The Southern class was a class of whale-catcher ships requisitioned from a commercial

whaling Whaling is the process of hunting of whales for their usable products such as meat and blubber, which can be turned into a type of oil that became increasingly important in the Industrial Revolution. It was practiced as an organized industry ...

company for service during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

. The whalers were converted for

anti-submarine An anti-submarine weapon (ASW) is any one of a number of devices that are intended to act against a submarine and its crew, to destroy (sink) the vessel or reduce its capability as a weapon of war. In its simplest sense, an anti-submarine weapo ...

and

minesweeping Minesweeping is the practice of the removal of explosive naval mines, usually by a specially designed ship called a minesweeper using various measures to either capture or detonate the mines, but sometimes also with an aircraft made for that ...

duties and were in use in the British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

and South African Navy. Six ships were built in Germany for the Southern Whaling Company and after the war, one was retained in the South African Navy, one had been sunk by a

mine Mine, mines, miners or mining may refer to: Extraction or digging * Miner, a person engaged in mining or digging *Mining, extraction of mineral resources from the ground through a mine Grammar *Mine, a first-person English possessive pronoun ...

and four were sold back to commercial whaling companies.

History

The six whale catchers were owned by Southern Whaling & Sealing Co. Ltd., London, United Kingdom and were used for whale catching in the

Southern Ocean The Southern Ocean, also known as the Antarctic Ocean, comprises the southernmost waters of the World Ocean, generally taken to be south of 60° S latitude and encircling Antarctica. With a size of , it is regarded as the second-smal ...

and Antarctic waters. The fleet of six ships was accompanied by the

factory ship A factory ship, also known as a fish processing vessel, is a large ocean-going vessel with extensive on-board facilities for processing and freezing caught fish or whales. Modern factory ships are automated and enlarged versions of the earlier ...

in their annual whaling season sorties. The fleet spent four seasons in the Antarctic before being requisitioned for naval service on their return to

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...

after completion of the 1939-40 season. The owners requested that all six ships were to be taken up into the Royal Navy, but only ''Southern Breeze'' was taken up for service in the UK, with the other five vessels being assigned to the South African

Seaward Defence Force Seaward may refer to: People: *Carolyn Seaward (born 1960), former beauty queen who appeared in the 1983 Bond film ''Octopussy'' * John Seaward (1786–1858), British civil engineer and mechanical engineer *Kevin Seaward (born 1983), Northern Iris ...

Ships of the Southern class

All vessels listed based on this citation unless stated otherwise. "AS Whaler" denotes anti-submarine equipped whaler.

Notes and references

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

* {{refend Ship classes of the Royal Navy Minesweepers Minesweepers of the Royal Navy 1939 ships Research vessels of the United Kingdom Whaling ships