S.A. John Ross (also known as John Ross, SA Amandla, Smit Amandla and Iconic 09) along with her sister ship S.A. Wolraad Woltemade, was one of a pair of South African ocean-going salvage tugs built in the late 1970s in order to support passage of redirected (in particular supertankers) traffic around the Cape of Good Hope as a result of the closure of the Suez Canal following the Six-Day War.

The S.A. John Ross was designed jointly by the Robb Caledon Shipyard and the Arnesen Christensen marine engineering office in Oslo, and included a deckhouse located three-quarters forward and a long aft working deck.

The propulsion system consisted of two Mirrlees Blackstone 16-cylinder four-stroke diesel engines of Type 16 KVR Major with a combined output of over 14,000 kilowatts (19,000 hp).

The S.A John Ross was laid down at the Elgin Brown & Hamer shipyard in Durban in March 1974 in response to the closure of the Suez Canal and the potential need to provide support to shipping lines which had consequently begun switching to the use of supertankers (aka Ultra Large Crude Carriers (ULCC)) capable of carrying cargo around the Cape and in so doing avoiding potential disruptions.

[2] In addition to her numerous salvage operations, the John Ross is estimated to have prevented countless potentially devastating pollution incidents over the course of her history.