New Delhi: Indian Navy chief Admiral Dinesh K. Tripathi on Tuesday visited the Naval Dockyard in Mumbai to take stock of the situation which unfolded after INS Brahmaputra, a prized guided missile frigate, almost keeled over there.
Costing over Rs 6,000 crore, INS Brahmaputra was the second of the class of ships to have met with an accident at the dockyard, after INS Betwa tipped over during undocking in 2016.
The incident brings to focus the Indian Navy’s troubled history with peacetime losses, which include even submarines.
The dockyard has witnessed tragedies in the past, including the sinking of a submarine and another frigate which tilted over and crashed to its side.
In 2016, two soldiers had died after INS Betwa, the second ship of the Brahmaputra class of frigates, tipped over at the Mumbai dockyard.
While many believed the ship would be written off, American company Resolve Marine was commissioned by the Indian Navy to salvage it.On its website, the company narrates this episode as one of its success stories.
With a sophisticated engineering plan in place, salvage teams were able to complete extensive repairs to the internal tanks as well as the side shell of the vessel and eventually rolled it upright.
However, not all vessels have been salvaged. In 2013, conventional submarine INS Sindhurakshak met a tragic fate at the same dockyard due to an ammunition explosion during mooring, sinking irretrievably.
Similarly in 2011, INS Vindhyagiri collided and sank near the Mumbai harbour, eventually written off despite being salvaged by British firm Titan Salvage.
The Indian Navy’s struggle with mishaps has had serious ramifications, even leading to the resignation of then chief Admiral D.K. Joshi in 2014 following a string of accidents, including a fire aboard conventional submarine INS Sindhuratna. It was the 10th accident in seven months.
The Navy’s recent track record on accidents include a fire aboard INS Vikramaditya and mishaps involving INS Chakra and INS Arihant, all attributed to human error.
What many say is troubling is that these are all peacetime setbacks while the Indian Navy has seen only one war-time loss, that of INS Khukri.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
Also read: INS Brahmaputra ‘nearly keels over’ at Mumbai naval dockyard after fire, one sailor missing