The first narrative of the South African Naval Forces during the Second World War was written by Cdr H.R. Gordon-Cumming, OBE for the Union War Histories Section in the Office of the Prime Minister and appears to have been completed in December 1950. A number of chapters from this work were included in War In the Southern Oceans 1939-45 which was published by Oxford University Press in 1961. In December 1967 a shortened version of Cdr Gordon-Cumming's narrative, which he entitled Brief History (Sea) was included in a book duplicated on a Roneo machine, A Short History of the SA Navy, compiled by Lt (now Cdre, Retired) A.P. Burgers for the SA Navy's Directorate of Personnel at Naval Headquarters.