MV SAS Assegaai (S99)

Laid down in 1969 at the Dubigeon-Normandie shipyard in France, SAS Assegaai was one of the first submarines to serve in the South African Navy. She was launched in July 1970 and commissioned in August 1971, then spent much of her career based at Simon’s Town. During the South African Border War, the submarine took part in clandestine operations, including a 1975 deployment to Angolan waters. She underwent several refits to add fuel capacity and upgrade combat systems during the 1980s and 1990s. Renamed from SAS Johanna van der Merwe to SAS Assegaai in the late 1990s, she was decommissioned in November 2003. In 2010 the vessel was preserved as the Assegaai Submarine Museum. After restoration efforts, she was moved to a permanent display at the Simon’s Town Naval Museum in July 2024. The submarine is about 57.8 meters long with a 6.75 m beam, displacing roughly 860 tons on the surface (1034 tons submerged). It carried a crew of about 51 (6 officers and 45 enlisted) and was armed with 12 torpedoes; it had a range of roughly 4,300 nautical miles at snorkel speed.