| Career (South Africa) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | SAS Spear, ex Maria van Riebeeck |
| Operator: | South African Navy |
| Builder: | Dubigeon-Normandy shipyard, Nantes |
| Launched: | 18 March 1976 |
| Christened: | Maria van Riebeeck, S97 |
| Homeport: | Simon's Town |
| Status: | Scrapped |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Daphné-class submarine |
| Displacement: | 860 tons surface, 700 tons standard, 1034 tons submerged |
| Length: | 57.8 m (190 ft) |
| Beam: | 6.75 m (22.1 ft) |
| Draught: | 5.23 m (17.2 ft) |
| Installed power: | 2 SEMTPielstick 450kW diesel generators, 2 × 80 cell batteries |
| Propulsion: | 2 Jeumont-Schneider elect propulsion motors |
| Speed: | 13.5 knots (25 km/h)surface, 16 knots (30 km/h)submerged |
| Range: | 4,300 nautical miles (8,000 km) at 7.5 knots (13.9 km/h) snorting, 2,700 nautical miles (5,000 km) at 12.5 knots (23.2 km/h) surface |
| Complement: | 6 Officers and 45 Ratings, and 6 to 10 trainees |
| Armament: | 12×550mm torpedos, 8 Forward and 4 Aft |
The SAS Spear (S97), formerly known as the SAS Maria van Riebeeck, was a Daphné-class submarine of the South African Navy (SAN). It was the SAN's first submarine. It was decommissioned in 2003 and subsequently scrapped.[1]
In 1967, after nearly two years of negotiations, an order was placed with the French Government for three Daphné class submarines. The first of these submarines was the SAS Maria van Riebeek. It was launched on 18 March 1976 - the date marks the birth of the SAN's submarine service.