Rear Admiral (Junior Grade) Arne "Angel" Söderlund is a retired South African Navy officer and author.
Early life Admiral Söderlund was born and educated in Kimberley, South Africa where he matriculated from CBC.
Navy career Admiral Söderlund joined the SA Navy in 1966.
In 1969 he was attached to the Argentine Navy for training aboard the Sail Training Vessel ARA Libertad and on his return served aboard mine sweepers as First Lieutenant and Type 12 frigates as Communications and later Anti-Submarine Warfare Officer.
He commanded the ship , before being assigned to the strike craft project in Israel where he commissioned the second strike craft P1562 and later ) as First Lieutenant and Operations Officer. In 1980 he was appointed as the first Captain of (later ). After a four-year appointment to Chief of Staff Intelligence, he was appointed as Naval and Military Attache in London from 1994 to 1997.
Promoted Commodore (which later changed to Rear Adm (Junior Grade)) he served as when Fleet Command was formed in 1999. He retired in 2006.
Author He co-authored the following books: with Chris Bennett with Douw Steyn
Submarine museum Söderlund was instrumental in setting up the as a submarine museum. The guest of honour at the ribbon cutting ceremony was Rear Admiral (JG) Theo Honiball (Ret) who as a Lieutenant Commander was her first officer commanding. The ribbon was cut by Vice-Admiral Refiloe Johannes Mudimu, Chief of the Navy.
Naval museum Söderlund owns and runs a Maritime Museum in his house, the museum stores and covers Naval Warfare items from the early 1500's through to current day, it concentrates mainly on the SA Navy and the Royal Navy but includes items from many Services. Söderlund can be contacted via the Simons Town Naval Base.
Awards and decorations
References