 The Type 209 1400-Mod boats displace 1,450t surfaced and 1,600t dived.The Type 209 1400-Mod submarines replace the French-built "Daphné" class submarines, SAS Spear, SAS Assegaai and SAS Umkhonto which were decommissioned in 2003.The Heroine class are sometimes considered to be South Africa's first "true" submarines, as they were more suited to being underwater than the Daphné models.