Sometimes in our life, we maybe dreaming of being on the naval ship and experience it ourselves but not many of us have the chance to do so especially when at overseas. However on 15th April 2008, it is like having a dream come true. On that day, we have had the opportunity to visit the Royal Malaysia Naval Ship, known as KD Sri Inderapura which is one of the best that Royal Malaysia Navy had. According to their itinerary, this ship travel all the way from Lumut, Perak on a mission that is not being disclosed for security reason. However we feel honoured that they did spent their time and commitment to meet Malaysians at Auckland despite their pack schedule.
On that day, the weather was not very good, it was gloomy and raining but that did not stop us from visiting the ship which is located at New Zealand Navy Base in Devonport. About 85 peoples joined the visit which includes undergraduate students and postgraduate students together with their families. All the plans arranged on that day worked well and according to its time. The students who went there by bus gathered at University of Auckland’s General Library at around 7.45am. The trip took about 45 minutes to arrive at the navy base and the program started at around 9.3-am. We spent about 3 hours there doing various activities, listening to the talk given by them, walking around the ship and chatting with the ship officers and crews and exchanging experience and knowledge. We also had the chance to taste the Malaysian style fried noodles cooked by the ship chefs and the food was very delicious. With all these activities, 3 hours is not a long time and at 12.30pm we took our bus back to university. We arrived at the university around 1.30pm marking the end of our trip.
The purpose of the visit is to meet the Royal Malaysia Navy Officers as well as visiting the ship and learning about their life and daily operation on the ship. They were very friendly and allowed us to visit the main parts of the ship such as the main decks, cargo part, crew dining room and kitchen as well as the operation centre. At the operation centre, we are being exposed with all the equipments together with their respective functions. We also able to see a demonstration on how information is being transmitted from one crew at the side of the ship to the operation centre at the middle of the ship and also how to identify type of ship at night. Besides that, we were told about the specific duty assigned to officer and crew. There is a mailing officer who in charge of all the mails sent out or received by the ship and also the chartman who in charge of preparing the chart for their next journey. One of the facts about the ship that really amazed us is the cargo part of the ship which can accommodate around 24 tanks or 20 buses at a time. This clearly indicates how big the ship is. It is not surprise that this ship required around 20 officers and 250 crews to operate and handle it.
Overall the trip was a very good experience for all of us who joined it. Despite the bad weather but we enjoyed our day there and are looking forward for next trip.
