SAS President Steyn
History | |
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South Africa | |
Name | President Steyn |
Namesake | Martinus Theunis Steyn |
Ordered | 18 September 1957 |
Builder | |
Laid down | 20 May 1960 |
Launched | 23 November 1961 |
Commissioned | 8 April 1963 |
Identification | Pennant number: F147 |
Nickname(s) | 'PS' |
Fate | Sunk as target, 29 April 1991 |
General characteristics (as built) | |
Class and type | President-class frigate |
Displacement |
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Length | 370 ft 0 in (112.78 m) |
Beam | 41 ft 0 in (12.5 m) |
Draught | 17 ft 6 in (5.33 m) (deep load) |
Installed power |
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Propulsion |
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Speed | 30 knots (56 km/h; 35 mph) |
Range | 4,500 nmi (8,300 km; 5,200 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph) |
Complement | 214 |
Sensors and processing systems |
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Armament |
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SAS President Steyn was the second of three President-class Type 12 frigates built in the United Kingdom for the South African Navy (SAN) to use during the 1960s. The ship spent most of her career training and made many visits to foreign ports in Africa, Western Europe and Australia. In the late 1960s, she was modernized and equipped to operate a helicopter. In the mid-1970s, President Steyn played a minor role in the Angolan Civil War as a part of South African operations against the communists. The ship was withdrawn from service in 1980 and was sunk as a target in 1991. This happened after financial problems prevented her from being reactivated.
Description
The President-class ships displaced 2,170 long tons (2,200 t) at
The Presidents were armed with one twin-gun mount for
By the mid-1960s, it was obvious that the sonars of the President class were capable of detecting submarines well outside the range of the Limbo anti-submarine mortars and the South Africans decided to follow the lead of the
Construction and career
Three President-class frigates were ordered by the South African Navy in the late 1950s following the
President Steyn arrived in Simon's Town on 13 September and all three of the Presidents were assigned to the 10th Frigate Flotilla. They participated in Capex 63 training exercise with British and French warships[1]: 226 in July–August 1963, but only President Steyn and her sister President Pretorius participated in Capex 64 the following year. In 1965 the Royal Navy decided to reduce Capex to a weapons training period with only RN and SAN units participating, presumably to reduce the profile of cooperating with the apartheid government of South Africa. On 7 October 1968, the 10th Frigate Flotilla, now consisting of President Steyn, President Pretorius and the replenishment oiler Tafelberg, departed Simon's Town for Australia and arrived in Fremantle on the 23rd. They continued onwards to Sydney and then participated in the Remembrance Day ceremony in Melbourne on 11 November. The flotilla departed three days later, bound for home, but they were forced to put into Freemantle when a pump in President Pretorius burnt out en route. The ships finally reached home on 3 December.[3]: 109, 114, 120–22 President Steyn began her modernisation the following year on 5 August 1969 and was recommissioned in May 1971.[1]: 227
Several months later, the ship departed Simon's Town on 1 September to escort the newly completed, French-built submarine
President Steyn played a minor role in
She briefly served as a barracks ship before all of the useful equipment and machinery was stripped from her and the navy planned to use her as a target for
References
- ^ ISBN 1-874800-50-2.
- ISBN 0-7110-1322-5.
- ^ ISBN 1-920169-02-4.