Real story of submarine PNS Ghazi and the mystery behind its sinking

chanakyakripa

The sinking of Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi with 90 menaboard in the 1971 Indo-Pak war is regarded as one of the high points ofIndia's emphatic military victory.

In 1971, Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command under theleadership of INS Vikrant (in pic), had effectively created a Naval blockadewhich completely isolated East-Pakistan(now Bangladesh) in Bay of Bengal.As there was no direct land route and Air connectivity was also restricted,East Pakistan was completely cut off from West Pakistan. Frustrated with theNaval Blockade, Pakistan decided to send the best submarine in its inventory -PNS Ghazi.
PNS Ghazi was assigned with a two-foldobjective. The primary goal was to find and sink INS Vikrant and the second onewas to lay mines on India's Eastern seaboard with or without accomplishing theprimary objective. Without PNS Ghazi, Pakistan navy could not interferewith Vikrant's operations in East Pakistan. It was extremely risky of sendingan ageing submarine completely around the subcontinent to attack the enemy’sflagship in it's home waters. Besides, Ghazi was by then experiencing regularequipment failures and maintenance facilities at Chittagong were poor.
Overruling these objections, PNS Ghazi quietlysailed out of the Karachi Harbour on November 14, 1971. Having sailedthe fleet away to safety, Krishnan roped in INS Rajput, an ageing WWIIdestroyer that was actually sent to Vishakapatnam for decommissioning. INSRajput was to pretend to be INS Vikrant, sail out of the Vizag port andgenerate heavy wireless traffic.
The Indian Navy intentionally breached securityby making an unclassified signal in the form of a private Telegram allegedlyfrom one of Vikrant's sailor's asking about the welfare of his mother who was"seriously ill". Ghazi started looking for Vikrant on November23 off Madras but was not aware that she was 10 days too late and the Vikrantwas actually somewhere near the Andaman islands.

Vice Admiral Krishnan sent for Lt.Inder Singh, the Commandingofficer of the Rajput for detailed briefing and told him that a Pakistanisubmarine had been sighted off Ceylon and was absolutely certain that thesubmarine would be somewhere around Madras/Vishakaptanm. He made it clear thatonce Rajput had completed refueling, she must leave the harbor with allnavigational aids switched off. INS Rajput sailed out on 2 December andreturned to Vishakapatnam on 3 December and again sailed out with a pilot onboard, just before the midnight of 3/4 December and on clearing the harbor,proceeded along the narrow entrance channel. When the ship was halfway in thechannel, it suddenly occurred to the Captain that "What if the Pakistanisubmarine was waiting outside the harbor and torpedoes us as we disembark thepilot who was on board, at the Outer Channel Buoy?" He immediately orderedto stop engines and disembarked the pilot. Meanwhile, Ghazi being unableto locate INS Vikrant around Vishakapatnam resumed laying mines on the night of3rd December when Pakistan signalled the commencement of hostilities. Ghazicame up to periscope depth to establish her naviagtional position which wasmade very difficult due to the blackout and switching off of all navigationalaids.

Rajput slowly increased speed to maximum by the time itreached the Outer channel buoy. At this point of time, Ghazi saw or heard adestroyer approaching her at high speed at an almost reciprocal course and wentinto a steep dive and at the same time put her rudder hard over in order to getaway seaward.

The Captain of Destroyer Rajput noticed the disturbance ofwater caused by the hasty dive and launched two depth charges at that position.The charges struck the submarine that was already in a steep dive causing Ghazito hit seabed hard when it bottomed.
The fire spread to where the Mines and torpedoeswere stored and these blew the forward hull outward. It is also possible thatthe detonation of the charges triggered a mine that was being kept in a readystate near the torpedo tube. This was Indian Navy's version.Manytheories came forward since and it transpired that naval authorities alsodestroyed records of the sinking of Ghazi.
Whatever caused the Ghazi to explode, it wasnevertheless, the Indian Navy's ingenuity and deceptive planning that causedthe submarine to a follow a preset path which ended in a watery grave for itssailors on board.

Link: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/nation-world/real-story-of-submarine-pns-ghazi-and-the-mystery-behind-its-sinking/no-actual-records-yet/slideshow/56086283.cms

asr335704

Nice and informative article. I have watched a movie "The Ghazi Attack (207)"on the same subject which was made nicely and close to the real events.