San Juan and the SANDF
November 6th, 2009 | Carriers Foreign navies Historical Submarines | Posted by Andrew Scutro
Groton-based fast attack submarine San Juan arrives in South Africa for "regional security cooperation activities" and other events.//USN
In what’s becoming almost a habit, another U.S. Navy ship has stopped to visit South Africa. On Nov. 4, the fast attack submarine San Juan pulled into Simon’s Town for what 6th Fleet bills as a “first-ever, at-sea” engagement with that nation’s undersea fleet.
San Juan follows the destroyer Arleigh Burke, which arrived in Durban on July 13 for a similar visit. And last October, the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt and cruiser Monterey stopped in Cape Town, marking the first time a U.S. flattop had been to South Africa since the Franklin D. Roosevelt made a stop in 1967.
The U.S. Navy has been building ties with the South Africans steadily in recent years. Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead met naval leadership there in April.
For most of the second half of the 20th century South Africa was an international pariah because of its segregation policy known as “apartheid,” which was repealed in 1991. Check out the South African military here.
