South African Navy Takes Delivery of Third U209 Class Submarine

Released on Thursday, January 31, 2008

On January 30, 2008 the South African Navy took over command of "SAS Queen Modjadji", the third and last of three Class 209/1400mod sub�marines. The delivery of the three submarines was part of a large-scale programme to modernise the South African Navy. The boat was handed over after the successful completion of all necessary sea trials at Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft GmbH (HDW) in Kiel, a company of ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems.

The "SAS Queen Modjadji" is expected to leave for South Africa on April 2, where she is due to arrive on May 22. The official commissioning ceremony will take place at a later date, still to be defined, after the submarine has arrived in her new home port of Simon's Town in South Africa. There the submarine will be united with her two sister ships, "SAS Manthatisi" and "SAS Charlotte Maxeke", which have already been successfully performing in the service of the South African Navy since September 2005 and November 2006 respectively. The delivery of the "SAS Queen Modjadji" marks the end of another successful submarine project for the shipbuilders of HDW and Nordseewerke GmbH (Emden), both companies within ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems. The three submarines for the South African Navy represent the most modern version of the diesel-electric propelled Class 209/1400mod, which has been successfully built for export for many years by a German consortium.