The cruiser, HMS Dorsetshire, had a special connection with South Africa and Port Elizabeth in particular. As the flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir Edward Evans’ Africa Station, she was the first vessel to moor in the newly completed Charl Malan quay. It was WW2 which brought her back to the Union during 1940 and 1941 when in her quest to search for the Nazi raiders and escorting convoys in the southern Atlantic and Indian Oceans, she would often call at South African ports to refuel and to revictual. Lastly amongst her crew of 750, nearly 100 of them were South African.

Main picture: HMS Dorsetshire alongside the almost completed Charl Malan quay

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