South Africa’s submarines weren’t only about stealth patrols. They also played a quiet but crucial role in supporting the 4 Reconnaissance Commando, the special forces unit trained for seaborne operations.
The SAS Johanna van der Merwe (S99), later renamed SAS Assegaai, was one of the boats used to insert and extract operators along remote coastlines. These missions required precision, discipline, and trust between the Navy’s submarine crews and the Recces who relied on them.
4 Recce specialised in amphibious warfare, combat diving, and clandestine reconnaissance. Their cooperation with the submarine arm gave South Africa a capability few other African nations possessed at the time, the ability to project special forces covertly from the sea.