Page 11 - KBHA BULLETIN 24

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that the Royal Navy might take up their offer. This the RN did and in 1942 the boys and staff

continued their training on shore at Red Hill until 1948.

The ship resumed her former name shortly afterwards and she then served as an

accommodation ship, as well as a prison ship for part of her time in the Royal Navy service.
By the time the RN returned her to the Board of Control she was deemed uneconomical to

repair.

On 14 May 1947 she was scuttled in False Bay by gunfire from the local coastal defence battery

near Simon’s Town – Scala Battery. (Fig. 1.7). A memorial was erected on the Foreshore in

Cape Town with the names of all who had trained on the SATS General Botha and died in
WW 2. (Fig. 1.8). Today she is a popular dive venue for the more experienced diver as she lies

in 54 meters in False Bay. (Figs. 1.9 – 1.12). The name ‘General Botha’ lived on in the name

of the South African Nautical College, General Botha, established in 1948 at the former SAAF
crash boat station at Gordon’s Bay. (Figs. 1.13 & 1.14). In 1966 the College moved to Granger

Bay and its name changed to SA Merchant Navy Academy.

Fledgling SA Navy Service

HMSAS Protea

The official South African Navy Service was established as a small coastal force with one

survey ship HMSAS Protea and two mine-sweeping trawlers HMSAS Immortelle and HMSAS
Sonneblom.

The HMSAS Protea was the first hydrographic survey ship used by the SA Naval Service.
(Fig. 1.15). She was laid down in 1917 as a Hunt Class mine-sweeper. She had a displacement

of 800 tons and was 230 feet long (70.4 meters) with a beam of 28.6 feet (8.71 meters) and a

draught of 7.5 feet (2.29 meters). She was a twin-screw vessel with a maximum speed of 16
knots (30 kmph or 18 mph) and had a range of 1,500 nautical miles (2,800 km or 1,700 miles).

At her time of laying down she was named HMS Ventnor, but at the time of launching in 1918
she was re-named HMS Verhood. On 1 July 1919 she again underwent a name change to HMS

Crozier. In 1921 she was converted to a survey vessel and in 1922 she was transferred to the

SA Navy Service where she was commissioned as HMSAS Protea. She served as a survey
vessel until 1933 when she was returned to the Royal Navy.