"THE NAVY THAT ALTEREDCOURSE"

Abstract

The Republic of South Africa is continually in the news for one reason or another and most members of the world's naval fraternity have a very good idea of where it is even if their judgement as to what sort of a place it is may differ. Very few of them however have a clear picture of what sort of a navy it has and why. The South African Navy is in fact a most unusual one, having in recent years literally turned its back on its former blue water navy image and voluntarily scaled itself down to a coastel defence role - quite the opposite to what most navies aspire to and a dramatic change of attitude with far-reaching effects on naval strategy for the West. In case there are those who doubt that this last statement is in fact so, let us consider a few background facts.