The Sinking of INS Khukri: Survivors’ Stories
This has got to be a labour of love, else why should a land-lubber, and that too a die-hard gurkha at heart, and a through and through and very thorough-bred (!) foot-slogger like retired Maj Gen Ian Cardozo, take it into his head to bother about the sad stories of the sorry survivors of I N S Khukri ? I N S Khukri, a Type 14 Anti Submarine Warfare frigate; the only man o war; other than the Argentine cruiser, General Belgrano, which was sunk by the Royal Navy’s HMS Conqueror in the 1982 Falklands war; to have been sent to the bottom of the sea (along with a total of 18 officers, including the captain and 176 sailors) in a naval submarine–kill; since WWII. I N S Khukri was torpedoed by P N S Hangor (‘the shark’) a new Daphne class French submarine; on 9 December 1971 at about eight bells, near the Diu Head off the Western Gujrat coast of India. It remains to date, India’s greatest single war-time casualty. Controversy surrounds as to how & why?
Gross negligence, over-indulgence in ship’s company, over-confidence in the skipper’s swashbuckling, chauvinistic, cocky demeanour; brazen boldness on the part of the old salts in the naval headquarters and higher echelons of command, are some of the reasons that did the rounds on the various grapevines, for the easily avoidable sinking; else why was the Anti-Submarine Warfare Seaking cover denied/ deprived to it when it was well known that she was in sub-waters on a mission to hunt and kill Hangor; and why was she doing only 12 knots when it was well known that the enemy submarine was lurking in the vicinity hugging the coast. It had a superior capability to kill at over 25000 meters, and all that the Khukri was banking on was an untested new version of the extended range 170/174 Sonar with only 2500 meters of range? Why was the ship’s company not in life jackets even on action stations? Why was a jacket not available even to the skipper, Mahendra Nath Mullah? He was awarded a MVC!
Hangor , rose to fire two lethal torpedoes. When the CO of the Khukri realized, that, his ship had had a near miss, he decided to make full speed ahead and broke off contact, not realizing that, in the bargain, that, in that manoeuvre, he had also pulled in the second shot by inviting a locked-on Pakistani torpedo attack, to home in ! Kirpan’s CO was a Torpedo & Anti Submarine Officer, and he realized his predicament quickly, and acted with great alacrity to increase speed and get away from danger, when the first torpedo of the Hangor passed under its bows. Maritime Operations carried out many sorties over a period of 3 or 4 days to get the Pakistani sub whose position was triangulated by Indian direction finders. But even though many sono-buoys were placed and depth charge attacks were carried out by Super-Constellations, and by the Kirpan, PNS Hangor managed to avoid detection, and sneak out of the dragnet. It then and slowly headed for its safe-pen in the Karachi harbour, reaching it after two days and nights.
Cardozo examines all aspects of the sinking of the Khukri with much panache as he is not a new comer to the recounting of military history & folklore. His ‘Paramvir : Our Heroes in Battle’, & ‘The Indian Army: A brief History’ have got into reprints & re-runs in Hindi as well. He is that good with the pen. Writing is second nature to him and he manages to find time for it despite the exacting demands of his position as the Chairman, Rehabilitation Council Of India; a post he holds in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment. He understands the pain & suffering of the handicapped, being a war-wounded, and physically challenged, as a result of which, himself.
In this book, though the intrepid General, is a bit slow off the mark; for it is only after the ambling preamble, that, concludes only on page vi, that, it is only on page 7 ( 1) , that he really gets going, earnestly and when he does, he does indeed, manage to bring out the personal pathos of the survivors, and the display of doughty raw courage under extreme stress et all. He even presents the other side of the picture—-an account by the then electrical/ communications officer of the Hangor, who rose rapidly in his career in the PN to retire as its VCNS, is as apt, as it is candid. Goes without saying, that, the discerning will not be wrong, if they take his account to be nothing more than sheer bravado, to save face, so to say. Whilst Cardozo scores on the human angle, it would have been nice, had the narrative, not got bogged down with debates on issues of higher relevance, like for example, the discussions on the efficacy of the DRDO, the Scorpene submarine deal and wheeling dealing connected with it and what not. It has weakened the impact of the central tale of the survivors. Be that as it may, the author has, indeed, succeeded in the attainment of his main aim of writing this book; to wit : to bring the armed forces closer to the man in the street.
Abounding in well annotated photographs, including those of the survivors; naval engagement sketches, copious end notes and an impressive bibliography, Khukri is bound to amaze even the crustiest of the old sea-dogs. Cardozo banks on some very catchy quotes to begin his chapters; eg, Elanore Roosevelt’s , “You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”, is particularly pertinent to head off the chapter dealing in naval traditions. Also the device of printing line sketch- profiles of warships at the end of chapters lends an additional nostalgic tang to this narrative, which is already, well laced with naval folklore and tradition. Beside, the central incident, it also contains other interesting nuggets like that of PNS Khyber, the Pakistani warship, that, bombarded Dwarka, on the Gujarat coast during the 1965 war, but was fated to be the first Pakistani warship to be destroyed in the 1971 war! Another episode, that is presented from the perspective of various sources, is the sinking of the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi near Vishakapatnam. The book also gives a graphic detail of the attack on Karachi harbour that brought this key Pakistani port city to its knees. For those still whetting for more on the Indian naval bombing of Karachi by fast missile boats, should read, “The Man who Bombed Karachi”, by Admiral SM Nanda, the ex-CNS. Therefore, no amount of praise for the Indian Navy, and its awesome performance would suffice.
The fascination Cardozo has for the sea is almost inborn and almost God-given; he being regular ghati from Bombay and on that having roots in Goa, to boot! Hence, the very evident labour of love in “The Sinking of I N S Khukri” is not surprising.
“ The Sinking of INS Khukri: Survivors’ Stories”
by Maj Gen Ian Cardozo, AVSM, SM
Published in 2006
by Lotus Collection
an Imprint of Roli Books Pvt Ltd
M-75 GK II Market New Delhi 110 048
Pg 197 Price Rs 350/=
ISBN : 81-7436-499-4
(The Writer Lt. Col A.K. ‘Sam’ Sharma is an alumnus of the National Defence Academy, Kharakvasla. Col Sharma was commissioned into the 3rd Gorkha Rifles of the Indian Army in Februray 1964, He retired in 1997 after serving for 33 years. A graduate of the Defence Services Staff College, Wellington, he holds a MSc Degree in Defence Studies from the Madras University. This officer has been on the instructional staff of two of Indian Army’s premiere training institutes: the College of Combat; now known as the War College; (Directing Staff Junior Command Wing-1972-1975) and the Infantry School ( Senior Instructor, Platoon Commander’s Wing—1984-87) both located in Mhow (MP); where he taught tactics at the unit and sub-unit levels to students, some of who were from friendly foreign armies. He has also served at the world- renowned Indian Military Academy, Dehradun. Col Sharma can be contacted at aksh9@airtelbroadband.in)
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