Page 617 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

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South Africa. This purpose-built combat support ship was commissioned on 11 Novem-
ber 1987. The versatile ship could (and still can) support military operations over long
distances, including amphibious operations, long-range patrol and surveillance work,
and search-and-rescue missions. The ship was born in the war years out of the SADF’s
need to support smaller SAN units over long distances, and to provide assistance to the
SA Army and SAAF in joint operations, and in the context of the type of conflict in
which South Africa was then involved. 17

5. The role of the marines
From 1951 to 1955 the then Union Defence Force had a Corps of Marines. In 1979
the Marines were resurrected as a Marine Branch, now as a part of the SAN, to protect
South Africa’s ports, but also in an effort to acquire a greater role for the SAN in the
country’s defence, and to ensure a greater role for the SAN in the struggle “up north
on the border”. The Marines provided the SAN with the opportunity to partake in joint
operations – their activities in the operational area were, after all, part and parcel of the
SADF’s operational deployment in general. 18
The Marines were also responsible for the protection of South Africa’s harbours.
This was in line with the SAN’s new role as a small-ship navy, namely to concentrate
on safeguarding South Africa’s harbours and coasts, rather than to defend the Cape sea
route in the interest of the West. For this purpose, 30 “Namacurra” harbour protection
boats (HPBs) were built in South Africa (1980-1981). These small (9,5 m long) boats
were (and still are) known by their pennant numbers (Y1501-U1530), and today some
20 of them are still deployed in a number of ports. The Marines also used small (9,5 m
19
long) “Vredenburger” patrol boats for river patrols in the operational area. 20
Hundreds of Marines were sent to the Zambezi River, where it forms the border
between SWA/Namibia and Zambia, and at the furthest eastward point of the Caprivi
Strip, also meets Botswana and Zimbabwe. From their riverside base called Wenela, the
Marines patrolled the Zambezi River with their “Vredenburger” launches and smaller
boats. But they also served as infantry. In August 1988, the last SADF forces left An-
gola; and on 20 June 1989 the SADF also withdrew from SWA. This paved the way for
the independence of Namibia on 21 March 1990. In the course of the next few years, the
SADF was rationalised. Although the SAN did not have to decommission more ships,
it was forced to retrench 23% of its personnel. This also led to the disbandment of the
Marines in 1990. 21

17 Du Toit, pp. 316-322; H-R Heitman, South African arms and armour: a concise guide to armaments of the
South African Army, Navy and Air Force (Cape Town, 1988), pp. 183-184.
18 CH Bennett and AG Söderlund, South Africa’s Navy: a navy of the people and for the people (Simon’s
Town, 2008), p. 30.
19 S Saunders (ed.), Jane’s fighting ships 2013-2014 (Coulsdon, 2013), p. 749.
20 Heitman, p. 189.
21 Bennett and Söderlund, p. 143.