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Search for more debris of lost submarine Nanggala

On April 27 the 'Mega Bakti' was conducting operations to find additional debris belonging to the lost submarine KRI 'Nanggara' in the Northern Bali waters. She was ready to use all the capabilities available on the ship in the submarine search operation, including the use of Intervention Remotely Operated Vehicles (IROV) equipment. Currently, the 'Mega Bakti' was conducting patrols around the area of the position to assist in the search for additional evidence floating on the surface. The operation of the 'Mega Bakti' was led by RMN Commander Mohd Hairul Fahmy Yob, with 54 crew comprising 10 officers and medical staff of the Malaysian Armed Forces. She had arrived at the search location on April 25 at noon. The final location of the KRI 'Nanggala' at a depth of 839 metres was far beyond the capacity of the ROV of the 'Mega Bakti', which is only 650 metres. However, the RMN search team has tried to operate the ROV to obtain additional evidence. Indonesia's navy on April 27 said that the sinking was likely caused by an underwater phenomenon known as an "internal solitary wave." Differences in the density of waters off Bali and in the nearby Lombok Strait may have triggered a "massive movement" strong enough to pull down the submarine in seconds. The presence of the wave around the location of the submarine at the time of the accident last Wednesday was confirmed from images produced by Japanese weather satellite Himawari 8. "There was nothing that they could do, no time to do anything... if the sub was brought down by such a wave. It likely angled [downward], causing all the crew members to roll down [to the bottom of the vessel]," Isnurwanto told a news briefing at navy headquarters in Jakarta. "We have to do further investigation, but that is most likely what happened." With large amplitudes that cause powerful currents, internal solitary waves are considered a major hazard to marine engineering and submarine navigation.

Mega Bakti enroute to search area for missing KRI Nanggala

The 'Mega Bakti' left the RMN Kota Kinabalu on April 22 at 7:00 a.m. Malaysian time and was scheduled to arrive in the area where the submarine KRI 'Nanggala' was missing on April 25 at 3:00 p.m. Both Malaysia and Singapore sent ships had been augmented with an embarked medical team. The 'Swift Rescue' departed from the Changi Naval Baseon March 21 and was expected to arrive on the scene during the weekend April 24/25. India’s Ministry of Defence stated that its Deep Submergence Rescue Vessel (DSRV) has been dispatched on April 22 from the Visakhapatnam Naval Base without giving an ETA. The Indian Air Force was requested to see the feasibility of induction of the DSRV intervention system by air. Five Indonesian naval ships — the frigates KRI 'Raden Eddy Martadinata' and KRI 'I Gusti Ngurah Rai', the corvette KRI 'Diponegoro', the hospital ship KRI 'Dr. Soeharso' and the minehunter KRI 'Pulau Rimau' along with a Navy AS565 Panther helicopter were currently searching for the submarine. The survey ship KRI 'Rigel' was inbound to the search area. Several oil slicks have been found at various locations in the search area but none of these could be confirmed as coming from the missing submarine. The missing submarine was expected to have 72 hours of oxygen available from the time contact was lost and that the oxygen would run out by 3:00 a.m. on April 24 Indonesian time. The submarine had undergone dock maintenance at the PT Pal shipyard in January 2020. Air Chief Marshal Tjahjanto stated that a magnetic object floating at a depth of 50 meters to 100 meters had been found and that KRI Rigel was on the way to retrieve the object. Both chiefs had earlier flown out to KRI 'Dr. Soeharso' to observe the progress of the search operation. Australia has joined the search for the Indonesian submarine too. The Australian frigate 'Ballarat', equipped with sonar systems and an MH-60R submarine-hunting helicopter, will reach the search area on April 23. The support ship 'Sirius' will be deployed to the search area on April 27.

Support ship will participate in search for missing Indonesian submarine

The 'Mega Bakti' was deployed from Kota Kinabalu on April 22 to participate in the search for the missing submarine 'Nanggala' off Bali with an ETA as of April 27. The yard TKMS in Kiel offered its help too. The boat had been built in the yard between 1978 and 1980 and was delivered in 1981. The last maintenance in Kiel was in 1988. The last contact to the boat was on April 21 at 3.46 a.m. LT. The ship had been advised to dive, and the crew was preparing torpedo tube 8 to be fired. At 4.25 a.m. the fleet command ordered fire, but failed to get in contact with the boat. The exercise was immediately stopped. The survey ship 'Rigel' of the Navy was sent to the last position 60 nautical miles South of Bali, where oil spills were observed. The largest spot measured 150 square meters. The Indonesian fregate 'Rem' detected a large echo with its sonar which was moving in a water depth between 50 and 100 meters with a speed of 2,5 knots, but the contact got lost, before an identification became possible. The 'Swift Rescue', sent from Singapore, was expected in the area on April 25. Also the submarine hunter 'Kapitan Pattimura' paticipated in the operation, the former 'Prenzlau' of the GDR Navy. Neither an explosion nor the sounds of a bursting hull were remarked. The oxygen aboard the uboat could last until the weekend.