Stories like this serve as a reminder that no matter how many tools you pile onto surface platforms, no matter how many systems they have either on or off the platform, they are still a long way from changing the balance of power at sea.
A lone South African submarine has left some North Atlantic Treaty Organisation commanders with red faces on Tuesday as it "sank" all the ships of the Nato Maritime Group engaged in exercises with the SA Navy off the Cape Coast.
The S101 - or the SAS Manthatisi - not only evaded detection by a joint NATO and SA Navy search party, comprising several ships combing the search area with radar and sonar; it also sank all the ships in the fleet taking part.
Several times during the exercise that lasted throughout Monday night and Tuesday morning a red square lit up the screens where the surface ships thought the submarine was, but it remained elusive.
This gave Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota something to brag about when he landed on the SAS Amatola to speak to the media on Tuesday.
"To be able to frustrate detection by NATO nations is no mean achievement; it speaks of the excellence of the equipment we required for this purpose."
And while this left one of the world's strongest military alliances frustrated, it was also a sign that the group had a capable partner in Africa, Lekota said.
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