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INS ''Khukri'' was a Type 14 (''Blackwood''-class) frigate of the
Indian Navy The Indian Navy is the maritime branch of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Supreme Commander of the Indian Navy. The Chief of Naval Staff, a four-star admiral, commands the navy. As a blue-water navy, it operates si ...
. She was sunk off the coast of Diu,
Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
,
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
by the Pakistan Navy submarine on 9 December 1971 during the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...
. This was the first warship sunk in action by a submarine since
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...
. It remains the post-Independence Indian navy's only warship to be lost in war.


Sinking

After the beginning of hostilities on 3 December 1971, Indian Naval radio detection equipment identified a submarine lurking about south-west of Diu harbour. The 14th Frigate Squadron of the Western Fleet was dispatched to destroy the submarine. It normally consisted of five ships, ''Khukri'', , ''Kalveti, Krishna'' and ''Kuthar,'' but at the time of the incident ''Kuthar''s boiler room was being repaired in Bombay. One reason that may have prompted the decision to deploy two obsolete ''Blackwood''-class frigates against a modern ''Daphne''-class submarine was that the Indian Navy lacked sufficient numbers of anti-submarine aircraft. The submarine sighted the squadron on the evening of 9 December. ''Khukri'' was still not aware of the submarine's presence and continued slowly on a steady course because she was testing an improved version of the 170/174 sonar, which required a low speed to increase detection, despite the fact that moving on low speed was against Indian anti-submarine doctrine. At 19:57 ''Hangor'' fired a homing torpedo on a sonar approach at ''Kirpan''. The torpedo did not explode and was detected by ''Kirpan'' which turned away and fired anti-submarine mortars. ''Khukri'' increased its speed and turned towards the submarine, which then fired a second torpedo directed at ''Khukri''. The torpedo struck ''Khukri'' and exploded under its oil tanks. According to the Pakistani submarine captain, Commander
Ahmed Tasnim Vice-Admiral Ahmad Tasnim ( ur, ; born 1935) is a retired three-star rank admiral in the Pakistan Navy who is notable for his command of the ''Hangor'', a submarine, that sank the INS Khukri on 8 December 1971 during the third war with ...
, the ship sank within two minutes.Interview with Vice Admiral Tasneem, December 2008
/ref> Other sources claim that ''Khukri'' was struck by three torpedoes before going down. After a few minutes, ''Kirpan'' attacked ''Hangor'' with depth charges, as her anti-submarine mortars were no long functional. ''Hangor'' then fired a final torpedo at ''Kirpan'' before leaving the area. ''Hangor'' patrolled the region for the next four days before returning safely to her berth.


Casualties

''Khukri'' is the only ship lost in combat in the history of the Indian Navy.
Eighteen officers and 176 other sailors were killed. The captain,
Mahendra Nath Mulla Captain (Indian Navy), Captain Mahendra Nath Mulla, Maha Vir Chakra, MVC (15 May 1926 – 9 December 1971) was an officer of the Indian Navy. As the Commanding Officer of , he chose to go The captain goes down with the ship, down with his ship ...
, was among the casualties and is the only Indian captain to go down with a vessel as INS Khukri is the only warship of Indian navy lost in combat. He was posthumously awarded India's second-highest military honour, the
Maha Vir Chakra The Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) () is the second highest military decoration in India, after the Param Vir Chakra, and is awarded for acts of conspicuous gallantry in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea or in the air. It replaced the B ...
. There is a memorial to the sailors in Diu. The memorial consists of a scale model of ''Khukri'' encased in a glass house, placed atop a hillock facing the sea. The memorial was inaugurated by Vice Admiral
Madhvendra Singh Admiral Madhvendra Singh, PVSM, AVSM, ADC was Chief of Naval Staff of the Indian Navy between 29 December 2001 and his retirement from service on 31 July 2004. He had by that date completed over 41 years of service. He was also the Chairman of ...
as the flag officer commanding-in-chief.Two-day ceremony at Navy’s Diu memorial


Controversy

Responsibility for errors by Indian naval officers related to the sinking has caused some controversy. The naval officer who led the inquiry into the sinking, Benoy Bhushan, has claimed that India's official naval history invented fictional accounts to cover up bungling and a surviving sailor from the frigate, Chanchal Singh Gill, has called for an investigation and withdrawal of gallantry awards to negligent officers in the squadron.


See also

*
Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 The Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 was a military confrontation between India and Pakistan that occurred during the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan from 3 December 1971 until the Pakistani capitulation in Dhaka on 16 Decem ...
*
Timeline of the Bangladesh Liberation War The Bangladesh Liberation War started on 26 March 1971 and ended on 16 December 1971. Some of the major events of the war are listed in the timeline below. Timeline Interactive Timeline of the Bangladesh Liberation War Before the war *1 March ...
*
Military plans of the Bangladesh Liberation War Prior to Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, India had no plans for large scale military action in East Pakistan. Since the Sino-Indian War of 1962, the primary objective of the Indian Army Eastern Command was the defence of the Indian northern and ...
*
Mitro Bahini order of battle The Indian Army had no standby force ready in 1971 with the specific task of attacking East Pakistan, one of the many reasons why India did not immediately intervene after Pakistan launched Operation Searchlight in March 1971. Indian Army's Ea ...
*
Pakistan Army order of battle, December 1971 On 25 March 1971, the Pakistani military, supported by paramilitary units, launched the military operation to pacify the insurgent-held areas of East Pakistan, which led to a prolonged conflict with the Bengali Mukti Bahini. Although conventio ...
*
Evolution of Pakistan Eastern Command plan The Eastern Command of the Pakistan Army was a corps-sized military formation headed by a lieutenant-general, who was designated the Eastern Command Commander. After the partition of India by United Kingdom, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was ...
* 1971 Bangladesh genocide *
Operation Searchlight Operation Searchlight was the codename for a planned military operation carried out by the Pakistan Army in an effort to curb the Bengali nationalist movement in former East Pakistan in March 1971. Pakistan retrospectively justified the opera ...
*
Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts Since the Partition of British India in 1947 and subsequent creation of the dominions of India and Pakistan, the two countries have been involved in a number of wars, conflicts, and military standoffs. A long-running dispute over Kashmir and ...
*
Military history of India The predecessors to the contemporary Army of India were many: the sepoy regiments, native cavalry, irregular horse and Indian sapper and miner companies raised by the three British presidencies. The Army of India was raised under the British R ...
*
List of military disasters A military disaster is the defeat of one side in a battle or war which results in the complete failure of the losing side to achieve their objectives. It often, but not always, involves a high and disproportionate loss of life. The causes are var ...
*
List of wars involving India This is a list of known wars, conflicts, battles/sieges, missions and operations involving former kingdoms and states in the Indian subcontinent and the modern day Republic of India and it's predecessors. Ancient India (c. 15th to 1st cent ...


Notes


References

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External links


Bharat Rakshak's article on the incident
{{DEFAULTSORT:Khukri Blackwood-class frigates of the Indian Navy Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 Shipwrecks in the Arabian Sea Ships sunk by submarines of Pakistan Maritime incidents in 1971 1956 ships Diu, India Frigates of the Cold War