On 1 April 2002, the South African Navy (SAN) was 80 years old. At that stage a large number of the members of the Navy were involved in planning for the arrival of four new frigates and three new submarines, or had already commenced training for service on board the new ships and submarines.
On commemorating the SAN's 80th anniversary, we indeed have to reflect on the history of the Navy. This study focuses on only one aspect of the Navy's history, namely, foreign flag-showing cruises. The primary task of the SAN is to protect the Republic of South Africa (RSA) and its inhabitants and interests against any form of foreign threat. However, in peace time, the Navy has an equally important role to play; for example, it may be expected to undertake support operations, including diplomatic support in the form of visits to other countries. Traditionally, diplomatic interactions among countries involve the exchange of diplomats, mutual state and other political visits, as well as holding summits and other kinds of talks. Throughout the ages, however, seafaring nations have developed the tradition sometimes to send warships on visits to one another; for example, to participate in joint Navy manoeuvres, but mostly for purposes of strengthening or forming new bonds of friendship. In this regard, the SAN is no exception, and in the past 80 years, 53 SAN ships acted as highly successful grey diplomats for South Africa in at least 86 flag-showing cruises in peace time.
What follows is an overview of the 86 foreign flag-showing cruises that were undertaken for the period from 1 April 1922 to 1 April 2002 by South African warships and submarines. The aim is not to supply an in-depth analysis of each separate cruise, but to determine the general nature, scope and value of the SAN's diplomatic role. Nine phases are identified, and in conclusion, general tendencies are indicated and conclusions drawn, given the new era in the history of the Navy that is about to commence with the commissioning of new frigates and submarines.
Phase 1: The South African Naval Service, 1922-1934
The history of the South African Navy dates back to 1 April 1922 when the South African Naval Service (SANS) was founded. The SANS's first (and only) ships were the former Royal Navy ships HMS Crozier (a "Hunt" Class minesweeper that was converted into a hydrographic survey ship, and later renamed HMSAS Protea, as well as HMS Foyle and Eden ("Mersey" Class minesweeping trawlers that were later renamed HMSAS Sonneblom and Immortelle respectively). The three ships left Plymouth in England on 28 November 1921, and dropped anchor in Simon's Bay on 11 January 1922. On their way to South Africa, they visited Gibraltar, Las Palmas, Sierra Leone, Lagos, Luanda and Walvis Bay; however, as they were not yet official South African warships, this particular sea voyage is not regarded as a South African flag-showing cruise.
As far as could be determined, the SANS undertook only one foreign flag-showing cruise, namely, when HMSAS Sonneblom and Immortelle visited Lourenço Marques (the present Maputo) in Portuguese East Africa (the present Mozambique) in July 1929. The great world depression (1929-1935) also had a negative influence on the Union of South Africa, and led to the deterioration of the SANS. As a result of financial considerations, HMSAS Protea was decommissioned in 1933, and the other two ships in 1934.
Phase 2: No Flag-Showing Cruises, 1935-1939
With no naval ships at their disposal, the SANS could not play any diplomatic role. With as few as five permanent officers, twelve seamen and ten civilian administrative personnel, the SANS was merely a naval force in name. The seaward defence of the Union of South Africa was performed by the Royal Navy, with the Simon's Town Naval Base as their most important base in the southern hemisphere. However, the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939 caused a dramatic change in South Africa's naval position.
Phase 3: South Africa and the Second World War, 1940-1945
In the same way that the Union Defence Forces' (UDF's) land and air forces underwent a dramatic transformation from September 1939 onwards, the naval forces were also extended. German submarines and surface raiders posed a threat to the strategic Cape sea route, and a total of 156 Allied ships were sunk within a radius of 1 000 nautical miles (1852 km) from the South African coast. Fishing-trawlers and whaling ships were converted locally into minesweepers and submarine hunters. By the end of 1939, fifteen of these small vessels were in the service of the Seaward Defence Force (which formally took the place of the SANF on 15 January 1940). On 1 August 1942, the Seaward Defence Force and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve (South Africa) were merged to form the South African Naval Forces. By the end of the war, a total of 1 436 officers and 8 896 other sailors were in the service of South Africa's naval forces, of whom 338 died while on active service; and a total of 89 vessels were involved in active service at some or other time, including three frigates, twenty small anti-submarine vessels, 45 small minesweepers, and eleven harbour defence motor launches.
Although the overwhelming majority of South African naval operations took place in the territorial waters off the Union's coast, some South African ships saw service in other operational areas. Traditionally, war-time maritime operations are not associated with diplomatic maritime actions. However, for purposes of this study, the visits that South African warships paid to other parts of the world are nonetheless regarded as a form of flag-showing event. This was indeed the first time since 1929 that South African warships visited other countries' ports, and it was the very first time that harbours in North Africa and Europe, as well as the Central and the Far East were visited. Although these visits occurred under operational conditions, the South African flag was indeed displayed. However, since the visits did not form part of formal flag-showing cruises, we only provide a broad overview of the visits, and these visits are also not linked to identifiable individual flag-showing cruises - for this reason, the visits from 1940 to 1945 also do not form part of the formally counted flag-showing cruises from 1922 to 2002 (or rather, 1922 to 1934, and 1946 to 2002).
In December 1940, four South African anti-submarine vessels were sent to the Mediterranean Sea. On 11 January 1941, they arrived in Alexandria (Egypt), from where they initially were involved in operations. Later, Tobruk (Libya) became their base, and on 11 February 1941, HMSAS Southern Floe was blown up by a mine close to this harbour - only one survivor was found. HMSAS Protea was sent as substitute to the Mediterranean Sea. In November 1941, eight small minesweepers were also dispatched to the Mediterranean Sea, and of these, three were sunk: HMSAS Parktown, Bever and Treern. Ports visited by South African ships included Sollum (Egypt), Beirut (Lebanon), Famagusta (Cyprus), Gibraltar, Port Said (Egypt), several Greek islands, Taranto (Italy), Brindisi (Italy), Preveza (Albania), Gemeniysa (Albania), and Haifa (Palestine, the present-day Israel). Two other small South African vessels (under the operational command of the Royal Navy) visited Mauritius, Madagascar, the Seychelles and Kenya. Furthermore, the salvage ship HMSAS Gamtoos left Durban on 19 November 1942, sailing via Mombasa (Kenya), Aden (Yemen) and Port Said (Egypt) to the Mediterranean Sea - where, among others, they visited the following ports to perform salvage operations: Port Said, Alexandria, Benghazi (Libya), Tripoli (Libya), Tobruk, Algiers (Algeria), Naples (Italy), Marseilles (France), La Ciotat (France), Ajaccio (Corsica), Valetta (Malta) and Genoa (Italy), and then embarked on its return voyage via Mombasa to Durban.
Meanwhile, South Africa had for the first time secured significant warships, namely, the "Loch" Class frigates HMSAS Good Hope (December 1944), Natal (March 1945) and Transvaal (May 1945). The first two ships visited several ports in the British Isles and France - and the Natal sank the German submarine U-714. The Good Hope and the Natal sailed via Freetown (Sierra Leone) and Saldanha Bay to Cape Town (June 1945), while the Transvaal arrived in Cape Town approximately a month later. Meanwhile, the war against Japan continued unabated. In February 1945, the boom defence vessel HMSAS Barbrake (later SAS Fleur) embarked on a cruise to Trincomalee in Ceylon (known today as Sri Lanka), later visiting Madras (India), Colombo (Ceylon) and Akyalo and Rangoon (both in Burma, known today as Myanmar) before returning to South Africa in January 1946. Shortly before the end of the war, HMSAS Natal departed for the East, visiting Diego Suarez (Madagascar), Colombo, Port Swettenham (Malaysia), Singapore and Mauritius before the ship returned to Durban on 30 November 1945. During and directly after the Second World War, South African warships did indeed display the South African flag in various parts of the world.
Phase 4: Normal Diplomatic Relations, 1946-1960
On conclusion of the Second World War, all the components of the Union Defence Forces (UDF) were scaled down dramatically. At the start of the 1946, the South African Naval Forces (SANF) had only three frigates, one mine-laying vessel, eleven harbour defence motor launches and two boom defence vessels. On 1 May 1946, the SANF were reconstituted as a permanent component of the UDF, and from 1 January 1951, the SANF became known as the South African Navy (SAN). From 20 June 1952, the prefix HMSAS was replaced by SAS - this was consistent with the policy to make South Africa less and less dependent on Britain.
In 1947, the SANF acquired three additional ships: the "Algerine" Class fleet minesweepers HMSAS Rosamund (later renamed HMSAS Bloemfontein), HMSAS Pelorus (later renamed HMSAS Pietermaritzburg), and the "Flower" Class corvette HMSAS Rockrose (later converted into a hydrographic survey ship and renamed HMSAS Protea). Although delivery cruises are not primary flag-showing cruises, these types of cruises are pre-eminently suited for diplomatic purposes. The above-mentioned ships left Britain under the South African flag on 22 November 1947, sailing to Cape Town (arriving on 24 December 1947) via Gibraltar (a British territory), Freetown (in Sierra Leone, at the time also a British colony), and Walvis Bay (until 1994 a South African territory).
In March 1948, the SANF secured an own base at Salisbury Island in Durban. In August and September 1948, the SANDF embarked on its first flag-showing cruise from its new base, when all three the "Loch" Class frigates visited Mocãmedes (known today as Namibe), Lobito and Luanda in Angola (until 1975 a Portuguese colony) and Matadi in the Belgian Congo (later to become Zaïre and known today as the Democratic Republic of the Congo). In November and December 1948, the frigate HMSAS Natal and the two fleet minesweepers visited Lourenço Marques, Inhambane and Beira in Mozambique.
On 26 December 1950, the frigate HMSAS Transvaal left Durban, and embarked on a voyage to Fremantle (Australia) via Amsterdam Island (which is still a French territory today). From Fremantle, the frigate sailed to Sydney to participate in the festivities commemorating the 50th anniversary of Australia as a unitary state. Then, the Transvaal returned to South Africa, sailing via Jervis Bay, Melbourne, Adelaide and Fremantle to Durban (4 March 1951). On 24 August 1952, the SAN's first destroyer, SAS Jan van Riebeeck (the former British "Wager" Class HMS Wessex was transferred to South Africa on 29 March 1950), and SAS Transvaal and Bloemfontein left Durban for a visit to Diego Suarez (Madagascar - at the time still a French colony), Mombasa (Kenya, at the time still a British colony) and Dar es Salaam (at the time still the British colony Tanganyika, known today as Tanzania). The ships were back in the Durban harbour on 13 September.
The SAN's second destroyer, SAS Simon van der Stel (the former HMS Whelp, and a sister-ship of the Jan van Riebeeck, was handed over to the Navy on 23 February 1953. On 14 July 1954, the Simon van der Stel left Durban harbour on what was the longest flag-showing cruise ever by an SAN warship. The warship sailed via Cape Town, Walvis Bay, Freetown and Dakar (Senegal - at the time still a French colony) to Portsmouth in England (31 July), where the ship remained for approximately two weeks. Then, the Simon van der Stel became the first SAN ship to visit the Netherlands, when the warship berthed in Rotterdam. From there, the ship returned to Portsmouth and then sailed to Derry (Londonderry, Northern Ireland), Glasgow (Scotland) and once again returned to Portsmouth. On 21 October, the return cruise to South Africa was undertaken, together with SAS Gelderland (the former HMS Brayford, the new "Ford" Class seaward defence boat, which it escorted. On their way to Durban, the ships visited Brest (France), Lisbon (Portugal), Las Palmas (Canary Islands - a Spanish territory), Dakar, Abidjan (in the former French West Africa; today located in the Côte d'Ivoire - in other words, the Ivory Coast), Pointe Noire (the former French Equatorial Africa; today located in the Republic of the Congo), Walvis Bay, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth. This successful cruise of 147 days ended on 8 December 1954.
SAS Simon van der Stel in Rotterdam during her visit to the Netherlands. She was the first South African warship to visit that country.
At the end of July 1955, SAS Good Hope (at that stage the SAN's flagship) and SAS Transvaal undertook a diplomatic cruise to Madagascar, including visits to Nossi Bé, Diego Suarez and Tamatava (known today as Taomasina). On board the flagship was His Excellency Dr E.G. Jansen (South Africa's governor-general) and his wife, Mabel. This was the first (and thus far the last) time that a South African head of state sailed on board a South African warship to another country. Meanwhile, negotiations were taking place between the governments of South Africa and Britain on the future of the Royal Navy's base at Simon's Town. The outcome of these talks was that the base was transferred to the Union on 2 April 1957 in terms of the Simon's Town Agreement, and that the SAN would purchase four additional frigates, ten coastal minesweepers and five seaward defence boats (including SAS Gelderland, which has already been referred to) from Britain.
The new "Ton" Class coastal minesweepers and additional "Ford" Class seaward defence boats sailed to South Africa in groups, without additional larger escorting ships. The minesweepers SAS Kaapstad (the former HMS Hazleton) and SAS Pretoria (HMS Dunkerton) and the seaward defence boat SAS Nautilus (HMS Glassford) left Portsmouth on 4 October 1955 and sailed via Lisbon, Las Palmas, Dakar, Abidjan, Pointe Noire, Walvis Bay, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth and East London to Durban (22 November). The next flotilla of minesweepers that sailed to South Africa were SAS Durban and Windhoek. The voyage took them from Portsmouth (12 May 1958), via Lisbon, Las Palmas, Dakar, Abidjan, Pointe Noire, Lobito and Walvis Bay to Simon's Town (13 June). After this, the minesweepers SAS East London (HMS Chilton) and SAS Port Elizabeth (HMS Dumbleton), together with the seaward defence boat SAS Rijger, left in November 1958, visiting the same harbours (excluding Abidjan) as the latter group, and reached Simon's Town on 21 December. The next group consisted of the minesweepers SAS Johannesburg (HMS Castleton) and SAS Kimberley (HMS Stratton) and the seaward defence boat SAS Haerlem, which left Portsmouth on 14 July 1959, and visited the same harbours on the way to Simon's Town (21 August) as the May-June 1958 squadron, followed by the last flotilla, comprising the minesweepers SAS Mossel Bay (HMS Oakington) and SAS Walvisbaai (HMS Packington) and the seaward defence boat SAS Oosterland. They left Portsmouth on 30 October 1959, visiting the same harbours as their predecessors (excluding Lobito) on their way to Simon's Town (where they arrived on 5 December 1959).