Decommissioned in 2003, SAS Assegaai is the only one of the former three Daphné-class submarines to have been retained for preservation as a museum boat, the other two have been cut up and sold for scrap.

[3] Commissioned under command of Lt Cdr Theo Honiball on 21 August 1971, she completed her workup training in the Mediterranean, operating out of Toulon, before sailing for home on 4 May 1972.

During the long passage, she was escorted by the frigate SAS President Steyn, and called at Cadiz, São Vicente, Luanda and Walvis Bay, before arriving in Simon's Town on 19 June 1972.

[citation needed] During her career, she underwent four refits, which included installing additional fuel tanks, and the fitting of a locally developed RAKA combat suite in the 1980s, which replaced a cumbersome plotting table.

In the late 1990s she received the South African developed NICKLES fully integrated software based combat suite and two state of the art rebuilt periscopes.