The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation’s (NATO) naval marine group came under heavy fire from the South Africa's Navy forces less than a week after leaving the friendly Namibian Defence Force's Naval Base at Walvis Bay.
South Africa “attacked” the warships with its new fleet of sophisticated warships and frigates recently purchased from the French and British. The attack was complete with SA Air Force and medical support.

The “attack” was part of the week-long training exercise that NATO has scheduled with the SA Navy Forces. This is the second real-life training exercise for SA Navy with its new warship toys. The first was last month off the British coastline.
NATO only spent few hours at NDF's Navy's base in Walvis Bay and sailed to Cape Town harbour where it arrived earlier this week. Unlike at the Walvis Bay Naval Base, the Cape Town public had been invited to board the sophisticated warships over the weekend. While the department of public relations in the Namibia Defence Force could not comment on NATO's presence at the Walvis Bay Naval Base, higher ranking military sources confirmed that NATO warships visited the base for an unspecified hours last week.
SA Navy’s Commander Jaco Theunissen, was quoted by the South African media as saying that the exercise will provide an unprecedented opportunity for South Africa' Navy Force to hone its skills in numerous maritime disciplines.
“Exercising with NATO will allow the SANDF to consolidate its proficiency in operating frigates to the highest of world-class standards,” Theunissen is quoted as saying.
NATO ships are making a historic 12500 nautical mile circumnavigation around Africa on a two-month deployment from August to October this year, as part of NATO’s commitment to global security.
Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1), one of NATO’s four standing maritime forces, set sail from the Mediterranean on 4 August to the west coast of Africa and the Niger Delta. The latter region has seen many incidents in recent months, including kidnapping of oil workers and attacks on oil installations by criminal groups.
The multinational force comprising of six ships from six different NATO nations, Canada, Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal and the United States is demonstrating the Alliance’s commitment to upholding maritime security and international law.
The deployment also tests NATO’s logistics support systems foster closer links with some of the region’s maritime forces and increase regional awareness.