Underwater Vertical Current Suspected Behind Naval Submarine Tragedy

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff assistant Rear Admiral Muhammad Ali said that nature may have had a role in the sinking of the naval submarine KRI Nanggala 402 and mentioned underwater currents as a possible cause of the tragedy. 

He asserted on Tuesday that underwater currents are extremely influential in a naval submarine’s submerging procedure which is why Navy submarine crewmen always follow established guidelines prior to a mission. 

“There are what are called internal solitary waves that according to oceanographers are strong underwater vertical currents [that causes submarines to sink] at a faster rate than normal. This must be watched for,” said the navy officer on April 27.

Echoing Ali’s assessment, commander of the Naval Staff and Command School Rear Admiral Iwan Isnurwanto said the northern part of Bali strait has shown internal wave activities which is based on satellite observations from Japan’s Himawari-8 and Europe’s Sentinel on April 21 or 20 UTC.

Iwan made it clear that getting caught in an internal wave would render the navy crewmen helpless despite already being in their stationed posts. “Then it would be nature’s will,” he said 

The naval submarine KRI Nanggala 402 lost contact on Wednesday, April 21, in the Bali strait as it was undergoing a torpedo drill. It was only confirmed three days after that the German-built submarine had sunk. 53 crewmen were officially deemed dead one day after. 

KRI Nanggala’s fuselage was found by an ROV separated into three pieces at the depth of 838 meters on the ocean floor. 

Read: Indonesian Navy to Evacuate Sunken KRI Nanggala-402 Submarine

FRISKI RIANA