The first of three new submarines for the South African Navy sailed into Simonstown harbour on Friday morning after a 49-day journey from Germany.

In welcoming the crew back home, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said the marathon passage from Germany “proved the navy’s capability and readiness to operate these submarines on such long deployments and to support them over these huge distances”.

The three submarines are part of the controversial multibillion-rand strategic defence package that included four frigates, which have all been delivered and will soon be equipped with guided missiles.

The delivery of the submarines will mean SA will have the capability to patrol and fight beneath the sea. These abilities were lost when the last of the three French-made Daphne class submarines were decommissioned in 2003.

The acquisition of the Type 209s means, in the words of a South African admiral, “every navy traversing the Cape sea route will have to salute”.

The Type 209s, which has eight torpedo tubes, is able to carry 14 torpedoes on board and can fire missiles and lay mines. It will carry about half the crew of the Daphne class submarines and has a state-of-the-art system for controlling the weapons.

At the quayside to welcome the crew were their families, the navy band, senior navy officials and Lekota. Ten-year-old Kim Harrison, the daughter of a crew member, held a banner she had made reading: “Welcome Daddies.”

At the arrival ceremony the submarine was named SAS Manthatisi. A defence ministry brief described Manthatisi as “the Warrior Queen of the Batlokwa” who “gallantly led and defended her people for the better part of the 19th century”. During the Difaqane (1821-1824) she led the Batlokwa, who defeated a number of smaller tribes.

The AmaZulu, AmaNdebele and Basotho also established a broader base of power through the military defeat of smaller tribes during this period.

Manthatisi was herself defeated in 1824 at Kuruman by Griqua leader Waterboer, who had the technological advantage of horses and rifles, and settled near what is today Ficksburg in Free State.

SA’s second new submarine will begin deep-water sea trials in Norwegian waters this weekend. It will be handed to SA in September.

With acknowledgement to Jonathan Katzenellenbogen and Business Day Weekender.