SAS Tafelberg started life in 1958 as the Danish tanker Annam[2]: 244  in the service of the East Asiatic Company in Copenhagen.

She was purchased in 1965 by Safmarine before being reconfigured in Durban as the replenishment ship SAS Tafelberg and sold to the South African Navy (SAN).

Because of apartheid South Africa's political isolation at the time, the ship could not enter Rio de Janeiro and instead travelled up the River Plate to Buenos Aires.

The 1983 changes also included accommodation and messing facilities for 300 marines under the flight deck, a hospital and davits for six Delta fast landing craft.

In 1987, she went to Mauritius along with the Warrior-class strike craft SAS Jim Fouche to assist in the recovery of debris and bodies following the crash of the Helderberg Boeing 747.