RSS Tenacious snags power cable in Darwin

The Singaporean Navy stealth frigate Tenacious (FFS 71) is said to have damaged an undersea power cable off Darwin while retrieving its bow anchor in Australia's Northern Territory.

Awaiting official announcement on the Singapore Ministry of Defence webpage.

At the most basic level, the first news release should state simply what happened. Factoids on why it occurred, how it took place, who was in charge are premature and speculative at this juncture, pending a full and thorough investigation. If we wait for all the pieces to fall into place before a statement is issued, that could take weeks. My 2 cents.

Note: Warships at anchor are usually given precise coordinates to drop anchor. At least that's what I observed on my embed aboard USS Russell some years back (my only at-sea embed that didn't see the host vessel come alongside. OFE doesn't count.). The Russell's NO said the anchor detail took immense pride in hitting the exact spot as closely as possible when we arrived in Phuket.

Source: ABC
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/12/3009380.htm?site=darwin§ion=news

Posted September 12, 2010 12:37:00

Singapore's ministry of defence says it will cooperate with investigations into how one of its navy vessels snagged an underwater power cable in Darwin.

Singapore navy vessel RSS Tenacious was anchored in Darwin Harbour for Exercise Singaroo 2010.

A statement from the defence ministry says the ship was told it was anchored too close to underwater cables and it should relocate.

But when crew members attempted to pull up the anchor it snagged a 66,000-volt power cable and raised it 30 metres from the seabed.

The Power and Water Corporation says it may be some days before the extent of the damage to the cable is known, but has indicated there may be an expensive repair bill.

The harbour master is investigating the incident, which he says happened in a clearly marked "no anchor" area.

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