V.Narayan Distinguished - BHPian

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re: Submarines of the Indian Navy SUBMARINE WEAPONS





Torpedoes









The offensive weapon of choice for a submarine to take on another submarine or a surface vessel. A torpedo would carry its own sonar, active and/or passive with systems to home onto the target or even onto the propeller wake a ship leaves behind. Most torpedoes have a trailing wire to keep connected to the mother submarine for mid-course corrections and to insulate it from counter measures from the intended target. Torpedoes typically have top speeds in the 40 knot to 65 knot range and at a slower speed could have a range out to 25 to 60 kms. These are indicative estimates as real capabilities are rarely released. Today submarine launched torpedoes, with one Russian exception, are almost universally 533mm or 324mm in diameter, 20 to 25 feet long and broadly in the 2 tonne weight class. Torpedoes are powered, usually, by batteries but more recent ones from UK and Russia have a miniature gas turbine with the torpedo carrying its own oxygen cell for the combustion.





Anti-ship missiles



In the early 1980s anti-ship missiles custom made for submarine launch entered service with the Americans and the French. Here a regular anti-ship sea-skimming missile is launched, from a torpedo tube, encapsulated in a buoyant water tight container. The container gets to the surface at which point the missiles turbo-jet/rocket motor fires and propels it out into open air and starts its sea skimming attack flight path.





A Harpoon submarine launched anti-ship missile breaking surface. The top part of its water tight container is seen flying off. Sea-skimmers are notoriously difficult to detect. They fly fast (800 to 1000 kmph) and if attacking a target say 40 kms away the time from breaking surface to hitting the ship is in the 2 to 3 minute bracket giving the target precious little time to become aware that it is under attack, then figure out from where and by what and then take counter action. Their very small frontal radar signature helps sea skimmers hide in the radar clutter of the waves. Only a fully automated protection system of anti-missile radar-gun-missile combination can protect a ship from a sea skimmer.Photo Source ##





The sequence of operation of a submarine launched Harpoon sea skimmer. Current marks of the Harpoon have effective range in the 250kms to 280kms bracket. The Indian Navy deploys the aircraft launched version of the Harpoon. Photo Source ##





Mines



Mines are weapons of denial. Laying a bed of mines or simply stating that you have is a deterrent to shipping in that area or through that choke point. All submarines today can carry mines usually two in place of a torpedo. Mines are of various kinds - magnetic, acoustic, pressure, time based or even a combination. PNS Ghazi was laying a minefield on December 3rd, 1971 at the mouth of Vizag harbor when she blew up and sunk. You can read the full story in post #38 at





Cruise missiles



Submarine launched cruise missiles are the larger longer legged cousins of the submarine launched anti-ship missile. The cruise missiles started off in earnest under the Soviets as long range weapons aimed at American carrier task forces. Today they have evolved as long range land attack missiles with, often, additional anti-ship capability. For land attack a cruise missile will use some form of terrain countour matching to guide it to its target. Cruise missiles fly low and often use small aircraft engines (instead of rocket motors) to get long legs - just to be clear a rocket motor carries its own fuel+oxygen source while a aircraft engine draws oxygen from the atmosphere thus leaving more space for fuel. Simply put in a missile, for a given weight & size, a rocket motor gives speed while an aircraft engine gives range. The most widely used cruise missile is the U.S. Tomahawk made famous in the first Gulf War in 1991. Submarine launched cruise missile users are USA, UK, Russia, India & South Korea only to best of my knowledge. The Indo-Russian Brahmos is the world's fastest cruise missile. The dividing line between cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles is getting blurred as technology advances.









Ballistic Missiles



Submarine launched ballistic missiles have been of great strategic importance for the USA, Russia, and other nuclear powers as they can hide from reconnaissance satellites and fire their nuclear weapons with virtual impunity. This makes them immune to a first strike directed against nuclear forces, allowing each side to maintain the capability to launch a devastating retaliatory strike, even if all land-based missiles have been destroyed. This relieves each side of the necessity to adopt a launch on warning posture, with its grave attendant risk of accidental nuclear war. Ballistic missiles, carrying nuclear warheads, launch from underwater into near orbit altitudes and then descend down in a ballistic trajectory onto the target re-entering the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound. These missiles typically have ranges between 5000 kms to 12,000 kms, weigh between 40 to 60 tonnes and carry between 1 to 12 warheads apiece.





Photo sequence of a Trident inter-continental ballistic missile being launched from a submarine. A - missile container hatch opens underwater. Submarine at periscope depth i.e. ~22 metres; B - missile just starts to emerge pushed out by compressed air; C - missile ascends slowly out of the submarine's wake. You can see the fin and raised periscope on the left; D - booster motor fires to push the missile clear into the air; E - main rocket fires and missile starts its ascent into near space; F - warheads re-entry onto target.





THE INDIAN NAVAL SUBMARINE ARM





The proud badge which submariners of the Indian Navy wear above their line of medals shows one dolphin on either side of the emblem of the Indian Republic - the lions atop the Ashoka Pillar. Photo source @@





Early struggle to form the Submarine Arm



The Indian Navy was keen, in the 1950s, to form a submarine force albeit of one submarine for purposes of training and giving the surface warships some real practice at anti-submarine exercises. The political leadership especially Pandit Nehru was not keen on acquiring patently offensive weapons such as submarines and the British, then our only source of material, were not keen on providing one. Our attempts to buy a second hand vessel also came to nothing when all that the British would share was a World War II boat at the end of its life. In 1962 we finally proposed to buy a brand new Oberon class submarine, then the latest the British had at GBP 5 million provided the British Government would provide soft credit to ease our then tough forex situation. Training of the first batch of officers and sailors started in earnest in UK but the credit did not come through and the deal petered off. One good that came out was a thorough 12 month training of a core group with lots of sea time and practical watch keeping. Our Navy was so closely intertwined with the Royal Navy in those days and so many Indian personnel went to the UK for training that to their credit the British submariners treated our men as a full part of the crew and gave them real experience of handling a boat. After the 1962 debacle with China the Americans and the British were willing to sell us Army and Air Force equipment (to defend against the Chinese) but not submarines. In 1964 Harold Wilson the British PM sardonically told YB Chavan our Defence Minister, "I did not know that submarines climbed mountains".





Soviet coup de grace



To cut a long story short the Soviets were willing to sell us their then latest diesel-electric submarine the Foxtrot class (Russian designation I-641). A quick review by the Indian Navy indicated that the Soviet subs were as good as the British Oberon and came at a price of Rs 3 crores a piece paid for in Rupees and not USD. YB Chavan and the then Naval Chief BS Soman moved fast and closed the deal in 1965. This was encouraged by the aggression by Pakistan in 1965 who had received their first sub PNS Ghazi from the Yanks and by Indonesia who encouraged by the Chinese were building a naval fleet, constantly intruding into the Andaman-Nicobar waters and had declared that the Indian ocean should be renamed the Indonesian ocean. Today when we are a stable democracy and recognized large economy all this sounds like a lifetime away. But such were the realities of geo-politics of newly independent countries with the over arching background of the cold war.



For the sake of a small GBP 5 million of soft credit the British lost our custom altogether at least where subs are concerned. Lord Louis Mountbatten tried to intercede on our behalf as he realized this would push the Indian Navy into the Soviet sphere but to no avail. Why blame the British. Our bureaucracy is also capable of wearing horse blinkers and inflicting strategic blunders as we will see in a few paragraphs.



Remember these events took place 8 to 17 years after independence. The glow of colonialism still hung over the world. The British wrongly assessed we had no choice but to do their bidding. And they were clear about not willing to aid an emerging leader of the non-aligned world with an offensive force like a submarine arm. We were hesitant to deal with the Soviets initially but gradually bridges of deep friendships got built between the Soviet & Indian Navies.





Foxtrots







Any one who has visited a Foxtrot cannot but fall in love with this simple and superbly designed boat. Very Soviet in character cramming more machinery, batteries and torpedoes in a given space than Western navies can dream of. In the Foxtrots you could not bathe for the entire duration of the patrol. Period. It was like living and working inside a machine. The Soviets to their credit gave us their most evolved and reliable design that worked well for our fledgling submarine force to learn their trade on. The Foxtrot's snorkeling range in real world terms means it could, if needed, sail from India to the North China coast, patrol there for 3 weeks and return back without refueling. I don't know if this was ever practiced. With the Foxtrots our surface Navy learnt how invisible a submarine can be when it can pick up a ships propeller noise 15 to 20kms away and often the ship cannot detect a submarine 3 kms away. That was true in 1967 and it is true today.



In the December 1971 Indo-Pak war all 4 of the submarines then in commission were deployed off the coasts of West and East Pakistan. On the one hand their presence helped to bottle up the surviving Pakistani fleet in port, especially on the West coast off Karachi but on the other hand this blockade denied our submarines the chance of drawing blood.





We bought 8 boats. I wish we had purchased 12 or 14 as those were days of Rupee-Rouble trade and the Soviets sold us at concessional prices. But sadly the Navy top brass and the bureaucracy did not fully grasp the impact of a submarine. All submariners were young 'uns and the top brass had grown up on the surface warships with some rigidness to appreciate this new weapon. But fortunately that changed in the 1980s as the young submariners climbed up the ranks. Arun Auditto, as a Rear Admiral became the first Flag Officer Submarines and in the 1990s Vijay Shekhawat became the Naval Chief.





Admiral Vijay Singh Shekhawat, the first submariner to become the Naval Chief





The Mother ship





Along with the Foxtrot class submarines we bought INS Amba a large submarine tender or mother ship. Mother ships are used to improve the effectiveness of submarines far from their naval base for example quietly operating out of the Nicobar islands. INS Amba provided all kinds of support to the submarines - fuel, fresh water, torpedoes, repair, provisions, electric supply, most importantly battery charging and so on. When alongside INS Amba submariners could sleep and live on board and have a bath! Photo Source $$





Soviet assistance



We have to hand it to the Russians. They not only gave us 8 brand new of their then best conventional subs but also helped us commission the entire infrastructure needed to operate and maintain a submarine force. In the 1960s and 1970s with their assistance we set up a training school, diving school, repair facilities, torpedo maintenance workshops, dockyard support for submarines, inducted the submarine rescue ship INS Nistar et al. The training they imparted was very detailed and thorough and after some resistance they worked with us to modify the training to include more practical time and to reflect the way our Navy is organized. India's geo-political situation and relationship with the Russians has changed and the Russians themselves have changed. But in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s they helped us like no other.





What makes submarines a feared and respected instrument of deterrence



The oceans are not a quiet place. They are full of noises - whale songs, ship propellers, oil rig noises, natural geological sounds and what have you. Thus there is an ambient sound in the oceans and if a submarine can make itself quiet enough to merge with this ambient hum it can become acoustically invisible. Diesel-electric submarines, when running on their batteries, especially below 5 knots (~9kmph), acoustically merge with the environment.



Electromagnetic waves are attenuated as they enter the oceans. Sound is the only form of energy that can be harnessed to locate or track a submarine. Sound travels about 4 times faster underwater than in the air (average of 1450 metres/second). Ocean temperature varies with depth in a non-linear way. Similarly salinity i.e. density varies with location, rainfall, proximity to river deltas etc. These two combined with currents and other oceanographic phenomena cause layers of sea water of differing density and temperature. These are called haloclines (density) and thermoclines (temperature). A sound wave hitting the intersection point of these layers refracts. These haloclines and thermoclines also create giant tunnels or ducts through which sound from a source (ie a sonar) refracts and travels sometimes horizontally and sometimes in vast three dimensional curves. Hence a surface ship could be beaming its sonar searching for the elusive submarine and not detect it sitting 300 metres right below due to this refraction.



Submariners spend a lifetime learning how to hide in these sonic shadows of the oceans and wait for the quarry. The oceans cover 70% of the surface a vast and relatively unexplored part of our world. And its geology and underwater phenomena is only imperfectly understood. It is in this nether world that submarines operate and hide in. So a hunter-killer submarine chooses when to attack, where to disappear and when and where to re-appear. While it is not as simple as that it underlines the fact that the deterrent impact of a submarine is as much psychological as physical.





Local production & Type 1500 -enter the Germans



Our quest for building our own submarines led us to first approach the Russians in the late 1970s but they did not have a modern mid-sized tear drop design that suited our specifications. So we evaluated options from Germany, Sweden, France, Netherlands and Italy in some detail. The designs from Sweden and Germany were by far the best. As the Germans, even after World War II, had the most experience designing and building submarines for export we went with them. The German design bureau, IKL, headed by the iconic Professor Ulrich Gabler had designed the Type 209 design platform which could then be modified or grown or shrunk to suit the individual needs of a naval customer. It was also to prove to be a most reliable design over the years. The Indian Navy had IKL 'grow' the Type 209 platform to the maximum size it could absorb and come up with the Type 1500 design for the Indian Navy. Two boats, built in Germany, INS Shishumar and INS Shankush commissioned in 1986 and four were to be built in India.



This IKL family of designs, in 5 variants, have become the most popular and widely built submarine family outside USA and Russia and have been employed by 14 navies across the world.





The Shishumar class or Type 1500 displaces 1850 tonnes submerged; tops 22 knots underwater; has a range of 8000 nautical miles (~14,800 kms) snorkeling at 8 knots and carries 14 torpedoes for use against both ships and submarines. By designation they are SSKs - ie diesel electric attack submarines. They are also called hunter killers as they can track and sink other submarines. Like most western submarines they are single hull vessels. Unique to any submarine in the world they carry their own escape capsule in which all 40 crew can be squeezed in and the capsule floats up to the surface through natural buoyancy. Another interesting feature is the ability to carry up to 24 mines in external strap-on saddles on the side for special mine laying missions without compromising on the torpedo load.





With German training and know-how we built two vessels INS Shalki (1992) and INS Shankul (1994). Two more were to have been built but budgetary pressures and a lack of understanding in our bureaucracy of the time and effort it takes to build national capabilities threw this opportunity away. The skilled work force and know-how developed at Mazagon Docks withered away for a decade and a half till the French Scorpene project commenced in 2009. The saving grace has been that the boats have served the Navy well and proved most reliable in service. The Germans especially Dr. Gabler and IKL worked very well with the Indian design engineers and submariners. The detailed documented history of our Navy is full of praise for Dr. Gabler's personal interest in the Type 1500 design and the thoroughness with which the Germans went to work on our project and helped us learn too. Sadly all that was lost for a couple hundred million $.





Kilo Class







To augment the size and effectiveness of the submarine arm the Indian Navy inducted 10 Kilo class (Russian designation Type 877EKM) submarines from Russia over 1986 to 1999. In the 2500 -3000 tonne class these are very very silent SSK hunter-killers. The EKM's are believed to be covered with sound absorbing ancheoic tiles that absorb the sonar waves of a enemy sonar thus reducing the range and quality of the enemy sonar's capability to detect and identify. In war games with the US Navy EKM's of the Indian Navy are believed to have tracked and homed in on US nuke subs for hours without being picked up themselves.



They are armed with 18 homing torpedoes for use against other ships or submerged submarines and can carry the Russian Novator land attack cruise missiles that go out to ~250 kms. The Kilo have the tear drop shaped hull which as you read in the first post gives outstanding hydrodynamic efficiency that leads to better maneuverability and longer endurance on batteries. They are powered by a main electric motor, a silent creep motor for patrolling and two auxiliary motors for maneuvering in shallow or confined waters and as an emergency 'get you home' back-up propulsion. The weapon systems, fire control computers, sonars, electronic counter measures suite and silent operations of these new boats are much appreciated by Indian submariners. Very capable boats but sadly two of them have been involved in accidents.





In 2013 INS Sindhurakshak exploded in Mumbai harbor killing 18 of its crew. The Board of enquiry concluded that torpedoes explosion following a fire could be the cause. At the time there were reports of old batteries which had not been replaced because the mandarins of the Ministry of Defence had been sitting on the files for years and that gasses built up from old and worn out batteries could have played a part. For 45 years the Navy has been sourcing batteries from locally manufactured Standard Batteries (now Exide) and it has worked perfectly. A new manufacturer sued the Navy for not buying batteries from them. So instead of taking a stand the MoD decided to stop all battery purchases till this was sorted out -the typical bureaucrat approach of take no decision and don't let anyone take one either. So while the commanding officer was court martialed and the Naval Chief resigned out of a sense of honour nothing happened to the worthies who sat on files.





INS Chakra (Charlie class)





In the early 1980s we took the unprecedented step of negotiating with the Soviets about leasing a nuclear powered submarine. Nothing remotely like that had ever been contemplated before by any of the then 4 builders & operators of nuclear boats i.e. USA, UK, France and USSR. This was a very bold step, deeply frowned upon by USA and UK but received positive support from the Soviets. The long process of negotiation and training started and the specialized berthing and maintenance facility was built at Vizag. In 1988 INS Chakra a Charlie class nuclear powered submarine entered commission with the Indian Navy. It is to the credit of the Russians who trained us and our submariners who learnt well that this sophisticated vessel was operated by us for 3 years without incident. Her first skipper was Captain RN Ganesh (later Vice Admiral) a quiet and deeply proficient officer who later also commanded INS Vikrant thus becoming a rare officer in any Navy to have commanded both a nuclear submarine and an aircraft carrier. The main role on INS Chakra was to teach us how to operate a nuke boat, build our confidence and give our surface navy the opportunity to better appreciate this formidable great white shark. With the collapse of USSR in 1991 sadly this lease ended.



So what are submarines used for



The two primary roles of a submarine force are to ensure sea denial by making it too dangerous for ships of the opposing forces to cross an area - a strait, a narrow, a coastal area astride an important port, a major sea lane. In the first role of sea denial the aim is to sink or better threaten to sink anf opposing ship or submarine the enters the area. The second primary role is to be the final arbiter of nuclear deterrence by providing a credible secondary strike capability after the enemy has destroyed your nuclear and economic assets. In addition to these two primary roles most submarines perform several secondary but important roles of surveillance, gathering signal intelligence from the opposing coast, laying mines and supporting covert commando operations. India lies astride the Straits of Malacca to the east and the Straits of Hormuz to the west two of the most widely transited narrows on the globe.



The second INS Chakra (Akula class)





In 2012 the Indian Navy leased, for 10 years, a newly built Akula II class nuclear powered attack submarine christened INS Chakra. The Akula II is the first Russian class of submarines that is quieter than the current American mainstay the Los Angles class. That is quite something as silence is a submarine's first line of both defense and offense. The Akula II is a 8000 tonne boat with a top speed of 35 knots or more and a patrol endurance of up to 90 days. With 40 torpedoes/ missiles she has the ability to sustain an engagement for long periods. The egg shaped object at the top of the after hydroplane contains a towed array sonar. This is a string of listening hydrophones trailing several kilometres behind a slow moving submarine. This enables it to listen without the ambient noise of the submarine and to listen up as well as down through the ocean searching for its target.



It is reported that the Indian Navy will go in for a second boat on lease in the near future.





Scorpene





To make up for the lost opportunity of building more Shishumar (Type 1500) class submarines and to augment the depletions in our submarine fleet the Govt of India after a detailed evaluation signed up to acquire 6 Scorpene class submarines to be built at Mazagon Docks, Mumbai under license from the French. The programme signed for in 2005 ran 4 years behind schedule under the UPA Govt but has now been put on track. The first of the Indian Scorpene's INS Kalvari launched in April 2015, has entered trials and is expected to join the fleet later in 2016. Appropriately she carries the name of India's first ever submarine.



The Scorpene's are 2000 tonne boats with very modern weapon suite including the ability to fire the submarine launched Exocet anti-ship missile. INS Kalvari carries a mix of 18 heavy weight torpedoes and missiles. At USD 500 million a piece these are expensive boats. The cost is a reflection of the complexity of the weapon systems, the silencing measures incorporated into the design and the degree of automation to reduce the crew complement. The Indian Navy may go in for a follow on of 6 more vessels maybe with an Air-Independent Propulsion system.



Like the Type 1500 and Kilo class the Scorpene's are SSK's.





BrahMos, supersonic cruise missile





BrahMos is an Indo-Russian multi-platform cruise missile designed for launch from ships, submarines, aircrafts and land vehicles. With a range of 290 kms and a flight speed of Mach 2.8 (~3400 kmph) it is one of the fastest cruise missiles in service. The missile carries a conventional warhead large enough to seriously disable a large warship. Guidance is by a combination of inertial navigation, active radar and satellite course correction. The BrahMos (named for the Brahmaputra + Moskava rivers) is based on the Russian P-800 Oniks missile and borrows the propulsion motor from it and adds a wholly new guidance system and the ability to interface with multiple platforms. The BrahMos is in service with the Navy as a surface weapon. The submarine launched version was first test fired in 2013. It fires from a vertical silo and is expected to join the fleet in the medium term future when new build subs with the vertical launch facility commission. BrahMos represents an outstanding success for Indo-Russian co-operation.





Sagarika, Short Range Ballistic Missile





The Sagarika (also designated K-15) is a short range ballistic missile developed by DRDO and expected to be armed with a nuclear warhead. The Sagarika is expected to equip INS Arihant India's soon to be commissioned nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine. According to news reports it has a range of 750 kms. Successful tests carried out are a milestone for DRDO. 750 kms is a little short for a ballistic missile but can fully do the job considering that the Russians or Americans are not our adversaries. A longer range version is under development but that will take a few more years.





INS Arihant - indigenous nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine





INS Arihant is the hallmark of the Indian Navy's long and steady journey towards indigenization and designing our own ships (and now submarines). The humble but well thought through start of this journey in the early 1960s is narrated as a photo essay on Team BHP at



INS Arihant has been designed at home with assistance from Russia. It is a nuclear powered ballistic missile carrying submarine i.e. a SSBN. It represents the first steps towards a sea based nuclear deterrent against our two nuclear armed neighbours. As an industrial achievement it is a hallmark of indigenous capability and the marriage of 3 complex engineering components - a submarine hull, a nuclear power plant and a ballistic missile system. As per news releases this 6000 tonne boat, which carries 12 Sagarika missiles, is undergoing extensive sea trials and weapon integration trials. A final commissioning date has not been announced but could be in the very near future. More on Arihant in a future post when the Navy releases data for public consumption and commissions the mighty ship, oops boat.



With the commissioning on INS Arihant India will become the 6th country to design, build and operate its own nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine. The Americans were the first in 1960, followed by the Russians in 1960 in a limited way and in 1967 with a proper SSBN, the British in 1967 (the British used an American nuclear plant and missile; really only the hull was their own design), the French in 1971 (the French went alone and developed a wholly home grown reactor and missile) and the Chinese in 1987 in a limited way and only from 2007 in a full fledged way.



With INS Arihant on one hand and the new carrier INS Vikrant under construction on the other the Indian Navy can justifiably be proud of its success at developing home grown designs. A second improved version INS Aridhaman is under construction. In order to ensure that at least one ballistic missile armed submarine is out in the oceans on any given day we need a squadron of 5 vessels.



http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/i...w/51169525.cms





LIFE ON BOARD AN INDIAN SUBMARINE



Life on board a submarine is tough. You are literally living and working inside a giant machine with space, fresh air and fresh water at a premium. Emphasis is on getting maximum weapons, sensors, batteries and machinery into the hull at the expense of personal space and comfort. This is compounded by the demands for perfection where a single mistake by one crew can spell death for all. Working in such a demanding environment often leads to a special bond amongst submariners that lasts a lifetime.





Command centre when operating underwater. The red colour is to protect the night vision of the captain's eyes looking through the periscope. White and red light are used to simulate day & night in the sealed world inside a submarine. Photo Source @@





Maintenance of torpedo tubes at sea. All submariners practice escaping through the torpedo tubes in darkness underwater. Those who have swum at sea in the night will have some idea of how disorienting and frightening this can be. Photo Source @@





Sleeping arrangements on a submarine. Most of the crew hot bunks - 3 men share 2 bunks. Here the men sleep amid the torpedo re-loads. (This photo is from an American sub. I could not get a photo from one of our own) Photo Source ##





In some missions submarines may have to surface. While it is possible to get away from surface warships a anti-submarine helicopter can be a nasty surprise. Here a sailor on board an Indian Kilo class submarine holds a shoulder launched SAM to even the odds versus a chopper. Photo Source @@





Maintenance of the batteries at sea. The engineer crawls in with 30" of space. Battery upkeep is a vital task for both operations and submarine safety. Photo Source @@





No matter how sophisticated a submarine and its electronics may get it shall always need a vast array of pumps and valves to operate the ballast tanks, trim tanks that use sea water and compressed air to dive and more importantly to surface. The panel watch keeper who controls all this in clockwork precision has to know the complex conglomeration of valves like the back of his hand. Correct operation in both sequence and timing are vital for the submarines safety each time it dives or surfaces. The watch keeper is trained to operate in total darkness. Note the disposable cotton banian-shorts he is wearing - this is the typical operating dress in the Indian Navy for submariners - no rank, no insignia - only mutual respect for each others professionalism. Photo Source @@





A Shishumar class submarine on the surface on way to her diving point. Note the periscope is up for use when dived. Photo Source @@



The Indian Submarine Arm has evolved combing the best of traditions of the Russians the Germans and our own into an operating philosophy suited to our environment. Over the years Admiral Gorshkov the father of the Soviet Navy did his utmost to help us develop our Submarine Arm. The same can be said of his successor Admiral Chernavin and the German Government and Navy. Our submarine fleet peaked in the early 1990s with 20 boats including the first INS Chakra. Since then Government apathy, the lost opportunity to continue building the Shishmar class Type 1500s and the delays in the Scorpene project meant a gradual erosion of force levels to 13 boats in 2011. Matters are looking up again with the new INS Chakra in commission, the new INS Kalvari expected on stream later this year and INS Arihant under trials.



Submariners all over the world share a unique bond which is that, when dived, the lives of all depend on each crew member doing his job absolutely right each time without fail.



Jai Hind.



References



Transition to Triumph, The Indian Navy 1965 to 1975 by Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani, 1999; Publisher Naval HQ & Lancers

Transition to Eminence, The Indian Navy 1976 to 1990 by Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani, 2005; Publisher Naval HQ & Lancers

Transition to Guardianship, The Indian Navy 1991 to 2000 by Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani, 2009; Publisher Naval HQ & Lancers

The Indian Navy, A Photo Essay by Rear Admiral Raja Menon (Retd), 2000; Publisher -Naval HQ; Photo Source @@

The Submarine by Thomas Parrish, 2004; Pengiun Books, USA

Modern Submarine Warfare by David Miller & John Jordan, 1987; Publisher Military Press, Salamander Books Ltd; Photo Source ##

Jane's Submarines by Robert Hutchinson, 2005; Published by Harper Collins

The Indian Navy, An Illustrated History, 1989; Published by Naval HQ



(Source of a photo is mentioned where it has been picked out of a book. The rest have come from the internet) The offensive weapon of choice for a submarine to take on another submarine or a surface vessel. A torpedo would carry its own sonar, active and/or passive with systems to home onto the target or even onto the propeller wake a ship leaves behind. Most torpedoes have a trailing wire to keep connected to the mother submarine for mid-course corrections and to insulate it from counter measures from the intended target. Torpedoes typically have top speeds in the 40 knot to 65 knot range and at a slower speed could have a range out to 25 to 60 kms. These are indicative estimates as real capabilities are rarely released. Today submarine launched torpedoes, with one Russian exception, are almost universally 533mm or 324mm in diameter, 20 to 25 feet long and broadly in the 2 tonne weight class. Torpedoes are powered, usually, by batteries but more recent ones from UK and Russia have a miniature gas turbine with the torpedo carrying its own oxygen cell for the combustion.In the early 1980s anti-ship missiles custom made for submarine launch entered service with the Americans and the French. Here a regular anti-ship sea-skimming missile is launched, from a torpedo tube, encapsulated in a buoyant water tight container. The container gets to the surface at which point the missiles turbo-jet/rocket motor fires and propels it out into open air and starts its sea skimming attack flight path.A Harpoon submarine launched anti-ship missile breaking surface. The top part of its water tight container is seen flying off. Sea-skimmers are notoriously difficult to detect. They fly fast (800 to 1000 kmph) and if attacking a target say 40 kms away the time from breaking surface to hitting the ship is in the 2 to 3 minute bracket giving the target precious little time to become aware that it is under attack, then figure out from where and by what and then take counter action. Their very small frontal radar signature helps sea skimmers hide in the radar clutter of the waves. Only a fully automated protection system of anti-missile radar-gun-missile combination can protect a ship from a sea skimmer.The sequence of operation of a submarine launched Harpoon sea skimmer. Current marks of the Harpoon have effective range in the 250kms to 280kms bracket. The Indian Navy deploys the aircraft launched version of the Harpoon.Mines are weapons of denial. Laying a bed of mines or simply stating that you have is a deterrent to shipping in that area or through that choke point. All submarines today can carry mines usually two in place of a torpedo. Mines are of various kinds - magnetic, acoustic, pressure, time based or even a combination. PNS Ghazi was laying a minefield on December 3rd, 1971 at the mouth of Vizag harbor when she blew up and sunk. You can read the full story in post #38 at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...an-navy-3.html Submarine launched cruise missiles are the larger longer legged cousins of the submarine launched anti-ship missile. The cruise missiles started off in earnest under the Soviets as long range weapons aimed at American carrier task forces. Today they have evolved as long range land attack missiles with, often, additional anti-ship capability. For land attack a cruise missile will use some form of terrain countour matching to guide it to its target. Cruise missiles fly low and often use small aircraft engines (instead of rocket motors) to get long legs - just to be clear a rocket motor carries its own fuel+oxygen source while a aircraft engine draws oxygen from the atmosphere thus leaving more space for fuel. Simply put in a missile, for a given weight & size, a rocket motor gives speed while an aircraft engine gives range. The most widely used cruise missile is the U.S. Tomahawk made famous in the first Gulf War in 1991. Submarine launched cruise missile users are USA, UK, Russia, India & South Korea only to best of my knowledge. The Indo-Russian Brahmos is the world's fastest cruise missile. The dividing line between cruise missiles and anti-ship missiles is getting blurred as technology advances.Submarine launched ballistic missiles have been of great strategic importance for the USA, Russia, and other nuclear powers as they can hide from reconnaissance satellites and fire their nuclear weapons with virtual impunity. This makes them immune to a first strike directed against nuclear forces, allowing each side to maintain the capability to launch a devastating retaliatory strike, even if all land-based missiles have been destroyed. This relieves each side of the necessity to adopt a launch on warning posture, with its grave attendant risk of accidental nuclear war. Ballistic missiles, carrying nuclear warheads, launch from underwater into near orbit altitudes and then descend down in a ballistic trajectory onto the target re-entering the atmosphere at several times the speed of sound. These missiles typically have ranges between 5000 kms to 12,000 kms, weigh between 40 to 60 tonnes and carry between 1 to 12 warheads apiece.Photo sequence of a Trident inter-continental ballistic missile being launched from a submarine. A - missile container hatch opens underwater. Submarine at periscope depth i.e. ~22 metres; B - missile just starts to emerge pushed out by compressed air; C - missile ascends slowly out of the submarine's wake. You can see the fin and raised periscope on the left; D - booster motor fires to push the missile clear into the air; E - main rocket fires and missile starts its ascent into near space; F - warheads re-entry onto target.The proud badge which submariners of the Indian Navy wear above their line of medals shows one dolphin on either side of the emblem of the Indian Republic - the lions atop the Ashoka Pillar.The Indian Navy was keen, in the 1950s, to form a submarine force albeit of one submarine for purposes of training and giving the surface warships some real practice at anti-submarine exercises. The political leadership especially Pandit Nehru was not keen on acquiring patently offensive weapons such as submarines and the British, then our only source of material, were not keen on providing one. Our attempts to buy a second hand vessel also came to nothing when all that the British would share was a World War II boat at the end of its life. In 1962 we finally proposed to buy a brand new Oberon class submarine, then the latest the British had at GBP 5 million provided the British Government would provide soft credit to ease our then tough forex situation. Training of the first batch of officers and sailors started in earnest in UK but the credit did not come through and the deal petered off. One good that came out was a thorough 12 month training of a core group with lots of sea time and practical watch keeping. Our Navy was so closely intertwined with the Royal Navy in those days and so many Indian personnel went to the UK for training that to their credit the British submariners treated our men as a full part of the crew and gave them real experience of handling a boat. After the 1962 debacle with China the Americans and the British were willing to sell us Army and Air Force equipment (to defend against the Chinese) but not submarines. In 1964 Harold Wilson the British PM sardonically told YB Chavan our Defence Minister, "I did not know that submarines climbed mountains".To cut a long story short the Soviets were willing to sell us their then latest diesel-electric submarine the Foxtrot class (Russian designation I-641). A quick review by the Indian Navy indicated that the Soviet subs were as good as the British Oberon and came at a price of Rs 3 crores a piece paid for in Rupees and not USD. YB Chavan and the then Naval Chief BS Soman moved fast and closed the deal in 1965. This was encouraged by the aggression by Pakistan in 1965 who had received their first sub PNS Ghazi from the Yanks and by Indonesia who encouraged by the Chinese were building a naval fleet, constantly intruding into the Andaman-Nicobar waters and had declared that the Indian ocean should be renamed the Indonesian ocean. Today when we are a stable democracy and recognized large economy all this sounds like a lifetime away. But such were the realities of geo-politics of newly independent countries with the over arching background of the cold war.For the sake of a small GBP 5 million of soft credit the British lost our custom altogether at least where subs are concerned. Lord Louis Mountbatten tried to intercede on our behalf as he realized this would push the Indian Navy into the Soviet sphere but to no avail. Why blame the British. Our bureaucracy is also capable of wearing horse blinkers and inflicting strategic blunders as we will see in a few paragraphs.Remember these events took place 8 to 17 years after independence. The glow of colonialism still hung over the world. The British wrongly assessed we had no choice but to do their bidding. And they were clear about not willing to aid an emerging leader of the non-aligned world with an offensive force like a submarine arm. We were hesitant to deal with the Soviets initially but gradually bridges of deep friendships got built between the Soviet & Indian Navies.Any one who has visited a Foxtrot cannot but fall in love with this simple and superbly designed boat. Very Soviet in character cramming more machinery, batteries and torpedoes in a given space than Western navies can dream of. In the Foxtrots you could not bathe for the entire duration of the patrol. Period. It was like living and working inside a machine. The Soviets to their credit gave us their most evolved and reliable design that worked well for our fledgling submarine force to learn their trade on. The Foxtrot's snorkeling range in real world terms means it could, if needed, sail from India to the North China coast, patrol there for 3 weeks and return back without refueling. I don't know if this was ever practiced. With the Foxtrots our surface Navy learnt how invisible a submarine can be when it can pick up a ships propeller noise 15 to 20kms away and often the ship cannot detect a submarine 3 kms away. That was true in 1967 and it is true today.In the December 1971 Indo-Pak war all 4 of the submarines then in commission were deployed off the coasts of West and East Pakistan. On the one hand their presence helped to bottle up the surviving Pakistani fleet in port, especially on the West coast off Karachi but on the other hand this blockade denied our submarines the chance of drawing blood.We bought 8 boats. I wish we had purchased 12 or 14 as those were days of Rupee-Rouble trade and the Soviets sold us at concessional prices. But sadly the Navy top brass and the bureaucracy did not fully grasp the impact of a submarine. All submariners were young 'uns and the top brass had grown up on the surface warships with some rigidness to appreciate this new weapon. But fortunately that changed in the 1980s as the young submariners climbed up the ranks. Arun Auditto, as a Rear Admiral became the first Flag Officer Submarines and in the 1990s Vijay Shekhawat became the Naval Chief.Admiral Vijay Singh Shekhawat, the first submariner to become the Naval ChiefAlong with the Foxtrot class submarines we boughta large submarine tender or mother ship. Mother ships are used to improve the effectiveness of submarines far from their naval base for example quietly operating out of the Nicobar islands.provided all kinds of support to the submarines - fuel, fresh water, torpedoes, repair, provisions, electric supply, most importantly battery charging and so on. When alongsidesubmariners could sleep and live on board and have a bath!We have to hand it to the Russians. They not only gave us 8 brand new of their then best conventional subs but also helped us commission the entire infrastructure needed to operate and maintain a submarine force. In the 1960s and 1970s with their assistance we set up a training school, diving school, repair facilities, torpedo maintenance workshops, dockyard support for submarines, inducted the submarine rescue shipet al. The training they imparted was very detailed and thorough and after some resistance they worked with us to modify the training to include more practical time and to reflect the way our Navy is organized. India's geo-political situation and relationship with the Russians has changed and the Russians themselves have changed. But in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s they helped us like no other.The oceans are not a quiet place. They are full of noises - whale songs, ship propellers, oil rig noises, natural geological sounds and what have you. Thus there is an ambient sound in the oceans and if a submarine can make itself quiet enough to merge with this ambient hum it can become acoustically invisible. Diesel-electric submarines, when running on their batteries, especially below 5 knots (~9kmph), acoustically merge with the environment.Electromagnetic waves are attenuated as they enter the oceans. Sound is the only form of energy that can be harnessed to locate or track a submarine. Sound travels about 4 times faster underwater than in the air (average of 1450 metres/second). Ocean temperature varies with depth in a non-linear way. Similarly salinity i.e. density varies with location, rainfall, proximity to river deltas etc. These two combined with currents and other oceanographic phenomena cause layers of sea water of differing density and temperature. These are called haloclines (density) and thermoclines (temperature). A sound wave hitting the intersection point of these layers refracts. These haloclines and thermoclines also create giant tunnels or ducts through which sound from a source (ie a sonar) refracts and travels sometimes horizontally and sometimes in vast three dimensional curves. Hence a surface ship could be beaming its sonar searching for the elusive submarine and not detect it sitting 300 metres right below due to this refraction.Submariners spend a lifetime learning how to hide in these sonic shadows of the oceans and wait for the quarry. The oceans cover 70% of the surface a vast and relatively unexplored part of our world. And its geology and underwater phenomena is only imperfectly understood. It is in this nether world that submarines operate and hide in. So a hunter-killer submarine chooses when to attack, where to disappear and when and where to re-appear. While it is not as simple as that it underlines the fact that the deterrent impact of a submarine is as much psychological as physical.Our quest for building our own submarines led us to first approach the Russians in the late 1970s but they did not have a modern mid-sized tear drop design that suited our specifications. So we evaluated options from Germany, Sweden, France, Netherlands and Italy in some detail. The designs from Sweden and Germany were by far the best. As the Germans, even after World War II, had the most experience designing and building submarines for export we went with them. The German design bureau, IKL, headed by the iconic Professor Ulrich Gabler had designed the Type 209 design platform which could then be modified or grown or shrunk to suit the individual needs of a naval customer. It was also to prove to be a most reliable design over the years. The Indian Navy had IKL 'grow' the Type 209 platform to the maximum size it could absorb and come up with the Type 1500 design for the Indian Navy. Two boats, built in Germany,andcommissioned in 1986 and four were to be built in India.This IKL family of designs, in 5 variants, have become the most popular and widely built submarine family outside USA and Russia and have been employed by 14 navies across the world.The Shishumar class or Type 1500 displaces 1850 tonnes submerged; tops 22 knots underwater; has a range of 8000 nautical miles (~14,800 kms) snorkeling at 8 knots and carries 14 torpedoes for use against both ships and submarines. By designation they are SSKs - ie diesel electric attack submarines. They are also called hunter killers as they can track and sink other submarines. Like most western submarines they are single hull vessels. Unique to any submarine in the world they carry their own escape capsule in which all 40 crew can be squeezed in and the capsule floats up to the surface through natural buoyancy. Another interesting feature is the ability to carry up to 24 mines in external strap-on saddles on the side for special mine laying missions without compromising on the torpedo load.With German training and know-how we built two vessels(1992) and(1994). Two more were to have been built but budgetary pressures and a lack of understanding in our bureaucracy of the time and effort it takes to build national capabilities threw this opportunity away. The skilled work force and know-how developed at Mazagon Docks withered away for a decade and a half till the French Scorpene project commenced in 2009. The saving grace has been that the boats have served the Navy well and proved most reliable in service. The Germans especially Dr. Gabler and IKL worked very well with the Indian design engineers and submariners. The detailed documented history of our Navy is full of praise for Dr. Gabler's personal interest in the Type 1500 design and the thoroughness with which the Germans went to work on our project and helped us learn too. Sadly all that was lost for a couple hundred million $.To augment the size and effectiveness of the submarine arm the Indian Navy inducted 10 Kilo class (Russian designation Type 877EKM) submarines from Russia over 1986 to 1999. In the 2500 -3000 tonne class these are very very silent SSK hunter-killers. The EKM's are believed to be covered with sound absorbing ancheoic tiles that absorb the sonar waves of a enemy sonar thus reducing the range and quality of the enemy sonar's capability to detect and identify. In war games with the US Navy EKM's of the Indian Navy are believed to have tracked and homed in on US nuke subs for hours without being picked up themselves.They are armed with 18 homing torpedoes for use against other ships or submerged submarines and can carry the Russian Novator land attack cruise missiles that go out to ~250 kms. The Kilo have the tear drop shaped hull which as you read in the first post gives outstanding hydrodynamic efficiency that leads to better maneuverability and longer endurance on batteries. They are powered by a main electric motor, a silent creep motor for patrolling and two auxiliary motors for maneuvering in shallow or confined waters and as an emergency 'get you home' back-up propulsion. The weapon systems, fire control computers, sonars, electronic counter measures suite and silent operations of these new boats are much appreciated by Indian submariners. Very capable boats but sadly two of them have been involved in accidents.In 2013exploded in Mumbai harbor killing 18 of its crew. The Board of enquiry concluded that torpedoes explosion following a fire could be the cause. At the time there were reports of old batteries which had not been replaced because the mandarins of the Ministry of Defence had been sitting on the files for years and that gasses built up from old and worn out batteries could have played a part. For 45 years the Navy has been sourcing batteries from locally manufactured Standard Batteries (now Exide) and it has worked perfectly. A new manufacturer sued the Navy for not buying batteries from them. So instead of taking a stand the MoD decided to stop all battery purchases till this was sorted out -the typical bureaucrat approach of take no decision and don't let anyone take one either. So while the commanding officer was court martialed and the Naval Chief resigned out of a sense of honour nothing happened to the worthies who sat on files.In the early 1980s we took the unprecedented step of negotiating with the Soviets about leasing a nuclear powered submarine. Nothing remotely like that had ever been contemplated before by any of the then 4 builders & operators of nuclear boats i.e. USA, UK, France and USSR. This was a very bold step, deeply frowned upon by USA and UK but received positive support from the Soviets. The long process of negotiation and training started and the specialized berthing and maintenance facility was built at Vizag. In 1988a Charlie class nuclear powered submarine entered commission with the Indian Navy. It is to the credit of the Russians who trained us and our submariners who learnt well that this sophisticated vessel was operated by us for 3 years without incident. Her first skipper was Captain RN Ganesh (later Vice Admiral) a quiet and deeply proficient officer who later also commanded INS Vikrant thus becoming a rare officer in any Navy to have commanded both a nuclear submarine and an aircraft carrier. The main role onwas to teach us how to operate a nuke boat, build our confidence and give our surface navy the opportunity to better appreciate this formidable great white shark. With the collapse of USSR in 1991 sadly this lease ended.The two primary roles of a submarine force are to ensure sea denial by making it too dangerous for ships of the opposing forces to cross an area - a strait, a narrow, a coastal area astride an important port, a major sea lane. In the first role of sea denial the aim is to sink or better threaten to sink anf opposing ship or submarine the enters the area. The second primary role is to be the final arbiter of nuclear deterrence by providing a credible secondary strike capability after the enemy has destroyed your nuclear and economic assets. In addition to these two primary roles most submarines perform several secondary but important roles of surveillance, gathering signal intelligence from the opposing coast, laying mines and supporting covert commando operations. India lies astride the Straits of Malacca to the east and the Straits of Hormuz to the west two of the most widely transited narrows on the globe.In 2012 the Indian Navy leased, for 10 years, a newly built Akula II class nuclear powered attack submarine christened. The Akula II is the first Russian class of submarines that is quieter than the current American mainstay the Los Angles class. That is quite something as silence is a submarine's first line of both defense and offense. The Akula II is a 8000 tonne boat with a top speed of 35 knots or more and a patrol endurance of up to 90 days. With 40 torpedoes/ missiles she has the ability to sustain an engagement for long periods. The egg shaped object at the top of the after hydroplane contains a towed array sonar. This is a string of listening hydrophones trailing several kilometres behind a slow moving submarine. This enables it to listen without the ambient noise of the submarine and to listen up as well as down through the ocean searching for its target.It is reported that the Indian Navy will go in for a second boat on lease in the near future.To make up for the lost opportunity of building more Shishumar (Type 1500) class submarines and to augment the depletions in our submarine fleet the Govt of India after a detailed evaluation signed up to acquire 6 Scorpene class submarines to be built at Mazagon Docks, Mumbai under license from the French. The programme signed for in 2005 ran 4 years behind schedule under the UPA Govt but has now been put on track. The first of the Indian Scorpene'slaunched in April 2015, has entered trials and is expected to join the fleet later in 2016. Appropriately she carries the name of India's first ever submarine.The Scorpene's are 2000 tonne boats with very modern weapon suite including the ability to fire the submarine launched Exocet anti-ship missile.carries a mix of 18 heavy weight torpedoes and missiles. At USD 500 million a piece these are expensive boats. The cost is a reflection of the complexity of the weapon systems, the silencing measures incorporated into the design and the degree of automation to reduce the crew complement. The Indian Navy may go in for a follow on of 6 more vessels maybe with an Air-Independent Propulsion system.Like the Type 1500 and Kilo class the Scorpene's are SSK's.BrahMos is an Indo-Russian multi-platform cruise missile designed for launch from ships, submarines, aircrafts and land vehicles. With a range of 290 kms and a flight speed of Mach 2.8 (~3400 kmph) it is one of the fastest cruise missiles in service. The missile carries a conventional warhead large enough to seriously disable a large warship. Guidance is by a combination of inertial navigation, active radar and satellite course correction. The BrahMos (named for the Brahmaputra + Moskava rivers) is based on the Russian P-800 Oniks missile and borrows the propulsion motor from it and adds a wholly new guidance system and the ability to interface with multiple platforms. The BrahMos is in service with the Navy as a surface weapon. The submarine launched version was first test fired in 2013. It fires from a vertical silo and is expected to join the fleet in the medium term future when new build subs with the vertical launch facility commission. BrahMos represents an outstanding success for Indo-Russian co-operation.The Sagarika (also designated K-15) is a short range ballistic missile developed by DRDO and expected to be armed with a nuclear warhead. The Sagarika is expected to equipIndia's soon to be commissioned nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine. According to news reports it has a range of 750 kms. Successful tests carried out are a milestone for DRDO. 750 kms is a little short for a ballistic missile but can fully do the job considering that the Russians or Americans are not our adversaries. A longer range version is under development but that will take a few more years.is the hallmark of the Indian Navy's long and steady journey towards indigenization and designing our own ships (and now submarines). The humble but well thought through start of this journey in the early 1960s is narrated as a photo essay on Team BHP at http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/commer...ahmaputra.html has been designed at home with assistance from Russia. It is a nuclear powered ballistic missile carrying submarine i.e. a SSBN. It represents the first steps towards a sea based nuclear deterrent against our two nuclear armed neighbours. As an industrial achievement it is a hallmark of indigenous capability and the marriage of 3 complex engineering components - a submarine hull, a nuclear power plant and a ballistic missile system. As per news releases this 6000 tonne boat, which carries 12 Sagarika missiles, is undergoing extensive sea trials and weapon integration trials. A final commissioning date has not been announced but could be in the very near future. More onin a future post when the Navy releases data for public consumption and commissions the mighty ship, oops boat.With the commissioning onIndia will become the 6th country to design, build and operate its own nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine. The Americans were the first in 1960, followed by the Russians in 1960 in a limited way and in 1967 with a proper SSBN, the British in 1967 (the British used an American nuclear plant and missile; really only the hull was their own design), the French in 1971 (the French went alone and developed a wholly home grown reactor and missile) and the Chinese in 1987 in a limited way and only from 2007 in a full fledged way.Withon one hand and the new carrierunder construction on the other the Indian Navy can justifiably be proud of its success at developing home grown designs. A second improved versionis under construction. In order to ensure that at least one ballistic missile armed submarine is out in the oceans on any given day we need a squadron of 5 vessels.Life on board a submarine is tough. You are literally living and working inside a giant machine with space, fresh air and fresh water at a premium. Emphasis is on getting maximum weapons, sensors, batteries and machinery into the hull at the expense of personal space and comfort. This is compounded by the demands for perfection where a single mistake by one crew can spell death for all. Working in such a demanding environment often leads to a special bond amongst submariners that lasts a lifetime.Command centre when operating underwater. The red colour is to protect the night vision of the captain's eyes looking through the periscope. White and red light are used to simulate day & night in the sealed world inside a submarine.Maintenance of torpedo tubes at sea. All submariners practice escaping through the torpedo tubes in darkness underwater. Those who have swum at sea in the night will have some idea of how disorienting and frightening this can be.Sleeping arrangements on a submarine. Most of the crew hot bunks - 3 men share 2 bunks. Here the men sleep amid the torpedo re-loads.In some missions submarines may have to surface. While it is possible to get away from surface warships a anti-submarine helicopter can be a nasty surprise. Here a sailor on board an Indian Kilo class submarine holds a shoulder launched SAM to even the odds versus a chopper.Maintenance of the batteries at sea. The engineer crawls in with 30" of space. Battery upkeep is a vital task for both operations and submarine safety.No matter how sophisticated a submarine and its electronics may get it shall always need a vast array of pumps and valves to operate the ballast tanks, trim tanks that use sea water and compressed air to dive and more importantly to surface. The panel watch keeper who controls all this in clockwork precision has to know the complex conglomeration of valves like the back of his hand. Correct operation in both sequence and timing are vital for the submarines safety each time it dives or surfaces. The watch keeper is trained to operate in total darkness. Note the disposable cotton banian-shorts he is wearing - this is the typical operating dress in the Indian Navy for submariners - no rank, no insignia - only mutual respect for each others professionalism.A Shishumar class submarine on the surface on way to her diving point. Note the periscope is up for use when dived.The Indian Submarine Arm has evolved combing the best of traditions of the Russians the Germans and our own into an operating philosophy suited to our environment. Over the years Admiral Gorshkov the father of the Soviet Navy did his utmost to help us develop our Submarine Arm. The same can be said of his successor Admiral Chernavin and the German Government and Navy. Our submarine fleet peaked in the early 1990s with 20 boats including the first INS Chakra. Since then Government apathy, the lost opportunity to continue building the Shishmar class Type 1500s and the delays in the Scorpene project meant a gradual erosion of force levels to 13 boats in 2011. Matters are looking up again with the newin commission, the newexpected on stream later this year andunder trials.Submariners all over the world share a unique bond which is that, when dived, the lives of all depend on each crew member doing his job absolutely right each time without fail.Jai Hind.Transition to Triumph, The Indian Navy 1965 to 1975 by Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani, 1999; Publisher Naval HQ & LancersTransition to Eminence, The Indian Navy 1976 to 1990 by Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani, 2005; Publisher Naval HQ & LancersTransition to Guardianship, The Indian Navy 1991 to 2000 by Vice Admiral GM Hiranandani, 2009; Publisher Naval HQ & LancersThe Indian Navy, A Photo Essay by Rear Admiral Raja Menon (Retd), 2000; Publisher -Naval HQ; Photo Source @@The Submarine by Thomas Parrish, 2004; Pengiun Books, USAModern Submarine Warfare by David Miller & John Jordan, 1987; Publisher Military Press, Salamander Books Ltd; Photo Source ##Jane's Submarines by Robert Hutchinson, 2005; Published by Harper CollinsThe Indian Navy, An Illustrated History, 1989; Published by Naval HQ Last edited by V.Narayan : 27th March 2016 at 14:51 . Reason: final touches