I am sure our Navy doesnt believe in brinkmanship...it definitely doesnt give the sense of triumphalism.
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Informant
In three of the cases the ships were very new. Talwar which hit a fishing boat is one of our latest acquisitions from Russia. Tarkash which collided with the jetty in Mumbai is a frontline destroyer and Airawat which went aground in Visakhapatnam port is hardly four years old. So material obsolescence did not lead to these mishaps. A minesweeper caught fire whilst under refit and this is also not old age related. Sindhuraksha which sank in Mumbai naval dockyard after an explosion is one of our later submarines and had just received a mid-life refit and modernisation in Russia.
All those familiar with this process know of the extensive and thorough work that is done during this period to give the vessel effective operational value for the next decade and more.
Another submarine Sindhughosh touched bottom while leaving the dockyard in Mumbai ...It is true that the naval harbour had not been dredged for some time some alleged that this was the reason the vessel met with the mishap ...but it was during high tide, when there is sufficient depth of water, that the submarine met with the accident and not during the period when insufficient depth could be the factor.
Finally Sindhuratna's accident has to be seen in the context that she had just come out of repairs. The vessel cleared the mandatory period of harbour work-up under the scrutiny of the Submarine Force Commander of the Western Naval Command and only then was it cleared for the next phase of efficiency tests at sea for which this Commander himself and his team were on board.Media reports indicated that this submarine's battery had outlived its useful life which was preposterous as the Navy would never have cleared the vessel for operational and dived work-up at sea if this had been the case. It has now emerged that this report was entirely incorrect. In any event the fire did not start in the battery pit but through short circuit of cables in the crew compartment. Interestingly submarines of this type are in frontline operational service in two very credible navies those of Russia and China along with some others.
