SAS Assegaai

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The SAS Assegaai, formerly known as the SAS Johanna van der Merwe, was a Daphné Class submarine of the South African Navy. Decommissioned in 2003, the SAS Assegaai is the only one of the former 3 Daphné Class submarines to have been retained for preservation as a museum boat, the other two have been cut up and sold for scrap. The Daphné class submarines have since been replaced by the Type 209, or Heroine Class submarines.

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SAS Assegaai at sea

Short history of South Africa's Daphné Class submarines

On 10 February 1967, after nearly two years of negotiations, an order was placed with the French Government to provide three Daphné Class submarines in addition to providing the training and infrastructure to run and maintain them. The first of these submarines, the SAS Maria van Riebeek, S97, was launched on 18 March 1976 - the date accepted as being the birth of the SAN's submarine service. The second boat was the SAS Emily Hobouse, S98, and the last of the three, the SAS Johanna van der Merwe, S99. In 1999 the three boats were renamed Spear, Umkhonto and Assegaai respectively. In 2003, the SAS Spear was cut up for scrap, followed by the SAS Umkhonto in 2008.

History of the SAS Johanna van der Merwe/Assegaai

Laid down at the Dubigeon-Normandy shiyard in Nantes on 24 April 1969, she was the launched on 21 July 1970. Commissioned under command of Lt Cdr The Honiball on 21 August 1971, she completed her workup training in the Mediterranean, operating out of Toulon, before sailing for home on 4 May 1972. During the long passage, she was escorted by the frigate SAS President Steyn, and called at Cadiz, São Vicente, Luanda and Walvis Bay, before arriving in Simon's Town on 19 June 1972. Her arrival in South Africa marked the successful culmination of five years of construction, trials and training to establish South Africa's first ever submarine capability. It was not long before the submarines were involved in operations, and in 1975, just before operation SAVANNAH, the SAS Johanna van der Merwe was deployed into Angolan waters under operation YSKAS to prepare for the evacuation of SA military personnel. During the so-called Border War, she took part in some ten clandestine special operations. During her career, she underwent four refits, which included installing additional fuel tanks, and the fitting of a locally developed RAKA combat suite in the 80s, which replaced a cumbersome plotting table. In the late 90s she received the South African developed NICKLES fully integrated software based combat suite and two state of the art rebuilt periscopes. With the acquisition of the new Type 209 submarines for the SA Navy, SAS Assegaai finally paid of on 23 November 2003.

The SAS Assegaai as a museum boat

In addition to the SAS Somerset, moored in the V&A Waterfront and run by Iziko Musuems of Cape Town, the SAS Assegaai will be the first and thus far only former SA Navy vessel to have been converted into a museum ship that is stationed in Simon's Town. A project that has been spearheaded by the South African Naval Heritage Trust, the SAS Assegaai will in future be part of the South African Naval Museum. The SAS Assegaai is currently moored in Simon's Town and is open to the public for guided tours by former submariners who have served on the Daphné class submarines.

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