By: Cmde Ranjit Rai (R)
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently flew into Mumbai and commissioned the Navy’s three latest warships: the 6,600-ton stealth destroyer INS Surat (Capt Sandeep Shourie), the 6.400-ton stealth frigate INS Nilgiri (Capt Nitin Kapoor), and the last of the six type 75 Scorpene submarines INS Vagsheer (Cdr Vineet Sharma).
The coruscating event at the Naval Dockyard was a milestone for India’s Navy and Mazagon Docks and Shipbuilders Ltd for the scope and speed of construction in Atmanirbharta (Self-Reliance) to deliver 16,000 tons of fighting steel with over seventy percent indigenous weapons and systems. It also showcased the Navy’s Nari-Shakti in action, the Logistic branch’s maturity, and the Agniveers’ ability to merge seamlessly into the sailor branch.
A sea of white uniforms in the sunshine mingled with former Naval veterans, Ministry of Defence officials, Mazagon Docks and Naval Dockyard staff, and SME and ancillary equipment suppliers, making it an appropriate setting for the tri-commissioning. The families of personnel serving on INS Surat, Nilgiri, and Vagsheer were seated in one pandal, and PM Modi waved past them before embarking on Surat.
PM Modi mentioned his appreciation of the Navy when he addressed the guests from the deck of Surat. He was visibly moved by the spectacle of the three powerful warships bristling with the latest technology.
He signed the visitor’s book and wished the Commanding Officer of Surat fair winds and following seas. He then moved to Nilgiri and Vagsheer, accompanied by the Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Dinesh K Tripathi, to congratulate the other two Commanding Officers and sign their visitors’ books.
INS Surat’s crest depicts the Lion of the Gir forest. PM Modi recalled India’s maritime history and how leaders like Maharaj Shivaji and his Navy and earlier the Kunjali Admirals bravely opposed the foreign navies in the 13th century but stated that we were weak at sea.
PM Modi extolled the virtues of the Gir Lion to tell the world that India looks to peace and prosperity for all, as well as security of the seas and freedom of navigation, as the majestic lion depicts on Surat’s crest.
The event was nostalgic for many Indian Navy veterans. On June 3, 1972, India’s first large warship, the 2,600-ton INS Nilgiri of the Leander class, was commissioned by PM Mrs Indira Gandhi at the same venue.
Nilgiri was the first large warship ordered by the Navy in collaboration with Yarrow Shipyard of Glasgow when Rear Admiral SM Nanda was the Chairman of Mazagon Docks. She was the first ship to embark an Anti-Submarine Warfare Alouttee (Chetak) helicopter and the first to have two Seacat AA missile directors.
Nilgiri set the benchmark for larger Leanders with extended lengths, which paved the way for naval designers to build powerful platforms for the Navy and become a builder’s Navy by the 1990s.
The brochures at the event depicted details of the vessels and names of the key officers, and in the case of Vagsheer, the names of the 11 officers and the 46 submariners, as submarines are a Navy’s lethal assets in war. In peacetime, submarines participate in anti-submarine warfare exercises and support intelligence gathering.
The Western Naval Command, under Vice Admiral Sanjay J Singh, oversaw the ceremony on behalf of the Chief of Naval Staff, and gave pride of place to the surviving officers and sailors of the former 2,600-ton INS Nilgiri commissioned in 1972, and Vagsheer commissioned in 1975.
The INS Surat and Nilgiri possess the indigenous ‘anti-ship and land attack’ Brahmos missiles with a range of 750 km and the 60 km ‘air attack’ Barak missiles, supported by the Ellora Electronic Warfare suites, and the deadly Varunashatra torpedoes.
The ships have the Israeli M/F star radar for command and control, which is considered a world leader. INS Nilgiri has the latest Lanza air radar, made in India jointly by Tatas and Indira of Italy.
The ships have since joined the other 65 warships, submarines, and aircraft in a three-month-long Tri-Service Exercise TROPEX 25, which aims to validate the Indian Navy’s core warfighting skills and ensure an integrated response to protect national maritime security interests in a contested naval environment against conventional, asymmetric, and hybrid threats.
As an octogenarian survivor of the small, powerful former Nilgiri as its Second in Command, I was invited to the ‘Tri-Commissioning’ ceremony. I was taken around the three warships and met men and women on board, I was struck by the advances in the weapons, technology, fittings, husbandry, and ergonomic comforts of the vessels to world-class standards, that I have visited abroad.
Still, I was more amazed by the ‘Makeover’ that needs to be described in lay terms and by what Nari-Shakti, the revitalized Logistic branch, and Agniveers have contributed.
It must be appreciated that most Naval officers in the last century were young male entrants into the Navy from the National Defence Academy, far from the sea, and lived very tight, military-regulated lives. Today, all officers have a Bachelor of Engineering or Technology degree from the large Naval Academy at Ehzimala. Navac has the atmosphere and flavor of a co-educational university, which leads to maturity.
The same applies to most sailors who join at a tender age and are trained in INS Chilka, where drill, discipline, physical fitness, and swimming, with a modicum of boat work and naval subjects, are introduced to entrants and educated Agniveers, men, and women.
To many minds, the Indian Navy is today a better-educated Navy with continuous foreign exposure, visits to foreign countries, and multilateral exercises. In the late 1960s, the Indian Navy transformed from the Royal Navy to the Soviet Naval standards and depicted its prowess in the 1971 war.
In this century, the Navy has adopted the best practices of the US Navy with interoperability and was the first service to enter the Internet age with an ISRO-supplied GSAT 7 satellite. INS Surat is the first ship to have artificial intelligence features. But this is not all.
The Indian Navy has had a supply branch since its inception, which handled stores, catering, logistics, and secretarial duties. However, as promotion prospects were poor, the branch was merged into the executive branch in the 1980s.
This did not work, and the Navy formed a separate Logistics branch. This branch has become very professional in ensuring operational logistics, now considered one of the principal necessities of war. It also runs naval messes, Canteens, and Institutes as professionals.
The Agniveers are also older and mature at intake, and many are highly educated and work hard to ensure they make the twenty-five percent cut. Ships have computers with training modules, and sailors spend time on them in their spare time to improve their professional knowledge.
The introduction of women in higher age groups with civilian University education into the various branches of the Navy has seen a mature change in the manner of their dedicated work and quality of civility and courteousness, even on ships.
Women officers are in command, with men under them. They are aides or secretaries to Senior officers and are proficient in logistics, law, and education. They also fly planes and helicopters and make their mark. I saw a sea change in the two days I spent with the Navy.
As a footnote, some media writers have been unkind to the Navy by stating that the Navy’s warships are still dependent on imports. No nation has an entire industry to supply every weapon, engine, radar, and equipment, and even the US, UK, and European navy ships have some import content from friendly nations.
Unless it is economical in numbers, imports are resorted to with ample spares to cater to urgent needs, except for strategic systems. These are attempted at home, and examples are classified.
Rome was not built in a day, but the Indian Navy has gone a long way in Atminirbharata. Out of over sixty ships being built, only one Krivack, like INS Tushil, to be christened INS Tamata and commissioned this year, is being constructed at Yantar Shipyard in Kaliningrad, Russia.
India has built two nuclear submarines and an aircraft carrier, symbolizing its push for a self-reliant Navy ready to tackle challenges. Nari-Shakti, the revitalized Logistic branch, and Agniveers are transforming India’s navy with the latest technology. Sam Na Varuna.
- Cmde Ranjit Rai is a Naval author and commentator who curates a Maritime Museum in New Delhi.
- His updated latest book, India and its Navy@25: A Pictorial Journey, will be available soon.
- VIEWS PERSONAL OF THE AUTHOR
- Email EurAsian Times at: editor (at) eurasiantimes.com
