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renamed SAS Vrystaat in the South African service and made many overseas port visits before

corrosion problems caused her to be reduced to reserve in 1963. Her aluminium rivets were
deteriorating and there were significant galvanic corrosion problems where the aluminium

superstructure joined the steel hull. She was deemed too expensive to repair.

On 14 April 1974 she was towed out to sea by SAS President Steyn and sunk as a target by the

submarine SAS Maria van Riebeeck eight nautical miles (15 km or 9.2 miles) south-west of

Cape Point.

Seaward Defence Boats

The Ford Class seaward defence boats were built for the Royal Navy in the 1950s. (Fig. 1.47).
Three were built for the SA Navy. They had a 120 ton standard displacement and 140 ton at

full load. They were 117 feet 2 inches in length (35.71 meters), with a beam of 20 feet (6.1
meters), and a draught of 6 feet 6 inches (1.98 meters). They were propelled by a Foden diesel

engine which drove the centre shaft, and by 2 Davey Paxman diesels which drove the outer

shafts. They had a top speed of 18 knots (32kmph or 21 mph) and carried a compliment of 19.
These boats were designed to detect and attack hostile submarines in inshore waters, such as

the approaches to large ports.

SAS Gelderland

She was commissioned on 30 August 1954 and decommissioned in 1988. (Fig. 1.48). Ken

Evans of Hout Bay had a keen interest in these Ford Class boats – as well as the rest of the SA
naval fleet – and hoped to secure one or more of these boats as they came up for tender.

One mid - summer morning in December 1988 Ken was greeted by the unexpected sight of the
SAS Gelderland secured to the outer wall of Hout Bay Harbour’s North Quay. At first he

thought his dreams of the Navy passing one of their ships over to him had finally become a
reality, but his elation rapidly subsided when he was told that the boat was about to be towed

out to sea and scuttled.

By 06h00 the following morning he was already at the Cape High Court to apply for an urgent
interdict to stop the sinking of the SAS Gelderland. Apart from it being a wonderful boat, his

motivation was to save the millions of rands worth of spares - which would ultimately go down
with the ship.