At the start of 2001, it was once again the Drakensberg that undertook a long flag-showing cruise. The ship sailed from Simon's Town (on 1 February) via Durban (to load approximately 320 tons of supplies for the victims of an earthquake in India) to Mumbai (where the supplies were off-loaded - the ship also participated in a naval revue to commemorate India's 50th anniversary) as well as to Kochi (known earlier as Cochin). En route to India, manoeuvres were held with units of the Kenyan Navy; in Indian waters, the Drakensberg joined other ships that participated in the naval revue in taking part in manoeuvres, and en route back to South Africa, manoeuvres took place with the French Navy close to La Réunion - the latter island was also paid a visit. The Drakensberg was back in Simon's Town on 14 March 2001 after yet another highly successful flag-showing cruise.
Meanwhile, for the first time since 1978, the SAN was able to obtain ships from abroad, namely, six "Lindau" Class (Type 351) minesweepers (built in 1958-1959) from the German Navy - four to be commissioned, while the remaining two would be used for spare parts. All six the ships arrived in Simon's Town on 9 March 2001 on board the barge UR161 (towed by the tug Fairplay XIV). The first ships to be commissioned by the SAN were the SAS Thekwini (the ex-German Wolfsburg) and SAS Kapa (the ex-German Düren) on 5 September 2001. Up to 1 April 2002, none of these "new" ships participated in foreign flag-showing cruises for the RSA.
On 18 June 2001, SAS Outeniqua and Umhloti sailed to St Helena, on the one hand, to show the South African flag in this British territory, but also to restore the graves of Boer prisoners of war from the Anglo-Boer War (1899-1902). The ships were back in Simon's Town again on 4 July. "Operation Desert Dune" (11-22 July 2001) took SAS René Sethren and Galeshewe on a flag-showing cruise to the Namibian ports of Walvis Bay and Lüderitz. "Operation Migrant" was supposed to take SAS Outeniqua all the way to Australia (on the first SAN visit to this country in 30 years), but after the ship left Simon's Town on 10 September 2001 and took in fuel in Port Elizabeth, the visit to Australia was cancelled on 20 September because the Australian naval revue that was going to take place at the start of October was cancelled due to the terror attacks on the USA (on 11 September). For this reason, the ship changed course and sailed to La Réunion. (En route, a sailor who had taken ill, was airlifted from a Greek freighter by means of the ship's Oryx helicopter, and he was later flown to the island of La Réunion). Exercises with the French Navy took place and on the return voyage the ship visited Durban. The Outeniqua was back in Simon's Town on 12 October.
The last flag-showing cruise that is important for purposes of this study, is the peace-keeping force exercise "Operation Tanzanite" which took SAS Outeniqua and Adam Kok to Tanzania. The Outeniqua left Simon's Town on 28 January 2002 and arrived in Durban three days later. There the small patrol boat Tobie and two Namacurra harbour protection boats were taken on board, and on 2 February the combat-support ship, accompanied by the strike craft SAS Adam Kok, left Durban. The ships visited Dar es Salaam, Tanga Bay (Tanzania's Pemba Island) and Zanzibar, and they participated in a series of peace-keeping force exercises that were held from 11 to 24 February along the Tanzanian coast. The Outeniqua was back in Simon's Town on 8 March.
Concluding Perspective
In the diplomatic world, warships indeed play an important role and the presence of a foreign warship in a harbour can be viewed as the most visible and tangible sign of bilateral (or multilateral) friendship ties (and therefore of good diplomatic ties). When warships participate with two or more countries in combined manoeuvres or in humanitarian or peace-keeping operations, the participating warships and/or submarines are in a position to generate mutual understanding and trust between the participating navies and countries. Naval vessels indeed have significant symbolic meaning. No significant Navy's diplomatic role can therefore be underrated. Warships that are deployed as grey diplomats are not merely floating cocktail-party venues, but rather invaluable diplomatic tools in the service of their country.
It is therefore appropriate that the rendering of diplomatic assistance forms part of the SAN's mission. In the past 80 years, the SAN has played its diplomatic role in excellent fashion - sometimes under difficult circumstances. During the formative years (1922-1934), the South African Naval Service had so few and such small ships at its disposal that it was not expected that it would achieve much - and then followed the years 1935 to 1939 when the Union had no warships available. The Second World War afforded the South African warships the opportunity - as part of a comprehensive Allied war effort - to show the South African flag for the first time in seas far from the Union's territorial waters. The military downscaling on conclusion of the war left the South African Naval Forces with few ships; however, this did not prevent the Union ships from undertaking flag-showing cruises. In the context of the Cold War, the Cape sea route was of significant strategic importance. For this reason, the SAN was expanded systematically and new ships' delivery cruises were used as flag-showing opportunities. In the years 1946 to 1960, South Africa had normal diplomatic relations with most countries, and the country's Navy undertook a total of seventeen flag-showing cruises. From 1961, the RSA was gradually isolated internationally, but as a result of the delivery cruises of three new frigates, three new submarines and SAS Protea, plus eight visits to the Portuguese colonies of Angola and Mozambique, twenty flag-showing cruises had nonetheless taken place in the period 1961 to 1973.
From 1974 onwards, sanctions and boycotts began to take their toll, as reflected in the fact that the SAN undertook only four flag-showing cruises from 1974 to 1979. Thereafter - up to 1986 - followed the years of total isolation, with no flag-showing cruises (and the dramatic reduction in the number of SAN ships). The period from 1987 to 1993 may be labelled as a transitional phase (en route to a new era). Although the RSA was only officially welcomed back into the international community after the general election of April 1994, the Navy broke out of international isolation, especially from 1991, undertaking one successful flag-showing cruise after the other - in total, nineteen were undertaken in these years, or on average two or three per year. From 1994 onwards, ships indeed excelled under the new flag of a genuinely democratic new RSA in building on these successes, with a total of 25 flag-showing cruises, or on average at least three per year - more than ever before in the history of the SAN.
Most of the time the Navy cannot afford to undertake flag-showing cruises to display the flag for the mere sake of displaying it - for this reason, most cruises are tied to some or other relief operation or to assistance to another government department (something that does not in any way diminish the value of the Navy's role, but rather adds value), and all cruises are at the same time training cruises, and in this sense they are always valuable and cost-effective. However, it is ironic that since the world's doors (and harbours) have again opened to the RSA, the country's Navy has not had any of the traditional grey diplomats (such as frigates) at its disposal. Therefore, it was the Navy's combat-support ships that played the most significant role as grey diplomats, and indeed did so with significant success. See in this regard, especially the role of SAS Drakensberg (seventeen cruises to 1 April 2002) and SAS Outeniqua (eleven cruises) - and earlier also SAS Tafelberg (ten cruises). Small ships such as minesweepers, minehunters and strike craft were also used to good effect as unlikely ambassadors for the RSA. From 1947 onwards (when the Navy's diplomatic role in reality gained prominence), 48 of the 54 major SAN ships and submarines that were in commission in the years 1947 to 2002 participated in foreign flag-showing cruises. Since 1947, SAN ships visited at least 96 harbours in 46 countries on all the six continents.
The decision to purchase four new patrol corvettes for the SAN (to be commissioned in 2004 and 2005) is a timeous and necessary investment in the country's future. Warships are indeed both a reflection and a projection of the image of the countries that they represent, and the RSA requires frigates to support the country's diplomatic and other initiatives (including NEPAD and the African Renaissance).
From this brief overview of the 86 foreign peace-time flag-showing cruises that South African Navy vessels have participated in in the past 80 years (85 of these cruises have taken place since 1947), plus the role of the country's naval units played during the Second World War, it is clear what an important role contact with other navies and visits to foreign harbours have played - among others, with regard to the exchange of knowledge and expertise, fostering mutual understanding and respect, establishing co-operation in various fields, and providing relief and other assistance. From 1991 onwards, however, increasing emphasis has been on contact with African states.
Throughout its history, the SAN made a unique contribution with limited resources to South Africa's diplomatic actions - and also projected a positive image of the country to foreign countries; indeed, if one looks back over the history of the Navy's first 80 years, the role of the country's grey diplomats as unlikely ambassadors is probably the Navy's most significant and enduring achievement.
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