Part of Naval Base (NB) Simon’s Town’s Cole Point parking area will in the next fortnight bear testimony to the proverb “where there’s a will, there’s a way” when SAS Assegaai (S99) opens for visitors – the second time around.
The Daphne Class French-built submarine was “docked” for the last time in July and subjected to all manner of verbal abuse accompanied by much sweat and tears as volunteers worked to make her shipshape for visitors to what is South Africa’s and Africa’s only submarine museum.
The hull, according to retired one-star admiral Arne Soderland, an integral member of the Assegaai team, is “looking magnificent” thanks to a liberal application of black paint. At the same time any number of Assegaai volunteers ensured access doors – submarine hatches are not visitor friendly – and stairs are in position. With cabling connected, interior lighting and ventilation is just about reality.
Outside the gleaming black hull, the public area has been landscaped with trees, a pergola and a mural adding value to the site.
Soderland reports renovations are “just about complete” with a handover by the Assegaai project team to the SA Navy (SAN) – the underwater craft remains the property of Vice Admiral Monde Lobese’s service and is on the SA Naval Museum register – and the Naval Heritage Trust (NHT). It and its associated society was established in 1994 by a group of people adamant that South Africa’s naval heritage not be lost due to a lack of interest.
Further ensuring the survival the Daphne Class submarine as one component of a proud naval heritage, the NHT registered Assegaai Management NPC as a non-profit company. A manager was appointed and a trial opening is planned for 16 December to test procedures. Development of volunteer guides will also feature on the public holiday trial which Soderland emphasises will be “a low-key event” and learning process as Assegaai is set to handle 40 visitors an hour in groups of 10 to make the experience more rewarding.
Starting early in the new year, the Assegaai project team will embark on another round of fundraising, establish and ensure procedures for visitors and guides work, as was done in 2011 when the submarine was alongside, before embarking on planning a formal opening.
Assegaai was named SAS Johanna van der Merwe when acquired along with two other Daphne Class boats in the early 1970s. They were SAS Maria van Riebeeck (S97), later renamed SAS Spear, and SAS Emily Hobhouse (S98), which became SAS Umkhonto. The submarines formed the Spear Class ahead of the arrival of the Type 209 diesel electric submarines that form the current Heroine Class.
Preserving a submarine first came to the minds of some old salts late in 2003 when Assegaai was decommissioned. It was approved by SAN management two years later when she was taken off the disposal list which saw her sister boats sold and cut up for scrap.
Assegaai served as a museum from 2010 to 2015, docked alongside the outer wall of Simon’s Town harbour. When the submarine was taken out of the water in 2015 and placed on the synchrolift inside the harbour, deterioration on the outer hull was apparent. The interior remained well-maintained and a permanent solution was needed to keep the submarine out of the water while maintaining accessibility. She was then closed to visitors.
The NHT and a volunteer “crew” went fundraising and kept on liaising and planning with Naval Museum personnel to keep the Assegaai museum dream alive.
A big step in the right direction came on 17 July this year when Assegaai was finally prepped for her final 350 metre transit above sea to the Cole Point parking area. Since then it’s been the proverbial blood, sweat and tears for volunteers who set themselves a December opening target to show more of South Africa’s naval heritage to holiday visitors and tourists.
Mission has been partially achieved by a team which originally had retired rear admiral Hanno Teuteberg at the helm with Digby Thomson, also retired but as a junior grade admiral as – in his own words – “the general dogsbody” as well as Kevin Watson and Soderland who exited the naval service as junior grade admirals, and four-ringer John Lamont. Another who has a long involvement with the Assegaai submarine museum is Commander Leon Steyn, Office in Charge, SA Naval Museum.
Others, including a former dockyard general manager as well as a number of retired SAN officers, gave freely of their time and knowledge before moving on.
Last word on people involvement comes from Thomson. He told defenceWeb: “There have obviously been many others who directly contributed to the project either through donations, assistance with work, loan of equipment, donations of materials and labour and other requirements, not to mention moral support, to get the submarine to a state in which she can be presented to the general public”.
