navy, Army, Air Force, Institute (NAAFI) store. We had the longest last leg of our journey heading for Malaysia. By calculation, if we don’t go off track too much, we should have about eight per cent fuel left. Just about to lose suction, thus stretching the ships’ endurance to the limit.
The entire squadron was overjoyed when we finally raised Pulau Jarak in the Straits of Melaka on the radar. The ships berthed at Shell Jetty, Butterworth, in Penang for fuel and water before shifting berths to Swettenham Pier for the night. Strictly no publicity, and again, no official shore leave, as well. Cdr Yacob rejoined us after he was treated. We sailed the following morning (June 29, 1973).
We arrived at Port Klang and were visited by officials from the Defence Ministry. Later, we sailed in the evening to arrive at Anchorage off M Buoy on June 30. No shore leave again to avoid publicity. The following day, on July 1, 1973 – and being Navy Day – the squadron joined the rest of the fleet for a Royal Fleet Review.
On completion of the fleet review, we returned to the Malaysian Base Jetty to a lukewarm homecoming and was finally granted shore leave. The journey was mired between politics and operations, with the sailors being the victims. But the above concludes the Combattante squadron’s memorable, and successful journey from France to Malaysia.”
