Simonstown Navy Week 1938.

#1 · August 6, 2021, 3:09 pm

Simonstown Navy Week 1938

#2 · August 6, 2021, 4:08 pm

Quote from Steve on August 6, 2021, 4:08 pm
Mmmm..... Yes, like you I have one of these on a postcard - a simple one line cachet. I've had a quick look but can't seem to dig it out! Sorry, I will post it when I find it.

Two Days Later...

Well, I've now found mine. Here it is. I include the reverse. I know nothing about this 'Simonstown Navy Week'. I believe it is an annual sort-off open house, 'hello sailor" week where the public gets to meet the Royal Navy. I would appreciate some advice from anyone that reads this who knows more than me - which is nuthing..... This is most probably a pre-war Royal Navy publicity stunt to promote the Navy to South Africans of whom thousands would serve in it during World War 2. And die serving it!

The irony is that in 1938 SA did not have a navy to speak off. The pro-Nazis in the SA Defence Ministry were doing all they could to run the SA Navy down and in 1934 they disbanded it altogether. (Did they not also develop an armoured ox-wagon for the Army, later used for latrine duties, the best use they could find?) I have seen only three of these 'Navy Week' cards. Mine, not yours and another, all from 1938. In January 1940, after the start of Second World War, South Africa established a 'Seaward Defence Force' consisting intially of minesweepers based in Cape Town, Simonstown, Saldanha, PE, East London, Durban and Walvis Bay. The 'Seaward Defence Force' is a scarce strike on a cover! I have one somewhere. If anyone would like me to post it, just say so. I will do so as soon as I can find it.

Regarding the reverse, it is from H.M. Wireless Transmission Station, presumably the one above Simonstown in the Klawer Valley. Whatever is referred to as "NWS Warship Neptune" is a mystery. However, HMS Neptune, a British light cruiser, was based in Simonstown..., but when? See the photo taken while she was stationed there in 1940. She was sunk in December 1941 with the loss of 764 men after sailing into a minefield off Libya. There was only one survivor.

PHOTOS
Top - HMS Neptune with Simonstown's mountain behind.
Below: Royal Marines aboard HMS Neptune in Simonstown 1940.

For info on Neptune's sinking, see: http://www.hmsneptune.com/history1.htm

For the roll of South African dead who went down with Neptune. see: https://samilhistory.com/2017/04/14/south-african-sacrifice-on-the-hms-neptune/

Mmmm..... Yes, like you I have one of these on a postcard - a simple one line cachet. I've had a quick look but can't seem to dig it out! Sorry, I will post it when I find it.

Two Days Later...

Well, I've now found mine. Here it is. I include the reverse. I know nothing about this 'Simonstown Navy Week'. I believe it is an annual sort-off open house, 'hello sailor" week where the public gets to meet the Royal Navy. I would appreciate some advice from anyone that reads this who knows more than me - which is nuthing..... This is most probably a pre-war Royal Navy publicity stunt to promote the Navy to South Africans of whom thousands would serve in it during World War 2. And die serving it!

The irony is that in 1938 SA did not have a navy to speak off. The pro-Nazis in the SA Defence Ministry were doing all they could to run the SA Navy down and in 1934 they disbanded it altogether. (Did they not also develop an armoured ox-wagon for the Army, later used for latrine duties, the best use they could find?) I have seen only three of these 'Navy Week' cards. Mine, not yours and another, all from 1938. In January 1940, after the start of Second World War, South Africa established a 'Seaward Defence Force' consisting intially of minesweepers based in Cape Town, Simonstown, Saldanha, PE, East London, Durban and Walvis Bay. The 'Seaward Defence Force' is a scarce strike on a cover! I have one somewhere. If anyone would like me to post it, just say so. I will do so as soon as I can find it.

Regarding the reverse, it is from H.M. Wireless Transmission Station, presumably the one above Simonstown in the Klawer Valley. Whatever is referred to as "NWS Warship Neptune" is a mystery. However, HMS Neptune, a British light cruiser, was based in Simonstown..., but when? See the photo taken while she was stationed there in 1940. She was sunk in December 1941 with the loss of 764 men after sailing into a minefield off Libya. There was only one survivor.

PHOTOS
Top - HMS Neptune with Simonstown's mountain behind.
Below: Royal Marines aboard HMS Neptune in Simonstown 1940.

For info on Neptune's sinking, see: http://www.hmsneptune.com/history1.htm

For the roll of South African dead who went down with Neptune. see: https://samilhistory.com/2017/04/14/south-african-sacrifice-on-the-hms-neptune/

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#3 · August 23, 2021, 1:21 pm

I was preparing to sell some loose cigarette cards and found this. It is now awaiting inclusion in my Simonstown collection. It is from the well-known pre-1939 cigarette card book on 'SA Defence', (much beloved of Jamie!). This cigarette card answers my question of "just when" was HMS Neptune based in Simonstown? Clearly before the war and before the cigarette card was published.

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