Top Navy officers removed from command over lapses, accidents

Rahul Singh. 

The captains of two frontline warships have been stripped of their positions, with the Indian Navy blaming them for disturbing lapses that led to accidents under their command.

A top navy official said separate probes held INS Talwar’s skipper Captain (equivalent to an army colonel) Gopal Suri and INS Betwa’s commanding officer Captain Deepak Bisht responsible for the lack of adequate supervision and noncompliance with naval procedure.

Navy spokesperson Captain PVS Satish, however, said, “Bisht’s removal isn’t linked to the accident and is a routine transfer.”

Suri and Bisht are likely to face a court martial that could lead to loss of seniority, privileges and even dismissal from service, if found guilty. Incidentally, Bisht is heading the probe into the sinking of INS Sindhurakhshak, the navy’s worst peace-time tragedy.

INS Talwar, a Russia-built stealth frigate worth Rs.1,500 crore, infamously slammed into a trawler off the Ratnagiri coast on December 23 last year, sinking the boat and tossing 27 fishermen into the sea.

Barely two weeks later, INS Betwa, a guided missile frigate, ran aground near the Mumbai naval base on January 4, damaging critical equipment and raising questions about the navy’s safety record. “Such navigational errors are not expected from seasoned mariners commanding warships,” a defence ministry official said.

The reports of the boards of inquiry into the two accidents have been sent to the Western Naval Command chief Vice-Admiral Shekhar Sinha.

The navy is grappling with an accident-prone tag — seven accidents have been reported since the INS Sindhurakshak blew up and sank at a Mumbai harbour last August, killing all 18 men onboard.

“Every incident is thoroughly investigated and the shortcomings are corrected,” the navy official said.

The initial explanation for the INS Talwar accident was that the trawler was not lit and the waters were congested; this had left the ministry fuming.

“If it were an explosives-laden trawler, we would have been dealing with a USS Cole-like bombing,” the ministry official said. In October 2000, suicide bombers exploded a small boat alongside USS Cole, a US Navy destroyer, in the Yemeni port of Aden, killing 17 American sailors and injuring another 39.

Referring to the sinking of INS Sindhurakshak, defence minister AK Antony had asked the navy last November to “optimally operate” the country’s assets and ensure these were not “frittered away.”

via Hindustan Times

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Mishaps expose chinks in Navy armour

Manu Pubby.

Seven accidents involving frontline warships in as many weeks have exposed major chinks in the Navy armour and punctured the claim of Admiral D K Joshi made last month that the safety record of the force was “not all that bad”.

In the latest incident, INS Betwa — a Brahmaputra-class guided missile frigate — is suspected to have run aground or collided with an unidentified object while approaching the Mumbai naval base. The sonar dome mounted on the hull of the frigate commissioned in 2004 has cracked, leading to faulty readings and ingress of saltwater into sensitive equipment. The damage, which has prompted a board of inquiry, has rendered the ship ineffective.

 The incident called “minor” by the Navy is the latest in a series that have come to light since December 4, Navy Day. Defence Minister A K Antony is believed to have sought a report. Joshi, whose term as the Navy Chief has seen several major incidents, including the loss of the INS Sindhurakshak submarine, had on December 3 defended the safety record of the force. The very next evening, India’s leading minesweeper, the INS Konkan that was undergoing repairs in Vizag, caught fire and suffered major damage to its interiors. The Pondicherry-class minesweeper was getting a refit at a dry dock when the incident occurred.

 In another incident, a 30-mm gun on ICSG Sangram, a patrol boat undergoing a refit at the naval docks in Mumbai, fired accidentally. The shell pierced the Naval headquarters building damaging a few offices and narrowly missing a few officers. Following this, the INS Tarkash — a Talwar-class frigate which has conducted several overseas missions — hit the jetty while berthing at the Mumbai naval base. Its hull was badly damaged. Late at night on December 23, the Navy suffered a major embarrassment after the INS Talwar collided with a fishing vessel 10 miles off the coast, injuring many. The 27 people aboard the fishing vessel had to be rescued after it sunk. The dwindling submarine force of the Navy too suffered a setback when the Kilo-class INS Sindhugosh was “grounded” at the Mumbai base after it entered shallow waters at low tide. The submarine was, however, freed and did not suffer much damage. A fault on board the INS Vipul, a Veer-class corvette that recently underwent repairs and refit, has also come to light.

The warship, sources said, had to be sent back for repairs after a breach was discovered during sailing. Besides these seven accidents, the Navy suffered its biggest blow last year when the INS Sindhurakshak submarine went down at the Mumbai harbour due to still unexplained explosions, killing 18 sailors. Almost six months later, the submarine is still lying at the bottom of the naval dock in Mumbai.

The Navy Chief asserted last month that it takes months and years for sunken submarines to be brought to surface.

via Indian Express

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