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SHIPWRECKS IN FALSE BAY: THE SA NAVY SHIPS SCUTTLED OR SUNK

Gary Mills

Brief History of the South African Navy

Unofficially, the SA Navy had an unbroken association with the Natal Naval Volunteers, which
was formed in Durban on 30 April 1885, and later with the Cape Naval Volunteers in 1905.

Officially, the SA Navy trace sits origins back to the creation of the SA Naval Service on 1

April 1922.

The official SA Navy Service was established as a small coastal force with one survey ship and

two mine-sweeping trawlers. All three ships were withdrawn from service during the Great
Depression, 1929 – 1933, and the Navy existed only as a nominal naval force with very few

personnel and no ships.

At the outbreak of WW2 in 1939 the SA Navy Service became the Seaward Defence Force,
which in 1942 became the SA Naval Forces. Wartime Prime Minister, General Jan Smuts,

proceeded to expand the naval forces and by the end of the war more than 8,000 personnel had
served in the SAN Forces on board 88 different naval vessels. Most of the vessels had been

peace-time fishing trawlers and whalers, which had been converted into mine-sweepers or anti

-submarine vessels. Approximately 2,000 South Africans served in the Royal Navy during the
war.

It was only in 1944/45 that the SA Navy received its ‘major’ warships – 3 British Loch Class
frigates. Although South Africa was spared physical attack during the war, a total of 133 Allied

merchant ships were sunk within 1,000 nautical miles of the South African coastline. In 1947

the SAN Forces acquired two ocean mine-sweepers from Britain, as well as a Royal Navy
corvette which was converted to a hydrographic survey ship. In 1951 the SAN Forces was re-

named the South African Navy. During the 1950s the Navy acquired 18 new or used ships from
Britain.

The acquisition of these vessels was mainly a result of the Simon’s Town Agreement of 1955,

which led to Britain handing over the Simon’s Town naval base to the SA Navy on 1 April
1957. During 1962 to 1964 the SAN acquired three new Type 12 frigates from Britain and in