SAS Mendi (F148)

SAS Mendi
History
South Africa
Name:	SAS Mendi
Namesake:	SS Mendi
Operator:	South African Navy
Ordered:	3 December 1999
Builder:	Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft, Kiel
Laid down:	28 June 2002
Launched:	October 2003
Christened:	Mendi, F148
Commissioned:	20 March 2007
Homeport:	Simonstown
Status:	Active service
General characteristics
Class and type:	Valour-class frigate
Displacement:	3700 tons
Length:	121 m (397 ft)
Beam:	16.34 m (53.6 ft)
Draught:	5.95 m (19.5 ft)
Propulsion:	CODAG WARP 2 × Diesels 5,920 kW (7,939 hp) each 2 shafts 1 × Gas turbine 20,000 kW (26,820 hp) 1 waterjet
Speed:	30 knots (52 km/h)
Range:	8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) at 16 knots (30 km/h)
Complement:	152
Sensors and processing systems:	Surveillance Radar: Thales Naval France MRR-3D NG G-band multi-role radar Optical Radar Tracker: 2 Reutech RTS 6400 monopulse X-band (I/J bands) combined radar and optronics trackers Electro-optical Tracker: Reutech Electro-optical tracker Identification Friend or Foe: Tellumat Integrated Naval IFF system Target Designation Sights: M-Tek Target Designation Sights Sonar: Thales UMS4132 Kingklip sonar Obstacle avoidance sonar: MDS 3060
Electronic warfare & decoys:	ESM/ECM: Saab Grintek Avitronics SME 100/200 ESM (Intercept and Jammer) & ELINT Decoys: 2 Saab Grintek Avitronics MRL Super Barricade chaff launchers (96 decoys)
Armament:	1 × Otobreda 76 mm gun 1 × twin barreled 35 mm (Denel) dual purpose gun 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon Mk1 8 × MBDA MM40 Exocet Block 2 SSM (2 × 4-cell launchers) 16 × Umkhonto SAM (2 × 8-cell vertical launchers)
Aircraft carried:	1 × SuperLynx 300 (can carry 2)
Aviation facilities:	Flight deck Enclosed hangar

SAS Mendi (F148) is the last of four Valour class frigates built for the South African Navy by the European South African Corvette Consortium and entered service in March 2007. The SAS Mendi was named by Mrs Helena Retief, wife of the (then) Chief of the Navy Vice Admiral Johan Retief.

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 defence group) and a number of South African companies.

The ships were built to the MEKO 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", but other similar vessels in other navies being referred to as frigates.

The SAS Mendi was built at the Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft shipyards in Kiel, Germany, and arrived in South Africa on 20 September 2004.

As with all the other ships of the Valour class, the Mendi is named after a famous South African battle or instance of great valour. In this case the sinking of the SS Mendi in the English Channel during World War I. On the 23 August 2004, en route from the shipyards to South Africa, the SAS Mendi and HMS Nottingham (D91), a Type 42 destroyer, met at the site where the SS Mendi sank and lay wreaths in remembrance of those who died in service for their country

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