[For webpage] THE SOUTH AFRICAN NAVY AND ITS PREDECESSORS, 1910-2009: A CENTURY OF INTERACTION WITH COMMONWEALTH NAVIES Paper delivered at the 2009 “King-Hall” Naval History Conference on 30 July 2009 in Canberra, Australia by PROF. ANDRÉ WESSELS, M.A., D.Phil. (Department of History, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein, Republic of South Africa –
[email protected])1 1. INTRODUCTION Compared with major Commonwealth navies like the Royal Navy (RN) and the navies of Australia, Canada, India and Pakistan, the South African Navy (SAN) is very small. Yet its history dates back to at least 1922; and even before that, South Africans served in the RN in World War I. Proceeding from the assumption that the SAN and its predecessors played a vital role in safeguarding the strategic Cape sea-route in the interest of the Commonwealth, as well as of the Western World, the aim of this paper is to provide a brief review of the chequered history of the SAN and its predecessors, with the emphasis on interaction with Commonwealth navies. Questions that will be addressed include the following: Why did South Africa only receive its first naval force in 1922, i.e. twelve years after the establishment of the Union of South Africa? What role did South Africa’s naval forces play during World War II? To what extent was contact with Commonwealth navies limited to the RN, and why? What were the implications of the so-called “war years” (1966-1989) for the 1 The presentation of this paper at the 2009 “King-Hall” Naval History Conference was made possible by the fact that I was appointed as a Visiting Fellow in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS), University College, University of New South Wales at the Australian Defence Force Academy (UNSW@ADFA), Canberra, and my trip to Australia and back to South Africa, as well as my stay in Canberra, was consequently sponsored by the UNSW@ADFA.