THE SOUTH AFRICAN NAVY 1946 – 1994 ILLUSTRATED USING ITEMS IN THE COLLECTION OF THE DITSONG
By: Allan Sinclair – DITSONG: National Museum of Military History
- Introduction
A previous article, published on the DMSA website in August 2023, concentrated on South Africa’s Naval Forces during the Second World War (1939 – 1945) using a number of works of art in the Second World War Art as illustrations. This article focuses on the post-war South African Navy (SAN) up until and including the birth of democracy in South Africa in 1994. Unlike the previous article, in which only the works of art in the Second World War art collection are depicted, here a number of exhibits on display and in the different collections at the DITSONG: National Museum of Military History (DNMMH) are used to illustrate the narrative. By doing so gaps in the collection have also been identified so that procedures can be planned to attempt to procure such items for the collection.
- The South African Navy and the Post-War Period
On 1 May 1946 the South African Naval Forces (SANF) was reconstituted as a permanent arm of the Union Defence Force (UDF) under the command of Cdre J Dalgleish, the Director-General of the SANF. At that time, it had on strength an establishment of 60 officers and 806 ratings and was equipped with the three Loch Class Frigates, one small minelayer, two boom defence vessels and eleven small harbour defence motor launches. It was also allocated the base at Salisbury Island in Durban Harbour which had originally been constructed in 1942 following the surrender of Singapore to the Japanese.
Despite the fact that the SANF had been established as a separate service of the UDF, it continued to be associated with the Royal Navy and was even seen as an extension of that service’s continued protection of the Cape Sea Route. This was notwithstanding the fact that the pro-republican National Party (NP) under Dr D F Malan had come to power in 1948. The NP was keen to divest itself of all association with Britain and began to institute various changes to the SANF uniform, insignia and nomenclature used. As an example, in 1952 the prefix HM was dropped from the name of all South African naval ships and since then the prefix used has been SAS. A year later the official name was changed to the South African Navy (SAN). [1]
Nonetheless links with the Royal Navy were maintained. As the SAN’s most important role was that of guardian of the Cape Sea Route, the procurement of ships and material were limited to the defensive role of anti-submarine and mine countermeasures warfare. Early acquisitions were two ocean going minesweepers (SA Ships Bloemfontein and Pietermaritzburg) and two W-Class anti-submarine destroyers (SA Ships Jan van Riebeeck and Simon van der Stel). Interestingly enough, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, had served on Simon van der Stel, then part of the Royal Navy and known as HMS Whelp, during the Second World War.[2]
Twin Six Inch Guns from a W Class Frigate on display (DNMMH Acq No 30477).
Lifebuoy used on board SAS Simon van der Stel (DNMMH Acq 51337).
In a further attempt to remove all British vestiges from South Africa, negotiations over the future of the Royal Navy base at Simons Town began in 1954. Wessels argues that the NP’s agenda was more political than strategic. He adds that the agreement finalised in 1955, and which became known as the Simons Town Agreement, led to an unprecedented expansion of the SAN throughout the remainder of the 1950s and the 1960s. In accordance with the terms, South Africa undertook to purchase four extra frigates, ten coastal minesweepers and five seaward defence boats. In turn, Britain would continue to use the base and its facilities, which were formally transferred to South Africa in April 1957, and carry out joint exercises and operations in South African waters. This period could be seen as the one time in its history that the SAN achieved some aspect of dominance in the South African defence family.[3]
The first of the frigates to be taken on strength was the former W-Class destroyer that had been rebuilt as a Type 15 frigate and which was commissioned SAS Vrystaat. The other three frigates were of the Type 12 Whitby Class and were the first ships to be specifically designed and built for the SAN. These were commissioned in the 1960s as SA Ships President Kruger, President Steyn and President Pretorius.
The three President Class frigates soon became the workhorses of the SAN and regular patrols were undertaken along the Cape Sea Route. The frigates were also used in the grey-diplomat role along with other ships of the SAN with flag showing cruises to friendly countries continuing into the 1970s. In time all three frigates, along with the two destroyers, would be equipped with a landing deck and hanger facilities to allow Westland Wasp anti-submarine helicopters to operate from them. [4]
R Belling – A SAAF Wasp Helicopter landing on a President Class Frigate (SA Official Military Art Collection, Cat No 91).
At the conclusion of the Second World War, it was accepted that mine warfare had shifted from the laying of deep moored mines to that of ground mines planted in the shallow approaches to harbours. The ten Ton Class minesweepers, each of which were named after a South African city, were procured to patrol the coastal and inshore waters, and protect the country’s main ports. The SAN eventually become the second largest operator of these vessels after the Royal Navy. The ships were commissioned as the SA Ships Kaapstad, Johannesburg, Durban, Port Elizabeth, East London, Kimberley, Pretoria, Walvisbaai, Windhoek and Mosselbaai.[5]
V Metcalf – SAS Durban (Ton Class Minesweeper) moored at Simons Town (SA Official Military Art Collection, Cat No 67).
International condemnation of South Africa was strengthening at the same time. While the move towards a republic was an important goal of the NP, the other main objective had been the entrenchment of white rule. The introduction of the NP’s apartheid policies had a major effect on the country’s international standing and by the time a republic had been achieved in May 1961, South Africa was fast becoming a pariah state. By 1963 a UN arms embargo had been imposed on the country and, although joint exercises with the Royal Navy were still planned annually and South Africans continued to attend Royal Navy training courses, by 1964 even Britain had become loath to supply any further arms or equipment.
Throughout the decade many African states also achieved their independence and in most cases the SAN’s access to foreign ports on the continent as well as in other areas of the world became severely restricted. Consequently, the SAN procured a Danish tanker in 1967 which was converted into a replenishment and logistic support ship and commissioned as SAS Tafelberg. This increased the long-range capacity of the SAN with ships able to be deployed independently over longer distances than ever before.[6]
Lifebuoy used on board SAS Tafelberg (DNMMH Acq 36337).
The obligatory UN arms embargo forced South Africa to start looking elsewhere for arms. During the course of the 1960s, the SAN took the decision to form a submarine service. Initially the British Oberon Class submarine, acquired by other Commonwealth countries such as Canada and Australia, was the preferred type. However, British adherence to the embargo led the country to instead purchase three French Daphne Class patrol submarines. The arrival of these submarines, commissioned as SA Submarines Maria van Riebeeck, Johanna van der Merwe and Emily Hobhouse, changed the focus of official naval policy and, for the first time in its history, the SAN was no longer an entirely defensive force. The submarines provided it with offensive weapons complete with a capacity to strike at enemy vessels from long range and to support clandestine activities from the sea in foreign countries and behind enemy lines.[7]
SAN Submarine Qualification Badge, 1969 – 2010 (DNMMH Acq 26172).
South Africa’s growing international isolation brought into question the SAN’s importance as an arm of the South African Defence Force (SADF). Bennett argues that those who served in the other two arms of the SADF, the South African Army and South Air Force, still did not have much understanding or support for the maintenance of a large navy.[8]
- International Isolation and New Role for the South African Navy
The growth of the SAN during the 1950s and 1960s in terms of the Simons Town Agreement, along with the policy of supporting the Royal Navy in the protection of the Cape Sea Route, occurred largely as a result of political pressure. The appointment of Adm Hugo Bierman, who had led the SAN since 1952, as Chief of the SADF in 1972 further preserved the SAN’s standing in the defence family while he remained at the helm. His retirement in 1976, along with Britain’s eventual cancellation of the Simons Town Agreement and the escalation of the Bush War on the South West African (Namibian) / Angolan border a year earlier, signalled the start of a complete reform of maritime policy in South Africa.
In the eyes of the new Chief of the SADF, Gen Magnus Malan, the SAN was seen as a luxury that could not be afforded, a view echoed by many other Army and Air Force generals. Bennett contends that the SAN was as much to blame for this rather disparaging view as many senior naval officers considered themselves to be somewhat superior and a select club located in Simons Town.[9]
Following the cancellation of the Simons Town Agreement, the view of many senior SADF officers was that the West should not expect any further assistance by the SAN in the protection of the Cape Sea Route. The Mandy Report published in 1977 proposed that the SAN’s new role would be restricted to:
- Monitoring and protecting South Africa’s territorial waters and economic exclusion zone,
- Deterrence against any maritime aggression against the country, and.
- Undertaking operations in support of SADF operations on land.[10]
As the Bush War intensified, the SAN’s budget was considerably slashed and according to V-Adm R C Simpson-Andersen, Chief of the SAN from 1992 to 2000, heavily skewed in favour of the Army and Air Force.[11] The three President Class frigates were slowly withdrawn from service, a process that was heightened by the accidental sinking of the SAS President Kruger in 1982, and left the SAN with no combat blue water capability. Earlier attempts to procure two A-69 Class corvettes and two Agosta Class submarines from France were thwarted when that country eventually bowed to UN pressure in 1977. The SAN was then required to be content with the new Reshef Class strike craft that were being produced and procured from Israel at the time. South Africa also acquired a licence to build these vessels locally and eventually nine such strike craft, known in the SAN as the Minister Class and named after former Ministers of Defence, were obtained throughout the 1980s.The strike craft were commissioned as the SA Ships Jan Smuts, Hendrik Mentz, Frederick Cresswell, Oswald Pirow, Frans Erasmus, Jim Fouché, Kobie Coetzee, PW Botha and Magnus Malan.
T Hamilton – Production Study of SAS Frans Erasmus, February 1979 (SA Official Military Art Collection, Cat No 98).
These vessels developed into valuable assets for the SAN even though they had been designed for service in the Mediterranean Sea and not the rough seas experienced around the South African coast. While the three Daphne Class submarines had given the SAN a much-needed offensive capacity, this was even further sustained through the acquisition of the strike craft, the first South African vessels to be armed with surface-to-surface missiles.
Soderlund and Steyn argue that, while the submarines provided an ideal means of inserting and extracting special forces behind enemy lines, such capability was limited to the design and size of the submarine. They continue to describe how the size and high speed of the strike craft, along with its exceptional weapons fit and the capacity to carry, launch and recover semi-inflatable craft, rendered the vessel ideal for such clandestine operations. After the value of these vessels in support of conducting special operations had been fully accepted, the SAN initiated projects to improve facilities aboard the craft which included a folding launching ramp.[12]
T Hamilton – The Southern Run, a squadron of strike craft on patrol (SA Official Military Art Collection, Cat No 101).
Soderlund and Steyn’s publication provides a detailed account how the SADF’s No 4 Reconnaissance Regt (Today 4 Special Forces Regt) combined with both the Submarine and Strike Craft Flotillas to undertake special operations almost 1 000 km from the nearest base during the period 1978 to 1989. These operations were highly classified at the time but gave the SAN a purpose in achieving its mandate in terms of providing support for landward operations during the Bush War. At times the SAN’s combat support vessel, SAS Tafelberg and the hydrographical survey ship, SAS Protea, were also used in support for those missions carried out a long way forward from the nearest base. Tafelberg underwent the largest reconstruction ever undertaken in South Africa in the early 1980s. The construction involved fitting her with a flight deck which enabled her to launch and recover large helicopters as well as special purpose davits and transfer capability under the flight deck to launch and recover boats. The ship was also furnished with a fully equipped hospital.[13]
Soderlund also contends that the strike craft coped well in both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean conditions and succeeded in carrying out the SAN’s mandate in terms of monitoring and protecting South African waters and deterring any aggression from the sea. However, they lacked a blue water capability and did not have the ability to carry and operate helicopters.[14]
T Hamilton – Dusk Encounter – a gunnery officer managing a fire exercise aboard a strike craft
(SA Official Military Art Collection, Cat No 100).
In a further effort to carry out its mandate, the SAN established No 1 South African Marine Brigade in 1979. There had been an earlier attempt to create a marine capability when the South African Corps of Marines was formed in 1951. This Corps was short-lived, however, and eventually disbanded in 1955. The new Marine Brigade was launched primarily to provide harbour and base protection as a result of the growing prevalence of insurgency at the time. As the 1980s progressed the Marines also acquired a role in the Border War after the Wenela Naval Base was commissioned at Katimo Mulilo along the Caprivi Strip. From there patrols along the Zambezi River and surrounding areas were carried out on a regular basis.[15]
D Simon – Zambezi Patrol – Marines carrying out riverine patrols on a Vredenberger Patrol Vessel
(SA Official Military Art Collection, Cat No 203).
Further progress was made when the Amphibious Boat Squadron, increasing the SAN’s amphibious capabilities, was created in 1985. The Squadron was equipped with D 80 landing craft produced locally and which carried a compliment of eighteen troops. The training of beach masters and the development of a Marine Amphibious Company provided the Marines with the capability to secure beach heads.
G Erasmus – An officer of 1 SA Marine Brigade (SA Official Military Art Collection, Cat No 193).
Pretorius provides much detail on how this increased capability afforded the SAN the means to plan and commence training for amphibious assaults from the sea that until then had never been contemplated in South Africa. Consequently, when the possibility of a major Cuban invasion of South West Africa (Namibia) looked plausible in 1988, an operation code-named Kwêvoël was proposed as a means of cutting off Cuban supplies from the port of Namibe in southern Angola. The plan would have involved the SA ships Tafelberg, Drakensberg and Protea, six strike craft, two submarines and two minesweepers. Other sources would have come from the Army’s 44 Parachute Brigade, providing around 900 paratroopers operating in both an airborne and amphibious capacity, as well as major Air Force assets in support. The Marines would have played a major role in the operation through the provision of a Marine Amphibious Company, coxswains, landing craft, boat crews and beach masters.
As dress rehearsals for Kwêvoël, the SAN staged Exercises Magersfontein and Strandloper in the Walvis Bay area. These exercises were carried out amid much publicity and Pretorius believes that their successes contributed to the political settlement reached with Cuba and Angola shortly thereafter.[16]
Bennett confirms Pretorius’s belief as he had been given viable information by a Cuban military officer that the exercises carried out in 1988 had left Cuba with a firm impression that South Africa had the capacity to use the SAN to carry out amphibious operations and sustain the fleet completely from a forward base. As a result Operation Kwêvoël, which would have been the largest amphibious operation undertaken in the history of the SADF, was eventually shelved.[17]
Subsequent to the conclusion of the Bush War and eventual independence of Namibia in 1990, the SADF embarked on a rationalisation and restructuring process in an attempt to make it smaller and more cost effective. For the SAN this signalled the closing down of its two naval commands; COMNAV West at Silvermine and COMNAV East at Durban; the scaling down of many bases and units; and the transfer of all naval infrastructure at Durban to Simons Town. The restructuring also saw the disbandment of 1 SA Marine Brigade and the closure of the bases at Richard’s Bay, Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth and Cape Town, all which had been opened to accommodate the Marines’ harbour protection units. The guidelines followed throughout the process ensured that both the sea-going fighting capability and standard of training in the SAN was not impaired.[18]
Ship’s Bell from Naval Base Richard’s Bay (DNMMH Acq 32249).
At the same time South Africa had also taken certain steps to upgrade its fleet. In 1986 the SAN’s new Combat Support / Fleet replenishment Ship, SAS Drakensberg, was launched. At the time this was the largest ship-construction project ever undertaken in the country. Drakensberg supplemented and eventually replaced the ageing Tafelberg. As South Africa emerged from isolation in the 1990s, Drakensberg was sent around the world on various flag showing cruises. The ship represented the country in events such as the 50th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic in May 1993 and the 50th anniversary of the Liberation of France in May 1994. During the latter voyage she also became the first South African ship to take part in a multi-national naval exercise in almost twenty years.[19]
Earlier in the 1980s the SAN had, rather secretively, also procured four new River Class Mine Hunters which were finally publicly unveiled as SA Ships Umkamaas, Umgeni, Umzimkulu and Umhloti in 1988. These ships eventually replaced the ageing Ton Class MCMs.[20]
SAN Officer’s Bridge Watch Keeper’s Badge – (DNMMH Acq 30462).
In 1993 the SAN commissioned a Russian-built Multi-Role Antarctic Supply Ship as SAS Outeniqua. The ability of this ship to break ice greatly enhanced the SAN’s capacity to help the Department of Environmental Affairs in supplying the South African scientific research and weather stations in Antarctica and on Gough Island, Marion Island and Prince Edward Island in the Southern Ocean.[21]
- The New South Africa and the Transformation of the South African Navy
The onset of democracy in South Africa in 1994 signalled the start of a brand-new phase for the SAN. On 27 April that year Nelson Mandela was sworn in as the first President of a fully democratic South Africa. At the same time the new South African National Defence Force (SANDF), which united all the former statutory and non-statutory forces in the country, was established with the SAN entrenched as one of the four arms of this service. Soderlund explains how V-Adm Robert Simpson-Andersen, Chief of the Navy at the time, was able to negotiate the transformation of the SAN from a somewhat forgotten service into a force that could be useful to the new government. Notwithstanding its limited but useful role in the Bush War, the SAN had never been in direct conflict with the ANC’s armed wing Umkhonto-we-Sizwe and Simpson-Andersen was able to emphasise the value of the sea surrounding the country as the tenth province of the Republic.[22]
Simpson-Andersen himself describes how the SAN was initially excluded from talks with the various statutory and non-statutory forces by the Chief of the SADF at the time whose argument was that the SAN would not be affected by the proposed integration process. He added that such an attitude created an opportunity for the SAN to open its own channels with important people such as Joe Modise and Ronnie Kasrils. They would later be appointed Minister and Deputy Minister of Defence in the new Government.[23]
Both Simpson-Andersen and Steyn highlight the valuable contribution made by the SAN during the 1997 peace process in the Congo in which Mandela acted as mediator between Mobutu Sese Seko and Laurent Kabila. Operation White Dove involved the use of Outeniqua, which docked at Pointe-Noire in the DRC, as a non-aligned venue for the negotiations.[24]
Independent Ship’s Badge – (DNMMH Acq 24486).
The political changes of 1994 signalled certain changes in terms of transforming the new SAN into a navy all South Africans could call their own. High on the priority list was the rather controversial names of vessels belonging to the Submarine and Strike Craft Flotillas – names, which as Simpson-Andersen and Bennett document, had previously been selected by the NP Government without any reference to the Navy Board. The three Daphne Class submarines became the Spear Class with the names changed to SA Submarines Spear, Mkhonto and Assegai respectively. With regard to the strike craft, it was eventually agreed that the ships would become the Warrior Class with the names, apart from SAS Jan Smuts, changed to SA Ships Shaka, Adam Kok, Sekhukhuni, Isaac Dyobha, René Sethren, Galashewe, Job Masego and Makhanda.[25]
T Hamilton – Going aboard a strike craft at Salisbury Island, Durban
(SA Official Military Art Collection, Cat No 102).
SAN Surface Warfare Badge (previously Strike Craft Flotilla), 1979 – (DNMMH Acq 24485).
The changes of 1994 also led to the lifting of the UN Arms Embargo in May of that year. This, coupled with Simpson-Andersen’s negotiating skills, enabled the SAN to secure a major part of the Strategic Defence Package that was approved in 1999. Through this package the SAN acquired four new Valour Class frigates, commissioned as SA Ships Mendi, Amatola, Isandlwana and Spioenkop, and three Heroine Class submarines commissioned as SA Submarines Queen Modjadji, Charlotte Maxeke, and Manthatisi.[26]
- Closing the Gaps in the Collections of the DITSONG: National Museum of Military History
As discussed at the beginning of this study, the items illustrated throughout are all located in the Museum’s collection. Many items are, however, still not represented. The works of art depicted are the product of a military art programme initiated by the SADF during the Border War of the 1970s and 1980s. Sadly, the end of the latter conflict also brought an end to the programme and, consequently, no artistic record exists of the restructuring of the SANDF, the procurement of the new SAN vessels in terms of the Strategic Defence Package and the transformation of the SAN into a service that all South Africans can call their own. The possibilities of a new military art programme being initiated by the SANDF at this stage is highly unlikely.
There are also no examples of the new rank insignia and mustering badges that were introduced in 2003 or the new submariners and engineer qualification badges introduced around the same time. Channels of communication have been established with certain senior SANDF officials and members of the Military Command Council and the Museum remains confident that it will be able to procure these items for the collection in the foreseeable future.
- Conclusion
The post-war SAN initially prospered, principally as a result of the political needs of the National Party Government, and to a certain extent achieved some status of dominance in the defence family. This proved to be short-lived and circumstance would eventually condemn it to the role of a coastal force largely due to international isolation and Border War resulting in a paradigm shift back to a dominant role played by the Army and the Air Force. The post-apartheid SAN was required to navigate its way through a hostile political, military and social climate with barriers thrown up at every juncture to achieve its goal of being recognised as an important arm of the new SANDF. That it, in many aspects, accomplished this was no mean feat.
Despite all the pitfalls the SAN has had to face in its history, it is a history to be proud of. The Museum trusts that the items in its collection, as well as the items we hope to obtain in the future, play their part in depicting and preserving this history for future generations to come.
Bibliography
- Publications
Bennett, R-Adm (Rtd) Chris, 2006, Three Frigates: The South African Navy comes of Age (Durban: Just Done, No Date).
De La Rey, A (Ed), South African Defence Review 1990 (Durban: Walker-Ramus, 1990)
Simpson-Andersen, V-Adm (Rtd) R C, President Mandela’s Admiral (Muizenberg: SA Naval Heritage Trust, 2021).
Soderlund, A & Steyn, D, 2018. Iron Fist from the Sea: Tope Secret Seaborne Recce Operations (1978 – 1988), (Johannesburg: Delta Books, No Date).
Steyn, Leon Cdr. The South African Navy: 25 years of Democracy (Simons Town: South African Navy, 2019).
- Journal Articles
Bennett, C H, R-Adm (Rtd). 2007. “Names and Ship’s Badges of the Valour Class Frigates” in Naval Digest, Journal of the Naval Heritage Society of South Africa, Vol 12, March 2007: 5 – 75.
Bennett, C H, R-Adm (Rtd). 2009. “From Ministers to Warriors” in Naval Digest, Journal of the Naval Heritage Society of South Africa, Vol 14, November 2009: 1 – 63.
Blaine, Mark & Nel, Michelle. 2019. “South African Maritime Foreign Policy: Rethinking the Role of the South African Navy” Scientia-Militaria: South African Journal of Military Studies, 47 (2): 107 – 131.
Pretorius, C J. “1 SA Marine Brigade: Sentries or Vikings” in Military History Journal Vol 18 No 4 (June 2019).
Wessels, Andre. 2005. “The South African Navy’s Frigates 1944 – 1985” in Naval Digest, Journal of the Naval Heritage Society of South Africa, Vol 11, November 2005: 1 – 36.
Wessels, Andre. 2009. “The South African Navy and its Predecessors 1910 – 2009” in The Commonwealth Navies: 100 Years of Co-operation, 2012: 79 – 110.
- You Tube Video Material
BBC interview, 1995, with Richard Astbury, Prince Philip: The war years – Duke of Edinburgh on serving in WW2 (9 April 2021).
- Oral Interviews
R-Adm (JG) Rtd A Soderlund (Interview carried out on 12 October 2022).
[1] A Wessels, “The South African Navy and its Predecessors 1910 – 2009” The Commonwealth Navies: One Hundred Years of Co-Operation (2012) 83; H J Martin & N Orpen, South Africa at War (Cape Town: Purnell, 1979), 349.
[2] You Tube Video, Prince Philip, the war years: Duke of Edinburgh on serving in WW2 (BBC, 1995).
[3] A Wessels, “The South African Navy and its Predecessors 1910 – 2009” The Commonwealth Navies: One Hundred Years of Co-Operation (2012) 84.
[4] A Wessels, “The South African Navy Frigates 1944 – 1985” Naval Digest, Journal of the Naval Heritage Society of South Africa Vol 11 (November 2005) 10 – 23.
[5] A Du Toit, South Africa’s Fighting Ships: Past and Present (Johannesburg: Ashanti, 1992), 211.
[6] A Wessels, “The South African Navy and its Predecessors 1910 – 2009” The Commonwealth Navies: One Hundred Years of Co-Operation (2012) 86 – 87.
[7] A Soderlund & D Steyn, Iron Fist from the Sea: Top Secret Seaborne Recce Operations, 1978 – 1988 (Johannesburg: Delta Books, No Date), 33.
[8] C H Bennett (R-Adm Rtd), “Names and Ships Badges of the Valour Class Frigates” Naval Digest, Journal of the Naval Heritage Society of South Africa Vol 12 (March 2007) 11.
[9] C H Bennett (R-Adm Rtd), Three Frigates: The South African Navy comes of age (Durban: Just Done, 2006), 177.
[10] C H Bennett (R-Adm Rtd), Three Frigates: The South African Navy comes of age (Durban: Just Done, 2006), 179.
[11] R C Simpson-Andersen (V-Adm Rtd), President Mandela’s Admiral (Muizemberg: SA Naval Heritage Trust, 2021), 3.
[12] A Soderlund & D Steyn, Iron Fist from the Sea: Top Secret Seaborne Recce Operations, 1978 – 1988 (Johannesburg: Delta Books, No Date), 35 – 40.
[13] A Soderlund & D Steyn, Iron Fist from the Sea: Top Secret Seaborne Recce Operations, 1978 – 1988 (Johannesburg: Delta Books, No Date), 21 – 95.
[14] A Soderlund, Oral Interview (12 October 2022).
[15] CJ Pretorius, “1 SA Marine Brigade: Sentries or Vikings” Military History Journal Vol 18 No 4 (June 2019).
[16] CJ Pretorius, “1 SA Marine Brigade: Sentries or Vikings” Military History Journal Vol 18 No 4 (June 2019).
[17] C H Bennett (R-Adm Rtd), Three Frigates: The South African Navy comes of age (Durban: Just Done, 2006), 178.
[18] A De La Rey (Ed), South African Defence Review 1990 (Durban: Walker-Ramus, 1990), 97 – 98.
[19] R C Simpson-Andersen (V-Adm Rtd), President Mandela’s Admiral (Muizenberg: SA Naval Heritage Trust, 2021), 29, 59.
[20] A Du Toit, South Africa’s Fighting Ships: Past and Present (Johannesburg: Ashanti, 1992), 313 – 314.
[21] L Steyn (Cdr), The South African Navy: 25 Years of Democracy (Simons Town: SAN, 2019), 177.
[22] A Soderlund, Oral Interview (12 October 2022).
[23] R C Simpson-Andersen (V-Adm Rtd), President Mandela’s Admiral (Muizemberg: SA Naval Heritage Trust, 2021), 9.
[24] L Steyn (Cdr), The South African Navy: 25 Years of Democracy (Simons Town: SAN, 2019), 141; R C Simpson-Andersen (V-Adm Rtd), President Mandela’s Admiral (Muizemberg: SA Naval Heritage Trust, 2021), 4.
[25] C H Bennett (R-Adm Rtd), “From Ministers to Warriors” Naval Digest, Journal of the Naval Heritage Society of South Africa Vol 14 (November 2009) 1 – 63; R C Simpson-Andersen (V-Adm Rtd), President Mandela’s Admiral (Muizemberg: SA Naval Heritage Trust, 2021), 24.
[26] L Steyn (Cdr), The South African Navy: 25 Years of Democracy (Simons Town: SAN, 2019), 104; A Soderlund, Oral Interview (12 October 2022).
