Zulfiqar was damaged beyond repair by friendly fire from aircraft of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) which mistook her for a missile boat of the Indian Navy during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971.

[2] Following service in the Second World War, Deveron was transferred to the Royal Indian Navy in 1945 and was renamed HMIS Dhanush.

One such false alarm was raised by a PIA Fokker Friendship reconnaissance aircraft carrying naval observers, in the early hours of 6 December 1971 which reported a Pakistan Navy frigate as a missile boat of the Indian Navy, in the area west of Cape Monze on the Pakistani coast.

[7] During the aerial attack Zulfiqar was hit by more than 900 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition, killing and injuring several officers and men.

[8] The air attack on Zulfiqar was halted after frantic efforts by her crew to identify their ship as a Pakistan Navy vessel finally succeeded.