SAS ''Mendi'' (F148) is the last of four s built for the

South African Navy The South African Navy (SA Navy) is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force. The Navy is primarily engaged in maintaining a conventional military deterrent, participating in counter-piracy operations, fishery prot ...

by the European South African Corvette Consortium and entered service in March 2007. SAS ''Mendi'' was named by Mrs Helena Retief, wife of the (then) Chief of the Navy Vice Admiral Johan Retief.

Construction

''Mendi'', as with all the Valour-class vessels, was manufactured by the European South African Corvette Consortium (ESACC), consisting of the German Frigate Consortium (Blohm+Voss, Thyssen Rheinstahl and Howaldtswerke Deutsche Werf), African Defence Systems (part of the French

Thales Thales of Miletus ( ; grc-gre, Θαλῆς; ) was a Greek mathematician, astronomer, statesman, and pre-Socratic philosopher from Miletus in Ionia, Asia Minor. He was one of the Seven Sages of Greece. Many, most notably Aristotle, regarded him ...

defence group) and a number of South African companies. The ships were built to the

MEKO The MEKO family of warships was developed by the German company Blohm+Voss. MEKO is a registered trademark. The portmanteau stands for "''Mehrzweck-Kombination''" (English: multi-purpose-combination). It is a concept in modern naval shipbuilding b ...

modular design concept, and are designated by the manufacturer as the MEKO A-200SAN class. Some controversy exists as to the class type of the vessel, with both the manufacturer and the South African Navy referring to her as a "

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

", but other similar vessels in other navies being referred to as frigates. SAS ''Mendi'' was built at the

Howaldtswerke Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft (often abbreviated HDW) is a German shipbuilding company, headquartered in Kiel. It is part of the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems (TKMS) group, owned by ThyssenKrupp. The Howaldtswerke shipyard was founded in Kiel in 18 ...

-Deutsche Werft shipyards in

Kiel Kiel () is the capital and most populous city in the northern Germany, German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 246,243 (2021). Kiel lies approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the southeast of the J ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, and arrived in South Africa on 20 September 2004.

Namesake

As with all the other ships of the Valour class, ''Mendi'' is named after a famous South African battle or instance of great valour. In this case the sinking of SS ''Mendi'' in the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. On the 23 August 2004, en route from the shipyards to South Africa, SAS ''Mendi'' and , a

Type 42 destroyer The Type 42 or ''Sheffield'' class, was a class of fourteen guided-missile destroyers that served in the Royal Navy.Marriott, Leo: ''Royal Navy Destroyers since 1945'', , Ian Allan Ltd, 1989 A further two ships of this class were built for and s ...

, met at the site where sank and lay wreaths in remembrance of those who died in service for their country

Notable deployments

*A deployment to Brazil and Ghana from Aug to Sep 2007 *Operation Boniso 2004 *Operational Sea Training Phase training with the German Navy *Exercising with the off Cape Point *Conducted

Exocet The Exocet () is a French-built anti-ship missile whose various versions can be launched from surface vessels, submarines, helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft. Etymology The missile's name was given by M. Guillot, then the technical director ...

MM 40 missile firings with in 2007 *Exercise Red Lion *Exercised with off Cape Town *On 5 September 2008 ''Mendi'' led seven of the South African Navy's newest vessels in a Presidential Fleet Review, the first to be held in South Africa since the 75th anniversary of the Navy in 1997. *Since 2011, SAS ''Mendi'' has intermittently been deployed on anti-piracy operations in the

Mozambique Channel The Mozambique Channel (french: Canal du Mozambique, mg, Lakandranon'i Mozambika, pt, Canal de Moçambique) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about long ...

as part of Operation Copper. All four Valour-class frigates, SAS ''Drakensberg'', and two of the SAN's

offshore patrol vessel A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval ship, naval vessel generally designed for Coastal defence and fortification, coastal defence, Border control, border security, or law ...

s (OPVs) have intermittently spent time on station since the operation began.

Repair and return to operational status

As of 2021 SAS ''Mendi'' was reported to be in reasonable shape and was being brought back to operational status through a staged maintenance and repair program. However, it was also reported that there still remained: "much work ahead. As long dormant systems are used again, small kinks and issues will show and must be ironed out”.

References

External links

Photos of F148
at

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Mendi Ships built in Kiel Valour-class frigates 2003 ships Frigates of the South African Navy Military units and formations in Cape Town