Episode 75 – Russian OSA2 missile boats targeted in 1984’s Operation Nobilis

South African Border Wars

This is episode 75 and we’re covering events in 1984 where various issues had arisen. The South Africans and the Angolans had been jointly patrolling southern Angola in what was supposed to be the preamble to peace in Namibia.
But the Joint Monitoring process had failed by July 1984 with SWAPO continuing to occupy the southern region of Angola, and the South Africans continuing to supply UNITA.
This JMC process was always doomed some say, but at the start there were signs that FAPLA and the SADF could work together.
Unfortunately for the many hundreds who were still to die, that good faith faded away rapidly and there was no chance of a proper cease fire. While the JMC continued operating in name, on the ground things were going from bad to worse. Eventually the whole exercise would be terminated in mid-1985, but before we get there it’s important to focus on special operations of 1984.
You heard how the SADF special forces, specifically the Recces, had been tasked with disrupting Angolan maritime resources and last episode we covered what happened during Operation Bouganvilia earlier in 1984.
The next op was called Nobilis where seaborne operators were going to try and and blow up the ASO 2 Missile boats the Angolan navy had secured from the Russians.
Earlier in the war, the SA Navy was somewhat scathing of the Angolan capacity, but everything changed when the OSA 2 missile boats arrived in 1982. They added a new and more deadly dimension to Luanda’s capacity. By late 1983 there were six of these vessels deployed to ports like Soyo, Lobito and Mocamedes and Luanda.
Eventually, 4 Recce was given the project to sink three OSA missile boats inside Luanda harbour during the dark moon period at the end of July 1984.
It was important to allow UNITA to claim the attack, so the mines were going to be attached to these ships at only 1 to 1.5 meters below the surface. The South Africans used sophisticated underwater breathing systems allowing them to approach much deeper, so they hoped the shallow attachment of the mines would convince the Russians and the Angolans that it was the rebel movement and not the SA special Forces.