A video of a submarine surfacing close to the Hout Bay cliffs on Monday, has been doing the rounds on social media, Photo: YouTube screenshot
Even with thousands of kilometres of coastline, chances are slim that a submarine will pop up in your local seaside bay – for a Sunday afternoon braai.
But this is exactly what surfaced in upmarket Hout Bay over the weekend when residents spotted the menacing military vessel.
A code red alert was immediately raised on social media pages with keyboard warriors weighing in with theories ranging from “The Russians are coming” to “Aaah, its the Chinese, because a flotilla of them is in Cape Town”.
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Any fears of a foreign invasion disappeared when onlookers saw the sub crew all “hands on grill” while firing up a sizzling braai.
According to The Observation Post, there is a South African Naval tradition in the “silent service of having a braai” on a submarine when it has surfaced.
DefenceWeb identified the mysterious submarine as none other than the SA Navy’s SAS Manthatisi (S101).
The sub’s overnight stopover in Hout Bay led to rife speculation that the submarine may have run aground on a shallow sandbank.
The SA Navy, however, dismissed the claims as untrue.
“The submarine that was the cause of speculation over the weekend went into Hout Bay and remained at anchor in the bay, where they were charging batteries while at anchor,” SA Navy spokesperson Ruwayda Grootboom said on Tuesday.
“They weighed anchor the following morning and proceeded to Table Bay. The submarine came back alongside Simon’s Town on Monday morning.”
DefenceWeb further revealed that the SAS Manthatisi’s excursion involved the scattering of the ashes of a submariner who passed away from cancer, in False Bay.
Of course it goes without saying that “friendly fire” from our very own naval boykies beats the Russian roulette of ships loading and offloading something in the dark of night right under the bronzed nose of able seaman Just Nuisance in Simon’s Town…
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