This viewpoint on Runciman drive affords a view
of the Naval base at Simon's Town and in particular the submarines
which facinate me. I often come up here to see what is happening
there and today I was rewarded with a good view of the one
submarine out in drydock. Like an iceberg one can clearly see it is
the bulk that always remains invisible even when it is cruising on
the surface.
The submarine in this pic is one of the Type
209 Submarines and the story of her purchase, naming and arrival is
as follows:
Amid great fanfare, the first of the Navy's three new Type 209
(Class 1400MOD (SA)) (SSK) submarines arrived in Simon's Town on 7
April 2006.
S101 had completed a marathon passage from the Kiel shipyard in
Germany, via Norway, under the command and control of SA Navy
personnel. Part of this passage was also completed alone when SAS
Drakensberg, her former escort, was rerouted to France to bring
back a rotor for the Koeberg nuclear power station. SAS Amatola
(F145) subsequently took over the escort role. S101 was at sea for
49 days in which she covered over 6 600 nautical miles.
Speaking at the welcome ceremony, Minister of Defence Mosiuoa
Lekota stated that as this year is the 50th anniversary of the
Women's March against pass laws in 1956, Cabinet had decided that
the new submarines would be named after heroines of South Africa.
Thus S101 was named ''SAS Manthatisi''. Chieftainess Manthatisi was
a fighter of the Batlokwa clan who led 25 000 warriors to defend
her tribe in the 1820s, all the while exterminating lesser
tribes