HMS Thames just after launching |
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| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Class and type: | Mersey-class second class cruiser |
| Name: | HMS Thames |
| Namesake: | River Thames |
| Builder: | Pembroke Dockyard |
| Laid down: | 1884 |
| Launched: | 3 December 1885 |
| Commissioned: | 1888 |
| Reclassified: | Submarine depot ship, 1903 |
| Homeport: | Harwich |
| Fate: | Sold 1920 |
| Career (South Africa) | |
| Name: | SATS General Botha |
| Namesake: | Louis Botha |
| Christened: | 1 April 1922 |
| Acquired: | November 1920 |
| Commissioned: | March 1922 |
| Decommissioned: | 1942 |
| Renamed: | Thames, 1942 |
| Reclassified: | Training ship, 1922 Accommodation ship, 1942 |
| Homeport: | Simonstown |
| Fate: | Scuttled on 13 May 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement: | 4,050 tons |
| Length: | 315 ft (96 m) |
| Beam: | 46 ft (14 m) |
| Draught: | 19 ft (6 m) |
| Propulsion: | Coal fired boilers, reciprocating steam engines, twin shaft |
| Speed: | 17 knots (31 km/h) |
| Range: | 6,500nm at 12.00 knots |
| Complement: | 10 officers and 290 ratings |
| Armament: |
As cruiser: |
| Armour: | 2.00" |
HMS Thames was a Mersey class second class protected cruiser of the Royal Navy. She later served in the South African Navy under the name SATS General Botha as a training vessel.
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The ship did not see any action as a cruiser, and in 1903, was converted to a submarine depot ship.
She was sold to the Jersey-born South African entrepreneur TB Davis, who purchased the ship in November 1920 as a memory to his son who died during World War I. He donated it to a trust, with the stipulation that it be used exclusively for the nautical training of British and South African boys, so that they could subsequently serve in ships of the British Empire.
HMS Thames was renamed South African Training Ship (SATS) General Botha. She directly contributed to the establishment of the South African Navy.[1] and was based at the Simonstown naval base.
From 1942, she served as an accommodation ship, once again under the name Thames, before finally being scuttled on 13 May 1947 in False Bay. There exists an alumni association for those who served aboard the General Botha, which has the Duke of Edinburgh as her patron.[2]
The South African Naval Museum in Simonstown has an exhibition dedicated to the ship.
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