The Ocean Crossroads

The ocean crossroads Norman L. Dodd colonel UK Army, retired 'I am glad to see declared anti-communists, like wrote 'Whichever power shall possess the Cape, the South Africans, straddling the vital Cape Sea the same may govern India'. Under their pressure route.' So said the famous United States General the British first occupied the Cape in 1795, but Mark Clarke; and in June 1974 Britain's Labour soon handed it back to the Dutch Batavian Repu- Prime Minister said 'Britain has never questioned blic. The final occupation took place in 1806, the the value of the Simonstown Agreement'. It is Cape and Natal were declared British colonies. therefore ironie that the governments of both Many of the original Dutch settlers, the Afrikaans countries subscribe to United Nations arms sanc- speaking Boers, trekked north to found the Trans- tions and make it difficult for the Republic of vaal and Orange Republic. Amalgamated after the South Africa to obtain the aircraft and weapons Anglo-Boer War of 1899 to 1902 the whole coun- required to defend this most important sea route. try was granted self-government in 1911 as the Union of South Africa. It became the Republic Geographically the Republic of South Africa oc- of South Africa in 1961. cupies a strategie position on the vital trade route As international commerce increased, so did the between Western Europe, the Eastern Seaboard of useage of the Cape sea route until today; more the American Continent and the Far East, the than 25,000 ships a year pass round the light- Persian Gulf and the East coast of Africa. A stra- house at Cape Agulhas, the southernmost point tegie position, recognized as far back as 1652 in Africa. Half of these ships call at South Afri- when the Netherlands' East India Company estab- can ports. Fifty seven percent of Western Europe's lished a refreshment station at Table Bay. In oil requirements and a quarter of her food sup- 1781 the British East India Company's governors plies are routed via the Cape. Some twenty percent of the United States oil requirements also go via this route, and this figure is increasing. It is De positie van Zuid-Afrika kan, in een eventu- interesting to note that the distance from the eel conflict tussen de supermogendheden en Persian Gulf to New York via the Panama Canal hun wederzijdse aanhang, van bijzonder groot is 5000 nautical miles longer than via the Cape belang blijken te zijn. Het is zelfs zeer de of Good Hope. The reopening of the Suez Canal vraag of het Westen zich in dat geval de luxe is unlikely to make a great difference to the vo- zal kunnen permitteren de banden met Zuid- lume of trade passing round the Cape, because of Afrika te negeren of zelfs geheel te verbre- the considerable increase in the size of tankers ken: indien Churchill en Roosevelt tijdens de and container ships which has taken place since Tweede Wereldoorlog hun afkeer voor de the Canal was closed in 1967, and the canal dues wijze waarop in Stalins interne politiek met which have been doubled compared with 1967. andersdenkenden werd omgesprongen, had- den laten uitmonden in een afwijzen van een It will, however, make a considerable difference bondgenootschap, dan zou ongetwijfeld het to the speed in which the Soviet Union will be fascisme van de As hebben gezegevierd. able to reinforce their growing fleet in the Indian De faciliteiten die op de route rond Kaap de Ocean. A fleet whose ports of call, and therefore Goede Hoop aan de vrije wereld kunnen wor- influence, is getting ever closer to the Republic. den geboden, zullen stellig een factor van be- tekenis vormen in de beoordeling van de toe- Russian ships, who once called spasmodically at stand, zowel in Oost als in West. Het is om Indian ports, are now regular visitors to Aden, die reden, dat daaraan in nevenstaand artikel Mombassa, Dar-es-Salaam, Mogadishu, Sri Lanka ruim aandacht wordt geschonken. and Mauritius; in January 1975 a Soviet mer- chant ship unloaded munitions at Biera. Laurengo 343 Cape Town Simonstown Naval Base, Cape Penin- sular Simonstown Synchrolift and rails to move submarines 344 Marques and Diego Suarez must shortly be on the bury Island in Durban Harbour; an island which list. The Soviet Union leaders well understand the the British had turned into a naval base after the value of 'gunboat diplomacy' and have undoubt- loss of Singapore. In fact it was never used be- edly noted that, once their ships make regular cause of the ending of the war with Japan. With calls at a port, those of the Western Allies seem to the naval expansion, the assumption of respons- keep away. ibility for the defence of the sea routes, though assisted by the Royal Navy, and the consequent move of the majority of the ships to Simonstown, Anti-communist country further extensions to the harbour and dockyard The Republic of South Africa is the only country there became essential. in the whole of the continent which can be accept- The actual move to Simonstown took place in ed as totally anti-communist, and so can be re- 1957; the take-over of the dockyard itself pro- lied upon to provide sure and safe bases for the duced few problems because it was a going con- ships, aircraft and, if neccessary, troops of the cern. However it was necessary to organize a Western Alliance. It is therefore worth consider- special secretariat to administer the civilian staff ing in some detail the facilities which she can and to take care of the cost accounting. The Navy provide. For it is not simply a naval base or air also had to organize a directorate to control the station which is in question, but the whole of the civil engineering in the Service. Both these tasks harbours, industrial capacity, airfields, communi- had been undertaken by the British Admiralty in cations, transport network and 'Western know- London before the hand-over. how' which are important. For these reasons One of the first requirements was for additional Diego Garcia, now under construction by the docking facilities for small craft, especially for United States and Britain, cannot possibly take wooden hulled minesweepers which need regular the place of South Africa in Western defence drying out. An old slipway was rebuilt for this plans. purpose. A giant drydock gantry was constructed and with it increased workshop space, new test houses, storerooms and office buildings. The Simonstown, essential facilities whole of the large drydock pumping machinery, the power station and dockyard services were The most famous naval harbour in the Republic is, of course, Simonstown. A haven situated about fully modernized. 23 miles from Capetown on the eastern shores of In 1967 came the decision to purchase three the Cape Peninsular. This small harbour was se- Daphne-class submarines from the Dubigeon-Nor- lected as the winter anchorage of the Dutch East mandie Shipyard at Nantes, France; a decision Indian squadron in 1741, af ter numerous ships which caused further tremendous expansion in the had been wrecked by the north easterly gales dockyard. A whole new submarine complex, in- when lying in Table Bay. The British took it over cluding new jetties, an enclosed workshop large and it remained the base of the South Atlantic enough to house a submarine and a modern Syn- Squadron of the Royal Navy until 1957, when it chrolift were constructed. The Synchrolift can was handed over to the South African Navy. At hoist a submarine or similar sized ship clear of the end of the nineteenth century Britain spent the water, the ship can then be moved on a sys- the then enormous sum of £ 3.5 million at Si- tem of rollers to the workshop or other parts of monstown, building an enclosed harbour and a the yard. A large area of the sea bed was re- large dry doek. The harbour and dockyard were claimed and on it was built a nine-storied building ceremoniously opened in 1910 and, although con- to house the crews of the submarines, the head- tinuously modernized and extended, the base re- quarters and the submarine school. The specialist mained essentially the same until the 1955 Ex- dockyard workers, the submarine crews and future change of Letters which have become known as instructors were trained by the French in Toulon the Simonstown Agreement. and now, in 1975, complete and major overhauls Under this Agreement the South African Govern- can be carried out in Simonstown. ment undertook to increase the size of their Navy. A whole new know-how has been developed. Until 1955 the small South African Navy was, in From being a comparatively minor repair facility, effect, a wing of the Royal Navy. The few ships Simonstown has been developed into a major which were retained or purchased just after the overhaul and refit dockyard but, as Vice Admiral war had been based at Suldanha Bay and at Salis- James Johnson said in February 1975 when dis- 345 The Khirurg Vishnevskiy with a deck load of SU-7 fighter bombers, photographed by the S.A. Air Force off the South African coast cussing the possibility of the British abrogating from abrogating the Agreement: the conditions of the Agreement, 'a dockyard is like a garage, if it use of the Base and other facilities including the only deals with one or two makes of cars it will underground Joint Maritime Communications lose its expertise to repair other makes'. Centre at Silvermine might not be so generous With the increasing size of the South African under any future arrangement.

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