Antony seeks report from Navy on submarine incident

Six months after its submarine sunk in the Mumbai harbour, another Navy underwater vessel had a close shave near the same place last week, prompting Defence Minister AK Antony to seek a detailed report from the service on the incident.

"I have sought a report from the Navy. They have sent initial report and they will send a detailed report later. There was some unexpected tidal change," he said.

The minister indicated that the submarine has not suffered any major damage. The Minister was asked to comment on the alleged incident where Navy's INS Sindhughosh submarine was allegedly grounded due to lack of water in the harbour area in Mumbai.

Navy officials denied reports that the vessel had to be salvaged, saying the submarine was not grounded and "no Board of inquiry has been ordered" into the incident by the force.
Last week on Friday, the submarine had encountered a situation where there was very less water in the harbour but held to its position using ropes and other means but was not grounded, they said.

In August last year, Navy lost its latest submarine INS Sindhurakshak after an explosion in its torpedo section killing all the 18 personnel on board.

via The Economic Times

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Indian Navy's submarine INS Sindhughosh grounded inside Mumbai harbour, salvage operation begins

For the Indian Navy's submarine arm, already reeling under a crisis of numbers, Friday evening got a very rude jolt. A Kilo-class submarine, Indian Naval Ship (INS) Sindhughosh, while returning into the harbour, inside the naval dockyard, hit the ground and remained there. At the time of the incident, it was fully armed, carrying its entire compliment of nearly 70 personnel all of whom are reported safe.

When reached for a confirmation, a naval spokesperson denied this development.

However, confirmed information suggested that the incident had indeed taken place on account of the receding tide at around 5:30pm. It was also learnt that the submarine was to initially enter the harbour by 4pm, it got delayed and by then the low tide had set in.

As per the Mumbai's municipal authorities, the timing for peak high tide on January 17 was at 1254hours to the height of 3.80m after which the tide began falling and it was at its lowest of 0.74m at 1847hours.

It was also learnt that at the time of writing, efforts were on from the Navy's side to salvage the submarine inhouse using tugs and other equipment, to be used in tandem with the tide rising.

There is a possibility that owing to this, damage could occur to the sonar system as well as other parts of the hull. It was not immediately clear as to how deep the damage was.

- INS Sindhughosh is a Kilo-class submarine Type 877EKM, made in Russia

- INS Sindhughosh specialises in anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare capabilities

- Has diesel-electric propulsion system

- INS Sindhughosh was the first of its class to be inducted into the Indian Navy

via IndiaToday

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