Meanwhile, in Cardiff, Wales, on 29 November 1956, the SAN obtained the former British "Wager" Class destroyer (in other words, a sister-ship of the Jan van Riebeeck and the Simon van der Stel), HMS Wrangler (which, in the mean time, had been converted into an anti-submarine frigate), henceforth known as SAS Vrystaat. The latter ship also visited Portland and Devonport (Plymouth), and on 22 January 1957, the frigate sailed from the latter harbour via Lisbon, Gibraltar, Las Palmas, Freetown, Luanda and Cape Town to its destination, Durban (23 February). Shortly afterwards, the SAN ships shifted their base from Salisbury Island in Durban to their new base at Simon's Town. The first flag-showing cruise undertaken from the new base involved the frigates SAS Good Hope and Vrystaat, as well as the minesweepers SAS Kaapstad and Pretoria. The flotilla sailed from Simon's Town (12 July 1957) to Durban, Lourenço Marques and Beira. From the latter harbour, SAS Vrystaat sailed to Mombasa in Kenya to fetch ammunition, after which the frigate returned to Simon's Town (7 August) via Durban. The other ships had already arrived in Simon's Town via Durban on 2 August.
SAS Vrystaat in Durban.
In August 1959, SAS Good Hope and Vrystaat embarked on another cruise, first to Luanda in Angola, and then approximately 150 km upstream along the Congo River to Matadi in the Belgian Congo, and next downstream again to Banana. The Vrystaat was the first to return to South Africa to deliver a sick officer to a local hospital. The SAN's next flag-showing cruise took SAS Vrystaat back to Europe as part of the commemoration of the death of the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator 500 years earlier. The frigate sailed from Simon's Town (18 July 1960) via Walvis Bay, Freetown and Gibraltar to Lagos in Portugal where a naval revue (including 35 ships from twenty countries) took place on 7 August. After the South Africans participated in other commemorative events, and visited Lisbon, they returned to Simon's Town (9 September) via Las Palmas, Freetown and Walvis Bay. While whites were commemorating the role that a European had played in opening up Africa for discovery and exploitation by Westerners, a wave of nationalism had hit Africa, and in 1960 alone, seventeen colonies gained independence. To South Africa, with its minority government who were trying to enforce a policy of apartheid on the majority, the events in the rest of Africa held dramatic implications. As time passed, this state of affairs would also have negative consequences for the SAN's diplomatic actions.
Phase 5: Gradual Isolation, 1961 -1973
Along with the events in the rest of Africa, the year 1960 was also a turbulent and watershed year for South Africa. Some of the most important events included the British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan's "Wind of Change" speech in the parliament in Cape Town on 3 February, the riots at Sharpeville and other so-called townships on 21 March, the banning of the African National Congress and the Pan-Africanist Congress on 8 April, as well as the referendum on 5 October when white voters voted by a slim majority in favour of their country becoming a republic. On 31 May 1961, South Africa became a republic outside the British Commonwealth. Gradually, the Republic of South Africa (RSA) was isolated internationally, especially in the military domain, which meant that purchasing new armaments (especially warships) became more difficult - a fact that limited flag-showing cruises. However, for the time being, there seemed to be no apparent problems.
The first flag-showing cruise undertaken by the SAN for the new RSA took place in the middle of 1961 when SAS Vrystaat visited Lourenço Marques. Hereafter, the delivery cruises of three new Type-12 frigates followed. (Bear in mind that the orders for these ships had already been placed in 1957.) SAS President Kruger ("PK") was commissioned on 3 October 1962 at Scotstoun, Glasgow, left Portsmouth on 27 February 1963 and arrived in Simon's Town on 28 March. Thereafter, SAS President Steyn ("PS") was commissioned on 8 April 1963 at Linthouse, Glasgow, and the warship left Portsmouth on 17 August 1963 for Simon's Town (13 September). Finally, SAS President Pretorius ("PP") was commissioned on 18 March 1964 at Scotstoun, and the cruise from Portsmouth commenced (on 29 August) to Cape Town (26 September). On their way to South Africa, the three frigates all visited the following harbours: Lisbon, Gibraltar, Las Palmas, Luanda and Saldanha Bay.
The arrival of brand new grey diplomats meant the end of several ships: SAS Vrystaat, Transvaal and Good Hope were placed in reserve in 1963, 1964 and 1965 respectively, but were never re-commissioned. However, other World War II ships received a second lease on life: the destroyers Jan van Riebeeck and Simon van der Stel were comprehensively modernised and rebuilt into helicopter-carrying anti-submarine ships.
Since "PP" arrived in South Africa, three years passed before the SAN undertook a series of new diplomatic initiatives. Growing international isolation led to the SAN investigating new possibilities, and on 24 October 1967, the frigates SAS President Kruger and President Pretorius, along with the replenishment ship SAS Tafelberg (built as an oil tanker in Denmark, from 1957-1959, and commissioned as a replenishment ship for the SAN on 10 August 1967) left for South America where they participated in naval manoeuvres with the Argentinian Navy. The task force returned to Simon's Town on 27 November. During this flag-showing cruise, the Tafelberg showed its value. This ship - the SAN's largest grey diplomat thus far - enabled other naval ships in the next 25 years to remain at sea for periods longer than before, and in this way allowed these warships to carry out their diplomatic role. Meanwhile the minesweepers SAS Kimberley and Mosselbaai visited Luanda at the end of October 1967.
In October 1968, two important flag-showing cruises were undertaken. Almost three decades after HMSAS Transvaal displayed the South African flag in Australian waters, SAS President Steyn, President Pretorius and Tafelberg left Simon's Town on 7 October, sailing directly for Fremantle, and from there to Sydney, and then back to Fremantle, on the return voyage to Simon's Town (3 December). Meanwhile, SAS Simon van der Stel, Kimberley and Mosselbaai visited Lourenço Marques where a commemorative plaque in memory of the Voortrekker leader Louis Tregardt was unveiled on 12 October.
On 14 October 1969, SAS Simon van der Stel, President Pretorius, Port Elizabeth, Walvisbaai and Tafelberg sailed from Simon's Town on a visit to the Angolan harbours of Mocãmedes, Luanda and Lobito. The task force was back in Simon's Town on 5 November. From 10 to 25 July 1970, SAS Port Elizabeth, Windhoek and Johannesburg undertook a cruise to Lourenço Marques. In January 1971, the first Transatlantic yacht race between Cape Town and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) took place. From 16 January, SAS Tafelberg served as guardship for the voyage from Cape Town; however, due to political considerations, the replenishment ship could not visit Rio de Janeiro, and from 60 nautical miles outside the harbour, the ship sailed to Buenos Aires in Argentina and from there embarked on the return voyage to Cape Town (15 March).
Meanwhile, SAS President Kruger was recommissioned on 5 August 1969 on completion of a comprehensive modernisation process, which included, among others, the building of a helicopter deck and hangar, and three "Daphne" class submarines were ordered from France. On 28 January 1971, "PK" left Simon's Town to escort the first new submarine, SAS Maria van Riebeeck (which was renamed SAS Spear in 1999) on its voyage to South Africa. On its way to Toulon, the warship visited Luanda, Las Palmas, Lisbon, Naples and Augusta (Sicily). On 24 March, the frigate and the submarine left Toulon, sailing to Simon's Town (13 May) via Gibraltar, Porto Grande (on St Vincent, the Cape Verde Islands), Luanda and Walvis Bay. The last part of the cruise was in the company of SAS Simon van der Stel and Tafelberg, which visited Lobito at the end of April.
On 1 September 1971, SAS President Steyn departed to serve as escort for the SAN's second submarine, SAS Emily Hobhouse (which was renamed SAS Umkhonto in 1999). "PS" visited Lisbon, Hamburg, Kiel, Portsmouth and Portland on its voyage to Toulon, and on its return voyage, with the new submarine, it visited Cadiz (Spain), Porto Grande, Luanda and Walvis Bay (before arriving in Simon's Town on 10 December). On 10 April 1972, "PS" once again departed from Simon's Town to serve as escort for the last submarine, SAS Johanna van der Merwe (which was renamed SAS Assegaai in 1999). On the frigate's voyage to Toulon, it visited Porto Grande and Las Palmas, and on its return voyage to South Africa, the same harbours were visited (arrival in Simon's Town: 19 June). Meanwhile, the Navy's new hydrographic research ship, SAS Protea, was commissioned on 19 June 1972 at Scotstoun, Glasgow, and called at Lisbon, Luanda and Walvis Bay on its way to Simon's Town (14 July). More than twenty years would pass before a South African grey diplomat again sailed in European waters.
Meanwhile the minesweepers SAS Johannesburg, Walvisbaai and Windhoek, as well as the diving support and torpedo recovery vessel, SAS Fleur, visited Durban and Lourenço Marques at the end of May 1972, and in November 1972, SAS Johannesburg and Mosselbaai visited Lobito. From 13 January 1973, SAS Tafelberg once again served as guardship for the Cape-to-Rio yacht race, but once again, the ship could not visit Rio de Janeiro; rather, it was permitted to call on Buenos Aires (and then returned to Simon's Town on 14 March). From 29 March to 7 April 1973, the "PK", "PS" and SAS Johanna van der Merwe visited Lourenço Marques. The latter voyage was the last visit to a Portuguese colony before Mozambique (25 June 1975) and Angola (11 November 1975) became independent. With pro-communist governments in place in the stated two countries, South Africa's grey diplomats would in future not be welcome in these ports; indeed, the RSA experienced increasing pressure on all fronts.
Phase 6: Increasing Isolation, 1974 - 1979
At the start of 1976, SAS Protea served as guardship for the Cape-to-Rio yacht race, and was permitted to visit Rio de Janeiro. (The ship, which was painted white, could have gone through as a civilian vessel.) Later in that year, SAS President Kruger became the first SAN ship to visit the USA to participate in the 200th anniversary of the country's independence. Troubled relations between the RSA and the USA meant that the RSA only received a last-minute invitation to send a warship to the USA. "PK" left Simon's Town on 3 June 1976, and sailed via Walvis Bay, Abidjan and Las Palmas to Norfolk, Virginia, and sailed from there, as part of a fleet of 53 warships (representing 22 countries) to New York where a naval revue took place on 4 July. Members of the ship's crew participated on 6 July in a parade through the streets of New York, after which the frigate sailed to Charleston, South Carolina. From there, the ship sailed via Las Palmas to Simon's Town (return date 6 August). Exactly twenty years would pass before a South African grey diplomat would again visit the USA.
SAS President Kruger leaves New York following her highly successful visit in July 1976.
Meanwhile, the British Labour government abrogated the Simon's Town Agreement on 16 June 1975. Exactly a year later, political unrest commenced in Soweto and elsewhere, and prompted the apartheid regime to take even sterner measures in an attempt to keep the opposition under control, actions that, in turn, led to the acceptance by the United Nations of a mandatory arms embargo against the RSA (4 November 1977). The Navy in particular was affected by this mandatory arms embargo because two Type A69 corvettes and two "Agosta" Class submarines were not delivered. Moreover, the destroyers SAS Simon van der Stel and Jan van Riebeeck were decommissioned in 1972 and 1975 respectively. Albeit that nine missile-carrying strike craft were commissioned in the period from 1977 to 1986, flag-showing opportunities (as well as the means to undertake them) were declining.
Only SAS Protea had flag-showing opportunities in the remainder of 1970s, albeit that flag-showing was not the primary purpose of the cruises in question. On 31 January 1978, the warship left Simon's Town to lend support to a krill research project of the Department of Fisheries. This project took the Protea into the South Atlantic Ocean, and this was the first time that an SAN vessel sailed around Cape Horn, through the Beagle Channel to Ushuaia in Argentina. Next, the vessel sailed to Deception Island (part of the British Shetland Islands), Grytviken (on the British South Georgia Island), and Puerto Belgrano (Argentina), and then returned to Simon's Town (on 21 April). At the beginning of 1979, the Protea served as guardship for the duration of the fourth Transatlantic yacht race. As a result of political considerations, the destination was moved from Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) to Punta del Este (Uruguay). The ship did in fact call at Ilha da Trinidade (a Brazilian island group), as well as at Montevideo (Uruguay) before returning to Simon's Town (10 March). Almost ten years would pass before the South African flag would again be displayed by SAN ships in foreign waters.
Phase 7: Total Isolation, 1980 - 1986
In the light of the mandatory arms embargo, the SAN would henceforth concentrate on safeguarding the RSA's harbours and coastal (territorial) waters. Along with the strike craft referred to above, 30 small harbour protection boats were built locally, and four "River" Class minehunters were also acquired. On 1 August 1980 SAS President Steyn was decommissioned and systematically stripped for spare parts so that the remaining two frigates could be kept serviceable. In the early morning hours of 18 February 1982, the SAN experienced one of its most devastating disasters when SAS Tafelberg collided with the frigate SAS President Kruger, which sank "PK", losing sixteen crew members. When SAS President Pretorius was decommissioned on 26 July 1985, the SAN no longer had any traditional grey diplomats at its disposal. As part of a comprehensive rationalisation process, the SAN also had to decommission fourteen other ships in 1985, including six of the coastal minesweepers that had been deployed as grey diplomats.
On the positive side, the keel of a new replenishment ship (also referred to as a combat-support ship) was laid on 30 August 1984 in Durban. SAS Drakensberg - the largest ship of any kind ever designed and built in South Africa - was launched on 24 April 1986, and commissioned on 11 October 1987. Although it was not planned at the time, this warship became the RSA's most successful grey diplomat to date. On completion of the Drakensberg, the SAN was in the unique situation that it had two replenishment ships at its disposal, but with no major surface combatants to support.
Phase 8: En Route to a New Era, 1987 - 1993
When the "Helderberg", a South African Airways' Boeing 747 crashed into the sea near Mauritius on 28 November 1987, the strike craft SAS Jim Fouché (renamed SAS Sekhukhune in 1997) was sent from Durban, while SAS Tafelberg was sent later from Simon's Town to the scene of the disaster to assist in the search for debris and the remains of the 160 passengers who had died in the accident. Although this was in essence an assistance operation, the SAN ships' visit to Port Louis in Mauritius meant that the South African flag was indeed displayed for the first time in more than eight years by RSA warships visiting foreign countries.
On 15 February 1988, SAS Drakensberg and the strike craft SAS Frans Erasmus (renamed SAS Isaac Dyobha in 1997), not only left on the first tailor-made flag-showing cruise in almost twelve years, but also transported Armscor armaments to Chile where the military hardware was to be exhibited at the FIDA '88 International Air Show. The ships sailed through the Strait of Magellan to Valparaiso (Chile's most important harbour and naval base) where the armaments were off-loaded. The ships also visited the Chilean ports of Talcahuano, Puerto Montt and Punta Arenas, and returned to Simon's Town on 16 April. This successful flag-showing cruise - two years prior to President F.W. de Klerk's watershed speech in parliament on 2 February 1990 - not only lifted the RSA's international naval isolation, but was also significant for two other reasons: it was not common that a warship (such as the Drakensberg) could undertake a long sea voyage so shortly after it had been commissioned; and small strike craft are not traditionally utilised as grey diplomats - certainly not across the vast expanses of the rough South Atlantic Ocean. The above-mentioned event was proof of what the SAN was capable of under difficult political and financial circumstances; indeed, it was testimony to the SAN personnel's skills and seamanship.
At the end of November and the beginning of December 1988, SAS Drakensberg also paid two visits to Beira to ship non-combat military equipment from Durban to this port. The vehicles and other equipment would be used in protecting the Cabora Bassa power lines (which also provided electricity to the RSA). On 11 May 1990 SAS Drakensberg and the strike craft SAS Jan Smuts and Hendrik Mentz (renamed SAS Galeshewe in 1997) departed from Durban, sailing via the Mozambique Channel, in a north-easterly direction past Madagascar, across the Indian Ocean, through the Malakka Strait and across the South China Sea, all the way to Keelung in the Republic of China (Taiwan). For the first time since 1945, the South African flag was shown in the Far East. The port city of Kaohsiung was also visited and the South African ships participated in manoeuvres with ships of the Taiwanese Navy. The return voyage took the South African ships via the Sundra Sea Strait and across the Indian Ocean to Durban (25 June). "Operation Nexus" was a major success. The SAN showed that its ships could still undertake very long voyages (without the advantage of port facilities along the way).
While the Drakensberg task force was on its way to Taiwan, SAS Protea served as guardship for the yachts that participated in the Portnet Diaz yacht race from Cape Town to Lisbon. The Protea sailed from Simon's Town (on 18 April 1990) to Lisbon via Porta Delgada (in Portugal's Azore Islands) - where the SAN's Voortrekker II was the first yacht to cross the finishing line. Lisbon was the last European port that was visited prior to the boycott years by an SAN ship, namely, the SAS Protea in 1972. On its return voyage to the RSA, the Protea's commander, Cdr B. Teuteberg, fell ill and was given permission to disembark at Abidjan from where the captain of the ship was flown back to the RSA. On 16 June, the Protea was back in Simon's Town.
More than 30 years after SAS Good Hope and Vrystaat visited the former Belgian Congo, SAS Drakensberg and the "River" Class mine hunters SAS Umhloti and Umzimkulu visited the Zairean harbours of Banana and Matadi from 1 September 1990, where crew members performed recovery and repair work and formed new friendship ties. The task force was back in Simon's Town on 25 September. "Operation Pullen" was the start of close co-operation between the South African Defence Force and other African states.
On 7 January 1991, SAS Tafelberg departed on its longest flag-showing cruise from Cape Town: across the South Atlantic Ocean and through the Strait of Magellan to Valparaiso in Chile to off-load the SAN yacht, Voortrekker II (which was to participate in the Copa Millas yacht race); then to Talcahuano and Puerto Montt for purely diplomatic visits; back to Valparaiso to load the SAN yacht (which won the yacht race, as well as Ecuador's naval yacht Alcane); next, the voyage took the ship to Guayaquil in Ecuador to off-load the latter yacht; then, the voyage took the ship through the Panama Canal back to the Atlantic Ocean (thus far the only SAN ship to sail through the above-mentioned canal); to Cartagena (Colombia), and then via Recife (in Brazil, for emergency repair work) and directly back to Simon's Town (31 March). Thus, even before political parties commenced with negotiations in the RSA, and even before the country was officially welcomed back into the international community, the SAN's grey diplomats were already involved in restoring military and diplomatic ties or were involved in forging new ties of friendship.
On 22 March 1991, the strike craft SAS Oswald Pirow (renamed SAS René Sethren in 1997) and the mine hunter SAS Umkomaas, on patrol along the RSA's west coast, were requested by Namibian authorities to capture three Spanish trawlers that were involved in illegal fishing inside Namibian territorial waters (and were moving in the direction of the RSA's exclusive economic zone). The two above-mentioned SAN ships intercepted the Spanish trawlers, accompanied them into Namibian territorial waters, and handed them over to a Namibian Fisheries' inspection ship, the Oryx. All the ships next sailed to Lüderitz. This unplanned SAN visit to Lüderitz on 23 March 1991 was the first SAN visit to a Namibian port since that country became independent on 21 March 1990.
"Operation Bob Cat" (20 June - 4 July 1991) took SAS Drakensberg on a training cruise to the British St Helena Island. "Operation Chant" (15 July - 8 September 1991) was far more comprehensive and took the Drakensberg from Simon's Town to Cape Town and Durban (where approximately 35 and 750 tons of support supplies were taken on board); in a north-easterly direction across the Indian Ocean to Chittagong in Bangladesh (where approximately 630 tons of supplies were off-loaded to relieve the plight of flood victims); through the Suez Canal to Mersin in Turkey (where approximately 35 tons of supplies were off-loaded for the Kurds who had fled from the north of Iran to Turkey); next, back through the Suez Canal to Port Sudan (however, an attempted coup in Sudan meant that the SAN ship could not enter the harbour); then to Nacala in Mozambique (where approximately 120 tons of supplies intended for Sudan were off-loaded), and then, back to Simon's Town (8 September). Although many frustrations were experienced, the Drakensberg brought relief to the victims of natural disasters and political oppression, and - as a bonus - the South African flag was displayed in parts that SAN vessels had never visited before.
With political parties in the RSA moving closer to a political agreement, many doors opened to the country (as well as ports for the Navy). When President F.W. de Klerk visited Kenya in June 1992, the strike craft SAS Frans Erasmus and Magnus Malan (renamed Makhanda in 1997) gave further importance to this diplomatic visit by sailing to Mombasa. When the SAN was invited to send a ship to Monaco for the 14th annual conference of the International Hydrographic Organisation, the opportunity was taken to display the South African flag in the Mediterranean Sea. SAS Protea left Simon's Town on 9 April 1992 ("Operation Hyson"), sailing along the west coast of Africa (without visiting ports) and through the Strait of Gibraltar to the port of Monte Carlo (in the principality of Monaco); from there to Genoa (Italy); through the Dardanelles to Istanbul (Turkey), and through the Bosporus to Constanta (Rumania) - the first time that a South African warship visited the Black Sea. Next, the Protea sailed back through the Bosporus and Dardanelles, through the Suez Canal, and along the east coast of Africa to Simon's Town (30 June).
"Operation Flush / Big Tree" (16 September - 23 October 1992) gave SAS Tafelberg the last opportunity to serve as a grey diplomat for the RSA. In Durban, approximately 670 tons of food were taken on board to be delivered at Mombasa for distribution among Somalian refugees in the north of Kenya. Although this was primarily a relief cruise, various diplomatic visits took place in Mombasa, and ties between the navies of the RSA and Kenya were also reinforced. This was the Tafelberg's last voyage. After 26 years of service in the SAN, it was no longer economical to maintain the 35-year old ship, and on 17 March 1993, "Mamma Tafies" was decommissioned. As replacement, the Navy purchased the Arctic supply ship, the Juvent, which had been built in the Ukraine in 1992. This ship was commissioned on 8 June 1993 as the Navy's new combat-support ship, SAS Outeniqua - and although not the most beautiful ship imaginable, it soon became a highly successful grey diplomat in the service of the SAN and the RSA.
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