Good shot!

It was, as I remember, almost a year ago that three German warships gathered their collective might off the southernmost tip of Africa and accidentally failed to accidentally sink a local fishing boat.

Not to be outdone, the South African Navy has raised the stakes by apparently attacking an actual warship – the SAS Drakensberg – also “accidentally”. As you may already have gathered from the name of the vessel in question, this was somewhat of an own goal, since the SAS Drakensberg is a fleet replenishment ship belonging to… er… the South African Navy.

The SA Navy confirmed that the strike craft SAS Isaac Dyobha accidentally discharged one of its guns and hit the SAS Drakensberg with a practice round, damaging its port-side deck, while both ships were berthed in Port Elizabeth harbour.
The incident occurred during the Armed Forces Day military exhibition in Port Elizabeth, which was attended by 25000 people.

Oops. Awkward.

Still, given that PE is known as the “Friendly City”, there are few better places for a friendly fire incident to take place.

The SAS Drakensberg’s undamaged side. The damaged side looks like this, except damaged.

According to the Times report:

Other accidents involving South African vessels include:

• A frigate dropped a 4.5-inch round on a Simon’s Town school playground [it did not explode];
• Twenty years ago a strike craft fired a 76mm round through a building at Salisbury Island, Durban; and
• Six years ago, a frigate fired a 35mm round through its own aft section in Simon’s Town.

Meh. We’ve all done it. Especially the shooting yourself in the foot arse one.