09/12/1971 | Submarine PNS Hangor Sinks INS Khukri.

[ajtr]

@Abingdonboy Sawan ke andhe ko sab hara hi hara nazar aata hai.
(One who goes blind in spring, sees only greenery all around.)
people who fail to see reality, especially dire circumstances when they have lived through prosperous times.

 

[ajtr]

So : khukrii was sunk 41 yrs back........ ...still 15 hrs to go

 

[ajtr]

Veteran recalls sinking of ‘INS Kukri’

“War is a series of catastrophes that results in a victory,” French War Minister Georges Benjamin Clemenceau once said and India’s most celebrated war – the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War – is no exception.

This day, 41 years ago, Indian Navy’s aircraft carrier INS Vikrant was making a lot of noise on the Eastern sector. Seaman Danny Dunstan was busy with his team working on navigation and direction aboard the ship which had already caused a considerable damage to the Chittagong harbour and airfield.

On the same day, in the Arabian Sea, INS Kukri, a frigate of the Indian Navy, was moving towards West Pakistan. Willam Ray, a telegraphist was aboard the ship.
A day later, on December 9, 1971, Danny and INS Vikrant were busy blowing away things on the Eastern side but Ray and INS Kukri had infamously sunk. This is Danny’s “catastrophe” of the great war.

Then, Danny was a young man winning a war. Now, at the age of 71, he is the Curator of the Martitime Museum in Kochi. “We were both (him and Ray) on the winning side, but my case was more literal. I still have his (Ray) image in my memory.” Commissioned into the Indian Royal Navy in 1961, Danny, was as old in the Naval service as INS Vikrant was in 1971. He was Ray’s senior from St Peter’s High School, Bombay (Mumbai). Ray was commissioned about three years later.

“Look, he was my school buddy,” Danny points at one of the many names that occupy a board at the museum, where Danny is working since 2004. It reads William Ray. Danny stands by the board, unable to take his eyes off that name.

Of all the things Danny shows around the museum, which has models of Vasco da Gama among other attractions, he spends most time at this board and the 1971 war collection.
The otherwise loquacious, fleet-footed Danny, slows down when he reaches this part of the museum. He waits till he gets everyone’s attention and says: “Look, he is my school buddy,” and narrates the story of how the INS Kukri was brought down by a Pakistani
submarine’s torpedo attack.

“The sad part was that we read about it only after everything was over on the Eastern side and we touched base in Kochi after winning the war...You know those things about morale and war, it prevented people from telling us,” Danny recollects.

Danny wishes Ray was on the other side of India, in the Bay of Bengal. But says: “I know him, it hurts. There were many more on Kukri and I know it hurts more people even today.”

His views on war are different now. "I do not know why people should indulge in war. May be it is necessary," he says. He is still a loyal soldier, but war has different connotations in his life today.

 

[ajtr]

"The Khurkris captain announced to his ships company that there had been a great victory near Karachi on the previous evening. The two cruisers Mysore and Delhi (ex HMS Achilles) had been engaged, as well as escorts and also six guided missile patrol boats. At Karachi they must have wondered how these small craft managed to reach the area. It was considered that these small craft had sunk four or five ships on their own. These craft were Soviet built and similar to the Egyptian one that sank the Israeli frigate Eilath.

Pal Singh realised that the frigates zone of surveillance was to protect the Indian forces against submarine attack. Leaving Bombay had not been without some difficulty as there was a big commotion at the entrance of the port in the middle of a minefield designed to attract enemy submarines. The passage through the swept channel had not been too easy. The Khurkri had then started her patrol with Kirpan following a track which seemed to be a rectangle based on the direction Bombay - Karachi. At the same time three trawlers in line ahead carried out a radar sweep in the adjoining sector. Singh tried to imagine what a Pakistani captain would see through his periscope after exhausting his batteries chasing them.

Khurkri sonar operator was thinking about this when a small echo attracted his attention. He was about to analyse the echo when there was a violent explosion followed by several others. Two minutes later all was over, Singh found himself swimming in the sea and oil. He was one of the 67 survivors.

For nearly 30 hours the Pakistani submarine Hangor of the French Daphne class had followed the two Indian frigates, 30 hours during which there had been little sleep for any of the crew, because they felt they were nearly at their goal and their dreams would at last be realised.

Soon the Torpedo Gunners Mate Gulham Ghous would be able to tell his six year old son how he fired the fish which sank the enemy frigate. He would also be able to tell the boy how hard it had been to control the hydroplanes during the hunt as they were making 11 knots at a depth of 32 feet or snorkeling at 12 knots with the valve at the sea end locked open.

But all this was nothing compared with what they had experienced in home waters and in France.

But Commander Taznim ruled the ships company with an iron hand and was detested for his harshness while the training progressed. Any mistake was punished severely, sometimes with loss of leave.

But now it was felt that his strictness in training would bear fruit. Ghulam Ghous was ready in the torpedo compartment with his hand on the firing trigger, ready to fire as many torpedoes as necessary to prove to the Indians that Allah alone is Great.

For the Captain as well, Lieutenant Commander Taznim Hamad, those thirty hours had proved very long. But he felt he would gloriously crown his efforts, which had begun by an endless period completing the submarine in France (wonderful people, the French, and they built remarkable submarines; but they lacked the ardour for war).

For nearly a year, since his return to Karachi, he had been forced to start again almost from nothing training his ships company. The greater part had left, including his second in command and his torpedo officer. As there were no warships available, he had begun by dummy attacks on merchant ships for three consecutive weeks. Then he had started dummy attacks on the Indian Navy itself in front of Bombay. In this way he acquired an excellent knowledge of this area and of the traffic, tides and underwater currents. He deliberately tested the bearing and range of the Indians sonar and their tactics when he deliberately allowed himself to get in contact. He exhausted his attack team, but the crew became so confident that they felt they would always win and their submarine was almost unsinkable.

Shortly before the outbreak of war, the captain found himself forced on account of lack of trained personnel to work up in five days instead of what normally would take a month.

Unfortunately, shortly after reaching the patrol area, the air conditioning system broke down; in the hot weather air conditioning played a vital role not only for the electronic gear. There could be no question of returning in view of the very serious tension between the two countries. So at night they had to come up to the surface showing the fishing lights of a trawler. An Indian warship had approached. What on earth could they do? If they submerged the submarine would be immediately spotted. So they had to stay on the surface ready to launch a torpedo. The warship came within 4,000 metres without using her searchlight and then left.

A little while later, just before the outbreak of war, Commander Taznim had to watch an Indian fleet pass by on a good bearing; these were practically all the ships available to the Indians on the west coast. The captains officers and crew begged him to attack. Not having received his orders, he had to let the warships go although it broke his heart to do so.

But now this time the enemy was on a good bearing. At the beginning on the afternoon of the 8th, there had been only two radar echoes, detected twice in the same formation at an interval of one hour; this was enough to class them as warships on a southeasterly course. The hunt began.

Since the sighting the enemy had continued to change course, which gave the hunter some problems. On the evening of the 8th the enemy was on a north-westerly course, then on the morning of the 9th they changed to a north-easterly course, then to a south-easterly course about noon.

Commander Taznim now realised that the enemy ships had been on a course that described a rectangle. Then at 1900 the ships set a course to the north west. At 1915 Commander Taznim estimated their mean course and dived to attack. He altered course on the frigate on the western side (Kirpan) at very slow speed in order to present the smallest silhouette to the enemys sonar. He decided not to hurry the moment of firing, but to wait for the moment the enemy would be on target, judged to be at 2000.

At 2013 a sharp order broke the silence: Fire. Everyone was tense. The torpedo left the tube and was heard moving towards the target, but then they heard it passing under without exploding.

There was no time to criticise this failure. The frigate on the eastern side (Khurkri) passed in her turn at high speed at a range of about 500 metres. There was just time to set the range and at 2017 a second torpedo was fired. At the sonar, Mohamed Miskeen, disappointed with the first firing, concentrated all his efforts on the hydrophones. Suddenly he heard a tremendous roaring - he snatched the hydrophones from his ears and in his joy prostrated himself on the deck shouting Allah is Great!

Kirpan returned to pick up survivors and her course brought her in line with the submarine, which promptly fired a third torpedo, but the frigate was prepared for the attack and left at high speed. After 8 or 10 minutes a very clear explosion was heard, followed by the stopping of the Kirpans machinery. Commander Taznim considered that he had hit the frigate, but he decided to abandon the attack and made for deep water. Kirpan had a badly damaged stern and was unable to steam, she was finally towed into Bombay.

There followed three days of depth charge attacks by Shackletons, Alizes and escorts. The submarine suffered 156 depth charges, most of which were a long way off. Every time the submarine used the snorkel it was spotted by aircraft, but the escorts led to the position by the aircraft never made contact. Finally the Hangor managed to escape and carry on her mission.

On the morning of the 18th December, a long black silhouette glided into the port of Karachi.

All on board were exhausted but triumphant. The crew were seen lined up on the casing. Commander Taznim felt very strongly about the uncertainty which dominated the capability of his command until the first engagement. Two of his men had broken down during the encounter, one of whom was one of his most capable officers.

Also he thought that he had returned safely because he had taken risks, which would not have been acceptable in peacetime, and had not taken certain risks which his crew would not have been able to sustain.

But his thoughts were interrupted by the fanfare and ovations which came from the quay. The time for risks and loneliness were now finished for him, now came the time for honours."

WAFF | World's Armed Forces Forum: Indo-Pak Air war 1971 - Air Ethusiast May 1972

 

[ajtr]

WT? Sinking of the Kukhri was so insignificant for the outcome of the war... remember who lost ???

Wow loss of a ship and 194 sailors and officers and their sacrifice is a insignificant thing.............

 

[ajtr]

compare that to 1500 sailors and half a nation.... do the math

wah ji hindostaniyon ke kya kahane ab to adami ke jaan par bhi maths karte hain jaise koi apple aur oranges count kar rahe hon.

mhhhh India has a huge navy. One ship of this class more or less doesnt change much. And as far as I know it hasnt changed the outcome of the blockade. Not a single Pakistani ship with equipment or troops arrived in east Pakistan thanks to the blockade.

Our fish tank @KRAIT will come now and lecture you on your insensitivity towards those men in uniform who lost their lives this day 41 yrs back.

 

[MilSpec]

wah ji hindostaniyon ke kya kahane ab to adami ke jaan par bhi maths karte hain jaise koi apple aur oranges count kar rahe hon.

well you are singing praises of pakistani navy and pakistani armed forces in general, which caused mass destruction of it's own people, was dismal in performance against India, failed to protect its assets and personell which in case of the navy led to destuction and death of a huge chunk of its naval forces and assets. Most unfortunate that such huge amount of losses due to incompetency that seeped down it's leadership is being cherished by you. Isn't that utterly unfortunate...

 

[ajtr]

well you are singing praises of pakistani navy and pakistani armed forces in general, which caused mass destruction of it's own people, was dismal in performance against India, failed to protect its assets and personell which in case of the navy led to destuction and death of a huge chunk of its naval forces and assets. Most unfortunate that such huge amount of losses due to incompetency that seeped down it's leadership is being cherished by you. Isn't that utterly unfortunate...

Don't you sing praise to IA whose performance in 1962 and srilanka had led to lot of introspection .Dont you sing praise to IA which has blood of its own people on its hands.

That is called causality estimates of war, this may seem insensitive but that is how nations decide the result of a war.

thats why very less is talked about khukri....isnt it.infact efforts are made to brush those 194 death under the carpet.

I don't understand this - A snake in a Fish Tank??

Ask wajahat khan.

 

[danger007]

I don't remember the thread title exactly.... Oscar mentioned: some of PN officers applied leave with fear , that IN might attack again.... hehehee these fellows trying to show PN iis successful against IN....hehehe

 

[KRAIT]

If tyrant give lesson to fight against injustice then nothing wrong in learnging even from tyrant.

Tyrant-A ruler who exercises power in a harsh, cruel manner. 3. An oppressive, harsh,
arbitrary person.

One can learn dedication from a terrorist. Go and follow them. So much to learn.

 

[Koovie]

wah ji hindostaniyon ke kya kahane ab to adami ke jaan par bhi maths karte hain jaise koi apple aur oranges count kar rahe hon.

Our fish tank @KRAIT will come now and lecture you on your insensitivity towards those men in uniform who lost their lives this day 41 yrs back.

Men in uniform died, right may their souls rest in peace. But I think you got my point: The sinking of this frigate had no effect on the outcome of the blockade and at the war as a whole.
This entire fuss created around the sinking of one frigate is ridiculous.

 

[SQ8]

Men in uniform died, right may their souls rest in peace. But I think you got my point: The sinking of this frigate had no effect on the outcome of the blockade and at the war as a whole.
This entire fuss created around the sinking of one frigate is ridiculous.

Agreed with your first part.. but then the entire fuss created around shooting down an unarmed MPA during peacetime by a fighter is also no reason for fuss.

 

[Koovie]

Agreed with your first part.. but then the entire fuss created around shooting down an unarmed MPA during peacetime by a fighter is also no reason for fuss.

I agree with that, the atlantique incident is not worth opening 5253523 threads.

 

[Shinigami]

pakistanis won this round of the war. why dont we indians just man up and admit it? why are some of us trying hard to show that IN evantually pulverized the PN? everyone knows what happened in the 71 war in detail. So forget about your patriotism for a while and show some academic interest in this topic

 

[SQ8]

I don't remember the thread title exactly.... Oscar mentioned: some of PN officers applied leave with fear , that IN might attack again.... hehehee these fellows trying to show PN iis successful against IN....hehehe

That was for Kargil, Not 71.. at least remember the context before making smart alec statements.