PC Sri Sabah at Mawilla 1

PC Sri Sabah - pennant number 46 - as she arrives at Mawilla 1 jetty on November 16 2023. RMN

SHAH ALAM: Some four weeks after its delivery to the RMN, PC Sri Sabah – pennant number 46 – has moved to the RMN base at Kuantan port, the Regional Headquarters 1 or Markas Wilayah 1. The arrival of Sri Sabah was made public on Mawilla 1 X account (formerly Twitter) on November 16.


PC Sri Sabah/Ex-Sundang – pennant number 46 at the delivery ceremony. Behind her is ex-Panah -pennant number 48. RMN

It is likely Sri Sabah will remain at Mawilla 1 until her sister ship, PC Sri Sarawak which is undergoing the OP Plus at the MSET Shipyard in Kuala Terengganu is ready for service. Both patrol vessels are to be stationed at the RMN Sandakan base, known by the service as Regional Headquarters 2 or Mawilla 2 once commissioned into service. Mawilla 3 is located in Langkawi.
The greeting party for PC Sri Sabah. RMN.

Originally, both were supposed to be in Sandakan by mid-2022 but its better late than never. From the pictures, Sri Sabah certainly looked similar to KD Sri Perlis and KD Sri Johor which had undergone the OP Plus work in Sabah.
The crew of Sri Sabah with the Mawilla 1 counterparts posed for a group photograph. RMN.

The pictures also revealed that the Sri Sabah is fitted with four machine guns mount aft of the bridge. Her Y gun has been removed.
Ex-Pengawal 43 undergoing refit work on the jetty as PC Sri Sabah prepared to berth at Mawilla 1 jetty.

The arrival of Sri Sabah also afforded us a glimpse of ex-Pengawal 43 undergoing refit work before being put back into service with RMN (see above).
PC Sri Sabah when she was operating as KM Kukup with the MMEA. Malaysian Defence picture.

— Malaysian Defence.

If you like this post, buy me an espresso. Paypal Payment

Share
About Marhalim Abas 2327 Articles
Shah Alam

12 Comments

  1. Anyone knows what the former KD Serempang was named in MMEA service?

    Also at this time of the year I’ll be surprised if the PCs can actually put to sea at Tanjung Gelang. Same issues faced with the FACs during monsoon. The base has a L shape breakwater.

  2. KM kukup is ex panah, so it is not sri sabah.

    Pennant number 46 was previously the pennant number for KD Rentaka. So this is the first time in TLDM history that the same pennant is used by 2 different hulls of the same type (previously KD Rentaka but now ex Sundang/ Sri Sabah).

    ex sundang also one of the first ship to be renamed to its former shipmates. Original Sri Sabah was also a vosper, but scrapped.

    KD Serampang, badly burned during a refit in early 2000s (exactly 5 days before KD Sri Inderapura also burned) , never repaired and quietly scrapped. Probably everyone at the time was very busy with KD Sri Inderapura inquiry that KD Serampang loss to the same cause was forgotten. Ironically PUSMAS remarked that it was passed to APMM, while there is zero mention of it being in service with APMM itself.

  3. … – “Original Sri Sabah was also a vosper, but scrapped.”

    The lead ship of the so called “Sabah” class which together with the “Kedah” and “Kris” class were collectively designated “Patrol Craft”. All constructed by Vosper; all sharing a same design but incorporating minor changes.

    First ordered when Robert Thompson was the Defence Secretary [the 1st in the post Merdeka period]. He incidentally was a counter insurgency expert; was in Malaya in the pre war period and later went to South Vietnam on an advisory role. Wrote a couple of books.

  4. KD Panah became KM Kukup and then KD Sri Sabah.
    KD Sundang became KM Segantang and then KD Sri Sarawak.

    This sound right?

  5. … – ”KD Serampang, badly burned ”

    Didn’t know that; thank you.

    Was she damaged in a fire before she was handed over the MMEA or after she had officially been handed but not yet declared operational?

  6. KD Serampang burned down in Dec 2002, same time when KD Sri Inderapura on fire for the first time (2nd time and full loss was in 2009)

    Its sisterships passed to APMM in 2006.

    APMM only received 15 vospers, and KD Serampang is not one of them.

  7. KD Sundang 36 – KM Segantang 3133 – KD Sri Sabah 46

    KD Panah 42 – KM Kukup 3135 – KD Sri Sarawak 49

    Original KD Sri Sabah 3144 – KM Labas 3137 – scrapped

    Original KD Sri Sarawak 3145 – KM Sipadan 3131 – sunk as reef off tioman.

  8. … – “APMM only received 15 vospers, and KD Serampang is not one of them”

    Alright. Hence my original question of whether the fire occurred before she was transferred or after she was transferred but before she became an operational asset.

    The irony is that along with the Marikhs the RMN was more than happy to get rid of the PCs [which the MMEA didn’t want but didn’t have a choice] but at a later stage accepted a pair back. into service.

  9. While we still at it,our southern neighbour just added another four opv from fassmer to replace their sentinel ships.No talking just doing boom another four in the bag..Here we still arguing about old ships,roro,kedah upgrade..Why dont they just sign that contract already or its all just politic talks?..Their sentinels ( ex fearless ) is not that old compared to our almost half a century ships btw.Oh in the meantime they are ready to upgrade their already potent formidable frigates to a whole new level while our LCS will only show their face next year (if we are lucky)

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*