KD Pendekar among 3 navy vessels decommissioned today
PETALING JAYA : The navy today decommissioned a ship that sank off the coast of Johor after it hit an underwater object in August last year.
KD Pendekar was one of three vessels formally decommissioned in a ceremony officiated by navy chief Zulhelmy Ithnain at the naval base in Lumut, Perak.
The other two vessels, KD Laksamana Tun Abdul Jamil and KD Laksamana Tan Pusmah, were also retired from active service, the navy said in a Facebook post.
It added that the decommissioning of the three vessels is part of a broader fleet modernisation initiative under the #15to5 transformation plan.
On Aug 25, 2024, the KD Pendekar was reported to have struck a submerged object and started flooding before it sank in the South China Sea two nautical miles southeast of Tanjung Penyusop, in Kota Tinggi, Johor on the same day.
Three days later, a navy crew member was reported to have died while trying to recover the wreckage of KD Pendekar.
The vessel was successfully refloated in October 2024 through a salvage operation that was completed despite facing several challenges.
A special investigation board set up to determine the cause of the incident found that KD Pendekar's sinking was due to a navigational error and the vessel's advanced age.
The navy today said that with a total sailing distance of 820,077.64 nautical miles, the KD Pendekar ranks among the most extensively deployed assets in its history. It is part of the navy's first fast attack craft squadron and was commissioned in 1979.
KD Laksamana Tun Abdul Jamil, a corvette-class warship built in 1982, was acquired by Malaysia in 1995 and commissioned in 1997. Its sister ship, KD Laksamana Tan Pusmah, entered service in 1999 and has logged 315,907.6 nautical miles.
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