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Friday, Jan 11, 2008
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Near-miss for naval submarine

Sandeep Dikshit

NEW DELHI: More than 50 sailors aboard an Indian naval submarine had a narrow escape off the Gujarat coast earlier this week when a merchant ship sailed over it.

The antenna of INS Sindhughosh was damaged in the incident on January 7. The vessel managed to sail back to its base in Mumbai, about 140 nautical miles away from the incident site, and there was no casualty, official sources said.

The 20-year-old Russian origin submarine probably had the radar in the silent mode, other naval officials said. Submarines normally run blind in the sea, relying on the radar to alert them of approaching vessels and under-sea naval charts to avoid running into oceanic mountains and reefs.

India does not have deep-sea rescue vehicles. It has, however, initiated the process of buying them. For the time being, it has an arrangement with the U.S. to assist it in times of submarine disasters.

Naval sources described it as a “very minor” incident as the vessel sailed back on its strength but admitted that the underside of the merchant ship scraped the aerial antenna. Naval experts expressed surprise over the miss and concurred that the antenna might have been switched off.

Although submarine accidents are rare, most nations owning submarines have reported mishaps. The reasons for the previous accidents have either remained unknown as all the sailors went down with the submarine or have varied wildly.

For instance, a U.S. nuclear submarine’s collision with a Japanese fishing boat in 2001 took place because civilians were at the controls at the time of the incident. The same year another U.S. submarine collided with a Japanese oil tanker in the Gulf.

Submarine accidents have been more tragic for the Russian and Chinese armed forces. A Chinese submarine went down with 70 personnel while the Russian lost over 100 men when its nuclear submarine Kursk sank in 2000.

Minor collision

Arunkumar Bhatt reports from Mumbai:

The Navy confirmed here on Thursday that one of its submarines was involved in a “minor collision” with a merchant vessel, Leeds Castle, while being on routine patrol in the Arabian Sea, off the west coast.

However, “no noteworthy damage has occurred to either of these vessels and there has been no injury or loss of life,” it said. The statement did not identify the submarine, but it is reportedly INS Sindhughosh. It is a Kilo class submarine capable of deploying missiles.

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