History
‘’Polaris’’ was built in Germany in 1936 as a general purpose trawler and was requisitioned by the Kriegsmarine in 1939 and converted into a lookout trawler. She was then fitted with concealed torpedo tubes and the Kriegsmarine added super heaters to the boilers to improve speed for short "sprints" as may be needed. She was intended to put to sea with general trawlers in the hope of attacking any allied shipping that came within torpedo range. She was captured by HMS Arrow off Norway on 26 April 1940 and escorted back to Scapa Flow [5] as a war-prize by HMS Griffin.
As a war-prize, Polaris was commissioned as HMS Spindrift and was initially used for submarine crew training in Portland [6] but was later converted to a [Minelayer| controlled minelayer], emerging from the dockyards in January 1942. She was transferred to Saldanha Bay on the Cape West Coast under command of the Royal Navy South Atlantic station in Simon's Town, being responsible for laying controlled minefield defences in the South African coastal waters. [7]
HMS Spindrift was fully handed over to the SA Naval Forces on 5 July 1943 at Simon's Town and was renamed HMSAS Spindrift, now crewed by the South African Naval Forces. At the end of the war, she remained in Saldanha Bay until 1948 when she was towed to Durban by the frigate HMSAS Transvaal and was laid up in care and maintenance at Salisbury Island as part of the Reserve Fleet. In 1951 she was renamed HMSAS Skilpad (the name Skilpad translates to Tortoise and was an apt reflection of her (lack of) speed - without the super heaters which had been removed whilst in the Royal Navy; top speed was 9 knots!). [7]
The South African Navy is the naval warfare branch of the South African National Defence Force.
HMS Pelorus was an Algerine-class minesweeper built for the Royal Navy (RN) during World War II. Upon completion, the ship became the flotilla leader of the 7th Minesweeper Flotilla, clearing mines off the east coast of England. In June 1944, the flotilla was assigned to sweep one of the beaches during the Normandy landings until she struck a mine the following month. After her repairs were completed, Pelorus was reassigned to the English Channel and the 6th Minesweeping Flotilla. The flotilla was transferred to the Indian Ocean in 1945 and spent some time escorting convoys. They participated in Operation Collie, a bombardment of Japanese positions in the Nicobar Islands, in July and then swept the Strait of Malacca and the approaches to Singapore in August.
The SS James B. Stephens was a 7,176-ton American liberty ship in World War II. She was built by the Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation of Portland, Oregon in 1942 with the hull number 580, and operated by United States Lines, New York City and homeported in Portland. For her role of sailing in dangerous waters, she was armed with one 5in, one 3in and four 20mm guns. She was named for the founder of East Portland.
SAS President Kruger was the first of three President-class Type 12 frigates built in the United Kingdom for the South African Navy (SAN) during the 1960s. The ship spent most of her career training and made visits to foreign ports in Africa, Western Europe and the United States. In the late 1960s, she was modernized and equipped to operate a helicopter. In the mid-1970s, President Kruger played a minor role in the South African Border War, conducting patrol operations off the Angolan coast. The ship was placed in reserve in 1977, but was recommissioned in 1980. She sank in 1982 with the loss of 16 lives after colliding with her replenishment oiler, SAS Tafelberg, in the South Atlantic.
HMS Wessex was one of eight W-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during World War II. Completed in 1944, the ship spent most of the war assigned to the Eastern and Pacific Fleets. She screened British aircraft carriers as their aircraft attacked targets in the Japanese-occupied Nicobar Islands, the Dutch East Indies and Okinawa.
Spindrift is a weather effect.
HMS Whelp was one of eight W-class destroyers built for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. Completed in 1944, the ship spent most of the war assigned to the Eastern and Pacific Fleets. She screened British aircraft carriers as their aircraft attacked targets in the Japanese-occupied Nicobar Islands, the Dutch East Indies, Formosa and near Okinawa. Whelp was present at the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay in 1945 and later in Hong Kong. She was paid off in January 1946 and went into reserve.
HMSAS Africana was a minesweeping trawler of the South African Seaward Defence Force during the Second World War. She was originally a sea fisheries research vessel and was later fitted for mine-sweeping and survey duties in the early 1930s. She was retained for survey duties off the South African coast throughout the war and in October 1942 she was involved in the rescue of survivors from the American cargo vessel Anne Hutchinson after she was torpedoed by U-504 off East London. In addition to survey, she was used extensively for search and rescue operations in the latter part of the war and her final rescue operation was rescuing 49 survivors of the Canadian SS Point Pleasant Park which was torpedoed by U-510 on 23 February 1945 off the coast of Luderitz Bay.
HMS Tickler was a Royal Navy Gadfly-class flat-iron gunboat launched in 1879. She was transferred to Simon's Town in South Africa in 1885 and converted to a steam lighter in 1902. In 1919 she became HMS Afrikander and was transferred to the South African Naval Service in 1923, becoming HMSAS Afrikander. She was returned to the Royal Navy in December 1932 and re-named HMS Afrikander II in 1933. She was finally broken up at Simon's Town in 1937.
SAS Somerset was a Bar-class boom defence vessel of the South African Navy, now preserved as a museum ship in Cape Town. Formerly HMS Barcross, it operated in Saldanha Bay, transferred to South Africa Naval Forces during World War II and was purchased by South Africa in 1947.
HMSAS Parktown was a minesweeping whaler of the South African Naval Services that was sunk during the Second World War. She was built as the whaler Southern Sky for the Southern Whaling and Sealing Company in 1929 and sold in 1936 to the Union Whaling Company, acquiring the new name Sidney Smith. She was requisitioned on 8 August 1940 as HMSAS Parktown and was converted to sweep magnetic mines. She arrived at Tobruk on 10 June 1942 just in time to take part in the evacuation of Allied forces. She was the last ship to leave Tobruk harbour prior to its capitulation to German forces on 20 June 1942. Parktown embarked 60 troops and took a tug in tow outside the harbour. Her reduced speed led to her being attacked by German E-boats, most probably German E-boats from Derna. Gunfire from the motor boats destroyed the bridge, ruptured the boiler, killed or wounded half of the men on board and led to on-board ammunition exploding, causing her to finally stop moving and setting the ship on fire. She was finally sunk on the evening of 21 June 1942 by an Allied MTB which had arrived to pick up survivors.
SAS Saldanha is a South African Navy training base in Saldanha Bay.
SAS Good Hope was one of three Loch-class frigates in the South African Navy (SAN). It was built as HMS Loch Boisdale (K432) for the Royal Navy during World War II, but was transferred to the SAN before completion in 1944 and renamed as HMSAS Good Hope. The ship was assigned to convoy escort duties in 1945, but did not encounter any enemy ships before the end of the war.
HMSAS Protea was a survey ship of the South African Navy. The ship was originally built as a Flower-class corvette for the Royal Navy during World War II named Rockrose and was sold to South Africa after the war. Rockrose was initially assigned to convoy escort duties in the North Atlantic after her completion in 1941, but was later transferred to South African waters and then to the Far East with the same mission. She returned home in 1945 and was paid off.
HMSAS Natal was one of three Loch-class frigates in the South African Navy (SAN). It was built as HMS Loch Cree (K430) for the Royal Navy during World War II, but was transferred to the SAN before completion in 1945 and renamed as HMSAS Natal. Just hours after finishing fitting out, the ship sank a German submarine off the coast of Scotland in early 1945. It was assigned convoy escort duties for the remaining few months of the war in Europe. Natal had her anti-aircraft armament reinforced for service in the Far East after arriving in South Africa in June. In September–October, the ship participated in the reoccupation of British Malaya before returning home the following month.
SAS Transvaal was one of three Loch-class frigates in the South African Navy (SAN). She was built as HMS Loch Ard (K602) for the Royal Navy during World War II, but was transferred to the SAN in 1944 before completion and renamed as HMSAS Transvaal. The ship was completed shortly after the German surrender in May 1945 and did not participate in the war.
HMSAS Bloemfontein was an Algerine-class minesweeper built for the Royal Navy in Canada during World War II. The ship was originally named Rosamund and spent several years clearing minefields in Europe after she was completed in 1945 before she was placed in reserve. Rosamund was purchased by South Africa in 1947 and later renamed HMSAS Bloemfontein.
HMS Erica was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy and was built by Harland and Wolff in 1941. She was named after Erica. Commissioned in 1940 and sunk by a mine on 9 February 1943.
HMSAS Protea was the first hydrographic survey ship used by the South African Naval Service. The ship was laid down as a minesweeper to be named HMS Ventnor in 1917 but was renamed HMS Verwood in 1918 before she was launched. She was again re-named and launched as HMS Crozier on 1 July 1919. The vessel was converted from a minesweeper to a hydropraphic survey vessel in 1921 and transferred to the South African forces in 1922, where she was commissioned as HMSAS Protea. She served as a survey vessel until 1933 when she was returned to the Royal Navy. Protea was eventually sold by the Royal Navy and renamed MV Queen of the Bay where she went on to operate as a pleasure craft out of Blackpool. She was subsequntly sold to the Spanish Navy and renamed Lieutenant Captain Remigio Verdia, and used as supply vessel to run blockades, smuggling supplies to the anti-fascists in Spain during the civil war. She ran aground and sunk off Cartagena in Spain in 1939.
Nazi Germany 
United Kingdom
South Africa