Africa’s only submarine museum finally comes ashore
August 15, 2023By Seawork Press FP
Damen Shipyards
Share this article
Nearly eight years since it was closed to visitors, South Africa’s famous submarine museum is coming ashore thanks to two specially constructed cradles from shipbuilder Damen Shipyards Cape Town (DSCT).
The two cradles, each 3.6m long x 9.1m wide, weigh 7 tonnes and were built using steel salvaged from old Damen ship transport cradles. DSCT has donated the cradles. On August the cradles were officially handed over to the Chief of the South African Navy Vice Admiral Monde Lobese. At the same ceremony Vice Admiral Lobese also handed over certificates of appreciation to the DSCT employees who worked on the cradle construction.
The Assegai Submarine Museum is the last remaining of three French-built Daphné Class submarines operated by the South African Navy during the 70s, 80s and part of the 90s and successfully operated as a museum from 2008 to 2015 with the vessel lying alongside the outer wall of the Simon’s Town harbour. After 2015, the vessel required external maintenance and was kept on the synchro lift inside the harbour. The Museum has been closed since then.
Speaking at the unveiling of the cradles and submarine in Cape Town Vice on Monday Admiral Lobese said: “Today we also celebrate the hard work, dedication, perseverance and never-give-up attitude of a handful of volunteers who absolutely refused to give up on their dream. That dream was to make sure that we as the South African Navy, can have the first – and only – submarine museum on the African continent. Once the Assegaai Museum is in place, she will be the 125th museum submarine in the world, but only the 7th in the Southern Hemisphere and the first one in Africa! This is indeed a noteworthy accomplishment.”
