A small
dockyard facility was first established in Simon's Town by the
Dutch East India Company in 1743. This was taken over by the British
Royal Navy (RN) in the 1790s, under whom the facility was further developed over the following century and a half. A pair of handsome stone storehouses dating from the 1740s stand on the seafront where they were built by the Dutch East India Company, marking the initial location of the Yard. Immediately adjacent is the earliest Royal Naval building on the site: a combined mast-house, boathouse and sail loft; dating from 1815, it now serves as the
South African Naval Museum. Over the next few decades, the site was developed gradually, with steam engineering and coaling facilities being added mid-century. In 1885, the government of the
Cape Colony transferred the assets of the Simon's Bay Dock and Patent Slip Company to the
British Admiralty. By the close of the century, however, it became clear that more space would be needed to accommodate the requirements of a modern Navy. In 1898, a large site was acquired to the east of the original Yard for a dockyard extension. Sir John Jackson and Co Ltd. were chosen to do the work. The Dockyard was expanded in 1975, a large area of land was reclaimed and the harbour walls were extended to form a new Tidal Basin. In December 2022
Lady R, a
Russian cargo ship, docked at Simon's Town Naval Base. It was alleged by the
United States ambassador to South Africa that South African military supplies were loaded onto the ship for use in
Russia's invasion of Ukraine. This situation became known as the
Lady R incident. It has been reported the
Ukrainian GUR discovered what was going on and passed the information to the United States. ==Current status==