Name Sarah Baartman Ordered 2002 Commissioned 10 January 2005 Launched 17 June 2004 Draft 4 m Builder Damen Group | Namesake Sarah Baartman Laid down July 2003 Construction started July 2003 Length 83 m Endurance 1.5 months | |
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Operator Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries | ||
The Sarah Baartman is a South African environmental protection vessel—of the Damen Offshore Patrol Vessel 8313 class. The Sarah Baartman was commissioned on 10 January 2005. She was built by Damen Group, of the Netherlands, at one of its Romanian shipyards, and was designed to be capable of patrolling South Africa's entire EEZ, including the area around the southerly Prince Edward Islands.
On 3 October 2007 the Sarah Baartman took custody of two men accused of murdering a fellow crew member of the South African icebreaker S. A. Agulhas.
The South African government has been criticized for chartering the Sarah Baartman to support offshore oil drilling.
The vessels carry limited equipment for enclosing and skimming oil spills, and fire-fighting water cannons.