 Thames at anchor with what is probably anA-class submarine berthed next to her | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMSThames |
| Namesake | River Thames |
| Builder | Pembroke Dockyard |
| Laid down | 14 April 1884 |
| Launched | 3 December 1885 |
| Completed | July 1888 |
| Reclassified | Submarine depot ship, 1903 |
| Fate | Sold, 13 November 1920 |
| South Africa | |
| Name | SATSGeneral Botha |
| Namesake | Louis Botha |
| Christened | 1 April 1922 |
| Acquired | 13 November 1920 |
| Commissioned | March 1922 |
| Decommissioned | 1942 |
| Renamed | Thames, 1942 |
| Reclassified |
|
| Homeport | Simon's Town |
| Fate | Scuttled, 13 May 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Mersey-class second-classcruiser |
| Displacement | 4,050 long tons (4,110 t) |
| Length | 300 ft (91.4 m) (p/p) |
| Beam | 46 ft (14.0 m) |
| Draught | 20 ft 2 in (6.1 m) |
| Installed power |
|
| Propulsion | |
| Speed | 18 kn (33 km/h; 21 mph) |
| Range | 8,750 nmi (16,200 km; 10,070 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph) |
| Complement | 300–50 |
| Armament |
|
| Armour |
|
HMSThames was aMersey-classprotected cruiser built for theRoyal Navy (RN) in the 1880s. The ship was placed inreserve upon her completion in 1888 and was converted into asubmarine depot ship in 1903. She was sold out of the navy in 1920 and was purchased by aSouth African businessman to serve as a training ship fornaval cadets under the name SATSGeneral Botha. The ship arrived inSouth Africa in 1921 and began training her first class of cadets inSimon's Town the following year.General Botha continued to train cadets for the first several years ofWorld War II, but the RN took over the ship in 1942 for use as anaccommodation ship under her original name. She wasscuttled by gunfire in 1947 and is now a diveable wreck.
TheMersey-class cruisers were improved versions of theLeander class with more armour and no sailing rig on a smallerdisplacement. Like their predecessors, they were intended to protect British shipping.[1] The cruisers had alength between perpendiculars of 300 feet (91.4 m), abeam of 46 feet (14.0 m) and adraught of 20 feet 2 inches (6.1 m).[2] They displaced 4,050 long tons (4,110 t). The ships were powered by a pair of two-cylinderhorizontal, direct-acting, compound-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, which were designed to produce a total of 6,000indicated horsepower (4,500 kW) and a maximum speed of 18knots (33 km/h; 21 mph) using steam provided by a dozencylindrical boilers withforced draught. TheMersey class carried enough coal to give them a range of 8,750nautical miles (16,200 km; 10,070 mi) at a speed of 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph).[3] The ships' complement was 300[4] to 350 officers andratings.[2]
Their main armament consisted of twobreech-loading (BL)8-inch (203 mm) guns, one each fore and aft onpivot mounts. Their secondary armament was tenBL 6-inch (152 mm) guns, five on eachbroadside insponsons. Protection againsttorpedo boats was provided by threequick-firing (QF)6-pounder Hotchkiss guns and threeQF 3-pounder Hotchkiss guns. The ship was also armed with a pair of submerged 14-inch (356 mm)torpedo tubes and carried a pair of 14-inch torpedo carriages. TheMersey-class ships were protected by a lower armoureddeck that was 2 inches (51 mm) on the flat and 3 inches (76 mm) on the slope. It sloped down at thebow to reinforce theram. The armoured sides of theconning tower were 9 inches (229 mm) thick.[4]
Thames was the sixth ship of her name to serve in the Royal Navy.[5] She waslaid down on 14 April 1884 byPembroke Dockyard in No. 4slipway. The ship waslaunched on 3 December 1885 by the Hon. Mrs. Algernon Littleton[6] and completed in July 1889[3] at a cost of£204,952. The ship went straight into reserve atDevonport after completion.[6] On 21 March 1902 she was temporarilycommissioned by Captain H. L. Fleet, with crewmen from thebattleshipHMS Empress of India, to serve as a portguard ship atQueenstown, while the latter ship was undergoing alterations.[7] In 1903, the ship was converted to a submarine tender and served atSheerness from 1907 to 1917 and then briefly atPortsmouth andCampbeltown,Scotland, before beingpaid off in 1919 atChatham Dockyard.[6]
She was sold for £8,000 in November 1920 to theJersey-born South African entrepreneur T. B. Davis as a memory to his son who died during World War I. Later that month, the ship steamed toWest India Dock, Tilbury, for a brief refit andThames was renamed Training Ship (TS)General Botha, afterLouis Botha, the firstPrime Minister of theUnion of South Africa. Before departing for Plymouth for extra crewmen on 6 January 1921, the ship was visited by SirReginald Blanckenberg,High Commissioner for South Africa, and his wife. She set sail from Plymouth on 18 January and ran into a heavy storm in theEnglish Channel that smashed in the inadequately boarded-up sponsons and forced the ship to turn about forPlymouth for repairs whereGeneral Botha arrived two days later. The ship departed on 8 February and arrived inCape Town on 26 March where she was greeted by theMinister of Defence,ColonelHendrik Mentz and other notables.[8]
Davis donated it to a trust on 9 May, with the stipulation that it be used exclusively for the nautical training of British and South African boys, so that they could subsequently serve in ships of theBritish Empire. The Admiralty agreed to cover the cost to convertGeneral Botha into a training ship atSimon's Town Naval Dockyard and to tow her there from Cape Town in early September. It also agreed to grant the ship amooring in Simon's Town. The first class of 75 boys reported aboard on 15 March 1922 on a two-year programme and the ship was formally christened as South African Training Ship (SATS)General Botha on 1 April by the wife of thePrime Minister,Jan Smuts. On 15 December, KingGeorge V agreed to become the ship's patron and sponsored an annual gold medal for the best cadet aboard. On 2 May 1925,Edward,Prince of Wales, inspected the boys and the ship. About a month later, she was docked to have her engines andfunnel removed and her interior remodelled to create newmessdecks,galleys and recreation spaces, returning to her moorings in August. In March 1935, Davis offered to sponsor a rowing competition between the cadets ofGeneral Botha and the British training ships,HMSWorcester, andHMSConway in Britain and paid for their expenses to and from South Africa. King George V received the cadets inBuckingham Palace on 29 June shortly before the race during which they beat the cadets fromConway, but lost toWorcester. By the late 1930s,General Botha's guns and boilers had been removed and the former engine and boiler rooms converted into agymnasium.[9]
The trust'sBoard of Control offered the ship to the RN with 30 days notice on 7 September 1939, the day after South Africa declared war on Germany, but the offer was declined. Nevertheless, they decided to build accommodations for the cadets ashore if the RN did decide to take them up on their offer. The RN did so in July 1942 and the boys and staff went ashore on the 28th and the ship resumed her former name shortly afterwards. She served as an accommodation ship and was used as aprison ship for at least part of her time in RN service. By the time that the RN returned her to the Board of Control, the ship was deemed uneconomical to repair and she was scuttled by gunfire from one of the localcoast defencebattery on 13 May 1947 inFalse Bay at coordinates34°13′48″S18°37′48″E / 34.23000°S 18.63000°E /-34.23000; 18.63000.[10]
There exists analumni association for those who served aboardGeneral Botha, which has theDuke of Edinburgh as her patron.[11] TheSouth African Naval Museum in Simon's Town has an exhibit dedicated to the ship.[12]
SATS General Botha dive site travel guide from Wikivoyage
