View source for HMSAS Afrikander

{{other ships|HMS Tickler}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= HMS Mastiff (1871).jpg
|Ship image size = 300px
|Ship caption = ''Tickler''{{'}}s sister ship, ''Mastiff'' (foreground, in white) 
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=
|Ship country=United&nbsp;Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Tickler''
|Ship owner=Royal Navy
|Ship ordered=
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[Pembroke Dock]], [[Wales]]
|Ship original cost=c.£13,000<ref name=RW/>
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=15 September 1879
|Ship renamed=''Afrikander'' on 26 February 1919
|Ship reclassified=
|Ship refit=
|Ship struck=
|Ship reinstated=
|Ship homeport=Simon's Town from 1885
|Ship identification=<!--YC29 not supported by the reference - removed-->
|Ship fate=*Converted to steam lighter in 1902
*Transferred to South African [[Seaward Defence Force]] in 1923
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=South&nbsp;Africa
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|South Africa|naval-1922}}
|Ship name=HMSAS ''Afrikander''
|Ship owner=South African Naval Services
|Ship acquired=1923
|Ship commissioned=15 June 1923
|Ship recommissioned=
|Ship decommissioned=December 1932 
|Ship maiden voyage=
|Ship in service=
|Ship out of service=Returned to Royal Navy as ''Afrikander II''<ref name=DuToit18 />
|Ship renamed=
|Ship fate=
|Ship notes=
|Ship badge=
}}
{{Infobox ship career
|Hide header=title
|Ship country=United&nbsp;Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Afrikander II''<ref name=DuToit18 />
|Ship owner=Royal Navy
|Ship fate=Broken up at Simon's Town in 1937<ref name=RW/>
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
|Hide header=
|Header caption=
|Ship class={{sclass|Gadfly|gunboat|0}} [[flat-iron gunboat]] 
|Ship type=
|Ship displacement=254&nbsp;tons standard
|Ship length={{convert|85|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|26|ft|1.5|in|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship height=
|Ship draught={{convert|6|ft|m|abbr=on}}
|Ship depth=
|Ship hold depth=
|Ship power={{convert|260|ihp|lk=in|abbr=on}}<ref name=RW/>
|Ship propulsion=*Two 2-cylinder horizontal single-expansion steam engines
*Two screws<ref name=RW/>
|Ship speed={{convert|8.5|kn|km/h|abbr=on}}<ref name=RW/>
|Ship range=
|Ship endurance=
|Ship boats=
|Ship crew=30<ref name=RW>{{winfield}}</ref>
|Ship armament=*One [[RML 10 inch 18 ton gun|10-inch (18 ton) muzzle-loading rifle]]<ref name=RW/> (removed in 1902)
|Ship armour=
|Ship notes=
}}
|}

'''HMS ''Tickler''''' was a Royal Navy {{sclass|Gadfly|gunboat|0}} [[flat-iron gunboat]] launched in 1879.  She was transferred to Simon's Town in South Africa in 1885 and converted to a [[Lighter (barge)|steam lighter]] in 1902.  In 1919 she became '''HMS ''Afrikander''''' and was transferred to the South African Naval Service in 1923, becoming '''HMSAS ''Afrikander'''''. She was returned to the Royal Navy in December 1932 and re-named '''HMS ''Afrikander II''''' in 1933.  She was finally broken up at Simon's Town in 1937.

==Royal Navy gunboat==
''Tickler'' was launched on 15 September 1879 as the last of the Royal Navy {{Sclass|Gadfly|gunboat|0}} [[flat-iron gunboat]]s. She was listed at Portsmouth "for coastal defence" in 1881 and in 1885, during the [[Panjdeh Incident|Russian War Scare]], she, ''Gadfly'' and ''Griper'' were towed to the Cape by the transports ''Richmond Hill'' and ''Kimberley''.<ref>''[[The Times]]'', 26 May 1885.</ref> She was recommissioned in South Africa in 1891. At Simon's Town in 1902 she was converted to a [[Lighter (barge)|steam lighter]].<ref name=RW/>

==Base ship, Simon's Town==
She was used as a base depot ship servicing the Royal Navy and South African Naval Services fleets in Simon's Town harbour and False Bay.  She was renamed HMS ''Afrikander'' in 1919.  When the South African Naval Service was created on 1 April 1922, all officers and men were nominally registered in the books of ''Afrikander''.  This was required because the Naval Discipline Act stated that in order to be subservient to the Act, all members had to be serving on a HM Ship.  The Act was amended in 1923 and ''Afrikander'' was then transferred to the Union of South African [[Seaward Defence Force]] as HMSAS ''Afrikander.''<ref group=Note>His (or Her) Majesty's South African Ship</ref><ref name="DuToit18">{{cite book|last=Du Toit|first=Allan|title=South Africa's Fighting Ships: Past and Present |year=1992|publisher=Ashanti|isbn=1-874800-50-2|page=18}}</ref> She was returned to the Royal Navy in December 1932 and renamed HMS ''Afrikander II'' in 1933.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sQSTAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT280 |page=280 |title=Pembroke Dockyard and the Old Navy: A Bicentennial History|isbn=9780750955201 |last1=Phillips |first1=L. |date=3 February 2014 |publisher=The History Press }}</ref>

==Fate==
After decommissioning she was scuttled and sunk by gunfire from HMS ''Daffodil'', at Simonstown in 1937.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?154547 |title=HMS Afrikander II (+1937) |quotation=HMS Tickler was a Royal Navy Gadfly-class flat-iron gunboat launched in 1879. She was transferred to Simon's Town in South Africa in 1902 and converted to a steam lighter. In 1919 she became HMS Afrikander and was transferred to the South African Naval Service in 1923, becoming Hmsas Afrikander. She was returned to the Royal Navy in December 1932 and renamed HMS AFRIKANDER II in 1933. She was finally scuttled and sunk by gunfire at Simon's Town in 1937 by HMS Daffodil.|website=Wrecksite.eu|access-date=28 May 2022}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{Reflist|group=Note|1}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Ant class gunboat}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afrikander}}
[[Category:Maritime history of South Africa]]
[[Category:Ant-class gunboats of the South African Navy]]
[[Category:Victorian-era gunboats of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Gunboats of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:1879 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Pembroke Dock]]