&sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:HMS_Thames_as_sub_tender.jpg) Thames at anchor with what is probably an A-class submarine berthed next to her
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| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Thames |
| 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 | SATS General Botha |
| Namesake | Louis Botha |
| Christened | 1 April 1922 |
| Acquired | 13 November 1920 |
| Commissioned | March 1922 |
| Decommissioned | 1942 |
| Renamed | Thames, 1942 |
| Reclassified |
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| Homeport | Simon's Town |
| Fate | Scuttled, 13 May 1947 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Mersey-class second-class cruiser |
| 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 |
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| Propulsion |
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| 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 |
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| Armour |
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HMS Thames was a Mersey-class protected cruiser built for the Royal Navy (RN) in the 1880s. The ship was placed in reserve upon her completion in 1888 and was converted into a submarine depot ship in 1903. She was sold out of the navy in 1920 and was purchased by a South African businessman to serve as a training ship for naval cadets under the name SATS General Botha. The ship arrived in South Africa in 1921 and began training her first class of cadets in Simon's Town the following year. General Botha continued to train cadets for the first several years of World War II, but the RN took over the ship in 1942 for use as an accommodation ship under her original name. She was scuttled by gunfire in 1947 and is now a diveable wreck.