SAS Assegaai

SAS Assegaai, (formally SAS Johanna van der Merwe) was a Daphné-class submarine, decommissioned in 2003.

She was originally launched on the 21st of July 1970 and operated out of Toulon before sailing home and arriving in Simon's Town on the 19th June 1972.

SAS Johanna van der Merwe was deployed into Angolan waters in Operation Yskas to prep for the evacuation of SA military personnel. She took part in approx 10 special operations.

She underwent 4 refits, additional fuel tanks, fitment of locally developed RAKA combat suite, which replaced the plotting table. She then received the SA developed NICKLES fully integrated software based combat suite, and 2x state of the art rebuilt periscopes.

Sadly, the SAS Assegaai was closed for tours on the 3rd of August 2015.

There is currently a feasibility study underway regarding the future placement of the SAS Assegaai on land, as a museum.

Image Credit: F. Ahmed
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAS_Assegaai