SINKING of INS KHURKI

9th December 1971 was the saddest day in the history of Indian Navy as on this day Indian Navy suffered largest wartime causality loosing 178 sailors and 18 officers including Capt. Mahendra Nath Mulla who chose to go down along with ship as an old tradition,-“captains don’t abandon their ships”

One of the survivors COMMANDER Manu Sharma hasn’t forgotten the night of December. Speaking to The Indian Express correspondent he said, “I remember when the ship was sinking after being hit by a Pakistani submarine PNS Hangor, there was a small hatch escape from where we were puling the sailors and everyone was trying to save his life. There was a moment which even made a person like me cry. My captain M N Mulla pushed me and Lieutenant Kundan Mall from the ship and said you go ahead, do not worry about me. When Kundan Mall and I started swimming under water, after a while I lost track of Mall. And I as looked around for him I saw Captain Mulla holding the top of the ship’s railing with a cigar in his mouth. Those were the last minutes for INS Khukri and Captain Mulla, who choose not to abandon the ship,” His daughter Ameeta Mulla Wattal speaking to The Hindu correspondent during release of book The sinking of INS Khukri - Survivors' stories, by Maj.Gen. (retd.) Ian Cardozo, recently, wondered, "I suppose he saw himself as nurtured by the traditions of the sea that required him to stay with his vessel. One such man is enough to bring honour to an entire nation for a life time."

After reading these news clippings, I thought of compiling this article about one of heroes of 1971 war, Captain M.N.Mulla and the loss ok INS Khukri

Events leading to fateful night

Immediately after bombing of Indian airports by Pakistan on evening of 3rd December, suspecting presence of Pakistan submarines in Kutch area, Indian Navy made attempts to intercept submarine broadcasts on West Coast. Results indicated possible position of submarine southwest of Diu on 7/8 December. Diu was assembly area for our ships to be deployed for missile attack on Karachi. Presence of submarine in area was cause of great concern. The 14th Frigate squadron comprising of the vessels INS Khukri, Kirpan and Kuthar had sailed from Bombay on 2^nd December. However, Kuthar had suffered a boiler room explosion on 4^th December and was towed back to Bombay by the Kirpan for repair. The odds were heavily in favor of Pakistan submarine Hangor, the Indian Navy could not allow threat by Pakistan at our doorstep.

Admiral Kohli was the Flag Officer Commanding in Chief, Western Naval Command in 1971.He decided to deploy the 14 Frigate Squadron along with the Navy's latest Seaking anti submarine helicopters operating from Bombay to eliminate the submarine Hangor threat off Diu. Captain MN Mulla was Senior Officer of the Squadron.The Seaking helicopters were to operate in the southern sector of the search area closer to Bombay and thereby have longer time on task. The frigates were to operate in the northern sector of the search area, closer to Diu Head.

Admiral Kohli his book, "We Dared - Maritime Operations in the 1971 Indo Pak War" published in 1989 states:

"Where the Pakistan Navy scored over the Indian Navy was in their submarine arm. The French Daphne class submarines were the most modern conventional submarines, with sensors and armament far superior to not only our submarine but also our anti submarine frigates. This is how the KHUKRI was detected by a Daphne much before the frigate became aware of the submarine's presence."

"As expected there were sonar contacts and reports of occasional sightings of periscopes by Indian ships and maritime reconnaissance aircraft. There were subsequently confirmed sighting reports of an enemy submarine in the area west of Diu Head. Direction Finder bearings obtained of a submarine which had transmitted a wireless message to Karachi also confirmed the position. This submarine was a potential threat to our shipping and it was decided by the Western Naval Command to eliminate this threat. The 14th anti submarine squadron comprising KHUKRI (F14), KIRPAN and KUTHAR was the only force available for the task, together with some Seakings."

"Urgent operational orders for a hunt were prepared in consultation with Captain MN Mulla, Senior Officer of the Squadron, requiring the squadron to sail on 8 December for the last known position of the submarine. KUTHAR's problems were too serious to permit early readiness of the ship for sea. After considering the gravity of the situation and in consultation with F 14, who accepted decreased Anti Submarine capability of the two ships, KHUKRI and KIRPAN were sailed for the hunt."

Admiral further states:

"While in the process of hunting, the enemy submarine with her superior sonar facility, obtained contact of KHUKRI before her own detection by the ship and struck KHUKRI by a salvo of three torpedoes in quick succession. The ship sank in a matter of minutes at 2055 on 9^th December, taking down with her 18 officers and 176 men including the Commanding Officer, Captain MN Mulla. It was a serious blow in an encounter in which the superior underwater destruction capability and its allied weapons systems of a modern submarine turned the scales and thus the hunter became the victim."

KIRPAN, who was searching for the submarine together with KHUKRI, reported detecting torpedoes going past her at the time KHUKRI was torpedoed. She took vigorous evasive action and fired mortars on the torpedo bearing. After a few salvos, her mortars went non operational. KIRPAN now faced a dilemma - should she rescue KHUKRI's survivors - either by going amidst them on a dark night or should she lower her boats to rescue survivors. Both actions would require KIRPAN to stop and this would make her an easy target for the submarine, if it chose to attack KIRPAN. Or should KIRPAN leave the area, repair her mortars and return to the area with an additional ship to rescue the survivors and start hunting the submarine? This however would give the submarine time to get away from the scene of the sinking and consequently greatly enlarge the area to be searched. The CO of KIRPAN decided to withdraw from the scene and return later.”

Captain M.N.Mulla was awarded Maha Vir Charka posthumously.

Lessons Learnt

There was considerable debate about sinking of Khukri, particularly in view of heavy loss of life. The issues about advisability of deploying Khukri and Kirpan to hunt much superior submarine,Kirpan leaving the scene without saving more sailors,slow speed movement of Khukri as against tactical doctrine of high speed etc were debated.Some of these actions were justifiable and certain follow up actions were initiated. In conclusion Admiral Hiranandani states:

“The lesson learnt from the loss of the KHUKRI was that longer range sonars and longer range weapons had to be inducted if ships were to have a fighting chance against modern submarines and their long range homing torpedoes.

Immediate action was taken to improve the anti submarine capability of the Leander Class frigates then under construction in Mazagon Docks at Bombay.

In retrospect, KHUKRI's tragic loss did not go in vain.”

INS KHUKRI

http://indiannavy.nic.in/picture_gallery/KHUKRI_OLD.jpg

INS Khukri Memorial
INS Khukri memorial was inaugurated on 15th December, 1999 in memory of the officers and the sailors who chose to go down with the warship INS KHUKRI when it was hit by a salve of three torpedoes fired from PNS Hangor, a Pakistani Submarine on 9/12/1971 during the INDO-PAK war. INS Khukri which sank 40 nautical miles off the coast of Diu taking down a crew of 18 officers and 176 sailors. The memorial constitutes a model of INS Khukri encased in a glass house, placed atop a hillock facing the sea. The memorial was built as a tribute to the officers and sailors of the Indian Navy who laid down their life for the country.

CAPTAIN MAHENDRA NATH MULLA ,MAHA VIR CHARKA (Posthumous)

Born: 15^th May 1926 Gorakhpur U.P.

Father Sh.T.N.Mulla

Commision: 1^st May 1948

Religion: Hindu

CITATION

Two ships of the Indian Navy under the command of Captain M.N.Mulla, senior officer of frigates squadron, were assigned the task of locating and destroying a Pakistani submarine in North Arabian Sea. During these operations on the night of 9 December 1971,INS “Khukri” was hit by torpedoes fired by enemy submarine and sank. Having decided to abandon the ship, Captain Mulla without regard to his personal safety, supervised the arrangements for rescue of his ship’s company in very cool, calm and methodical manner. Even at later stage whilst the ship was sinking, Capt Mulla showed presence of mind and continued to direct rescue operations and refused to save himself by giving his own life-saving gear to a sailor. Having directed as many of his men as possible to leave the ship, Captain Mulla went back to bridge to see what further rescue operations could be performed. In doing so, Captain Mulla was last seen going down the ship. His action and behavior and the example he set have been in keeping with highest tradition of the services. Captain Mulla displayed conspicuous gallantry and dedication.

Ramesh Lalwani26.02.07

Ref :Transition to Triumph-History of the Indian Navy 1965-1975 by Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani PVSM, AVSM, NM, PhD (Retd)

LAST JOURNEY OF PNS GHAZI

It was night of 3^rd December 1971.Late Roshan Lal, my constant companion during our survey assignments and I had reached a forest bungalow in Chittor district of Andhra Pradesh. We were sitting on dinning table waiting for dinner to arrive. There was no electric connection in the forest bungalow. The caretaker had arranged candle light so we were to have “candle light “dinner. I was struggling with my 2 band Murphy transistor radio trying to pick up news .Suddenly heard an announcement that Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi will address to the nation. Within minutes she was on air and we heard her saying "I speak to you at a moment of great peril to our country and our people. Some hours ago, soon after 5.30 pm on the 3rd December, Pakistan had launched a full scale war against us.......Today a war in Bangladesh has become a war on India....I have no doubt that by the united will of the people, the wanton and unprovoked aggression of Pakistan should be decisively and finally repelled.....Aggression must be met and the people of India will meet it with fortitude , determination, discipline and utmost unity."

Earlier during the day which I can never forget, we were traveling in a Jeep from Bangalore towards Madras, as it was called then, on the National Highway passing through Chittor and Vellore Districts. Our objective was to select radio relay station sites for connecting Bangalore with Madras. We had visited some sites in Chittor and now we were looking for a possible site to link Tirutanni in Tamil Nadu. One possible location selected after studying Survey of India topographical maps was a place south of National Highway. We had to take our Jeep off National highway some 20 Kms to hill top close to a hamlet. It had rained earlier during day and streams were full of water. Our Jeep got struck in one of the streams and it is here our trouble started. As a part of our equipment, we were carrying a box containing Thedolite, a cylindrical shell for keeping Survey of India contour maps, a compass, tripods etc. One of villagers, who appeared to be leader, had heard on radio that a Pakistani sub marine was suspected to be plying off Andhra coast .He was telling villagers that we were Pakistanis carrying bomb with us. About 100 people gheroed us for more than an hour. We were unable to explain that we were Government of India officials as crowd understood only Telegu . Luckily a school teacher was passing by. He enquired from crowd about commotion and came forward to speak to us in English. We explained to him our mission then only crowd understood and melted away after realising their mistake. The teacher took us to his well kept house and offered us nice hot cup of coffee and some hot snacks. The villagers were now very keen that we select the site in their village. We visited the proposed site but finally did not find it suitable. Later we came to know that Pakistan submarine Ghazi was sunk by Indian Navy off Vishakapatnam coast on midnight of 3/4^th Dec. This incident keeps coming back to my thoughts every year on Bangla Desh liberation day which is celebrated as Vijay Diwas in India.

Lighting candles on Vijay Diwas at India Gate

The History of PNS Ghazi

USS Diabloa was acquired by Pakistan from the USA on Lease in 1964 and renamed PNS Ghazi. This Tench Class Submarine was laid down on11th August 1944, at Portsmouth Navy Yard in The USA. She was Launched on 1st December 1944 and Commissioned as USS Diablo (SS-479) on 31st March 1945; designated (AGSS-479), 1962 She was decommissioned and struck from the US Naval Register, She was transferred (leased) to Pakistan under terms of the Security Assistance Program and Commissioned as PNS Ghazi on 1st June 1964.She was lost with all members on 4th December 1971

Specifications: Displacement, Surfaced: 1,570 tons., Submerged: 2,414 t.ons; Length 311' 8"; Beam 27' 4"; Draft 15' 3"; Speed, Surfaced 20.25 knots, Submerged 8.75 knots; Cruising Range, 11,000 miles surfaced at 10knots; Submerged Endurance, 48 hours at 2knots; Operating Depth, 400 ft; Complement 7 Officers 69 Enlisted; Armament, ten 21" torpedo tubes, six forward, four aft, 24 torpedoes, one 5"/25 deck gun, two 20mm guns, two .30 cal. machine guns; Patrol Endurance 75 days; Propulsion, diesel-electric reduction gear with four Fairbanks Morse main generator engines, 5,400HP, Fuel Capacity, 113,510 gal., two Elliot Motor Co. main motors with 2,740HP, two 126-cell main storage batteries, two propellers

PNS Ghazi (former USS Diablo)

http://www.navsource.org/archives/08/08479.htm

PNS Ghazi was pride submarine of Pakistan. It was first deployed in Arabian Sea off Bombay Coast in 1965 War. The Captain had claimed to have fired 4 torpedoes on the INS Brahmaputra on 22 September and "heard" 3 hits. Ghazi returned to Karachi on 23 September, where he was decorated for having "sunk" the Indian frigate Brahmaputra. In fact the Brahmaputra had not been attacked as claimed by Pakistan and was fighting fit.

Sinking of Ghazi-Indian Version

Ghazi was again deployed during 1971 during Bangla Desh war. Situation in East Pakistan was deteriorating. India was building world opinion against Pakistan atrocities in East Pakistan. Pakistan anticipating possible support of Mukti Bahini by Indian forces moved Ghazi on 14^th November 1971 to Bay of Bengal ,what turned out be her last journey. The objective was to mine Vizagapatnam(vizag) port where aircraft carrier Vikrant along with other ships was harboured. PNS Ghazi reached Bay of Bengal on 20^th November. Vice Admiral N.Krishnan, the flag officer Commander- in- Chief of the Indian Navy's Eastern fleet had decided to move INS Vikrant aircraft carrier away from Vizag as he anticipated possible attack by Ghazi on Vizag Harbor. Vikrant had already sailed away to an unknown location 10 days before the Ghazi began searching for her near Vizag. , It was decided that a number of deceptive measures would be put in order to fool the enemy into the thinking the Vikrant was near Vizag. The Indian Navy intentionally breached security by making an unclassified signal in the form of a private Telegram allegedly from one of sailor of Vikrant asking about the welfare of his mother who was "seriously ill". The Indian Navy's deception plan worked and Ghazi moved towards Vizag.

In his book ‘No Way But Surrender - An Account of the Indo Pakistan War in the Bay of Bengal 1971', Vice Admiral N Krishnan, the then Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the Eastern Naval Command, states:

"The RAJPUT sailed before midnight of 3/4 December and, on clearing harbor, proceeded along the narrow channel. Having got clear, the Commanding Officer saw what he thought was a severe disturbance in the water, about half a mile ahead. He rightly assumed that this might be a submarine diving. He closed the spot at speed and dropped at the position two charges. It has been subsequently established that the position where the charges were dropped was so close to the position of the wreck of the GHAZI that some damage to the latter is a very high probability. The RAJPUT, on completion of her mission, proceeded on her course in order to carry out her main mission. A little later, a very loud explosion was heard by the Coast Battery who reported the same to the Maritime Operations Room. The time of this explosion was 0015 hours. The clock recovered from the GHAZI showed that it had stopped functioning at the same time. Several thousand people waiting to hear the Prime Minister's broadcast to the nation also heard the explosion and many came out thinking that it was an earthquake”

Historical Photo showing Lieutenant General A.A.K. 'Tiger'

Niazi, Commander of the Pakistan Army signing the

Instrument of Surrender in the presence of Lieutenant

General Jagjit Singh Aurora. Standing from left is Vice Admiral

N. Krishnan, Air Marshal H.C. Dewan, Lieutenant General

Sagat Singh and Major General J.F.R. Jacob.

The sinking of PNS Ghazi was achieved by Lt.Cdr Inder Singh of the INS Rajput as well as the man behind the scene Vice Admiral N Krishnan .Pakistan lost its pride sub marine along with commanding officer of the Ghazi, Zafar Mohammed Khan and 82 member crew .

Pakistani Version

Pakistan however has maintained that Ghazi sank when the mines it was laying were accidentally detonated. Another theory is that the explosive shock from one of the depth charges set off the torpedoes and mines (some of which may have been armed for laying) stored aboard the submarine

Sinking of Ghazi helped Indian Navy to completely blockade movement of Pak Navy towards Chittagong thus achieved major advantage over Pakistan Navy.

Ramesh Lalwani

19.02.07