8 INS Khukri Facts You Might Not Know

INS Khukri was an Indian Navy frigate that was sunk on 9 December 1971 by a Pakistani Submarine in the course of the 1971 struggle between India and Pakistan.

Mentioned on this article are some attention-grabbing info in regards to the INS Khukri.

1. A sort 14, Blackwood-class frigate

INS Khukri was a sort 14 Blackwood class frigate. Such frigates had been constructed for the Royal Navy within the Nineteen Fifties when Soviet Submarines posed a significant menace. Twelve vessels served with the Royal Navy, and an extra three had been constructed for the Indian Navy.

The Type 14 frigates had been made to be cheaper and smaller than the more expensive Type 12 Frigates. They had been designed for anti-submarine roles, although they participated in fishery safety throughout confrontations with Iceland over fishing rights.

Their crew specialised in anti-submarine warfare, and these vessels remained the simplest in anti-submarine workout routines until the Nineteen Sixties and Nineteen Seventies.

These frigates didn’t have weapons however possessed anti-submarine armament of Limbo mortars, 20 torpedoes and a sonar match. However, within the Nineteen Fifties, issues with their hulls had been recognized, and so they needed to be strengthened.

Their low-profile superstructure was a design meant to confuse the enemy. They had limitations, comparable to a scarcity of weapons and restricted house, which restricted them from functioning as anti-submarine vessels after the Nineteen Seventies.

The small hull lowered the variety of modifications and upgrades potential, stopping them from being armed with superior weapons, in the end rendering them out of date, with most decommissioned from service firstly of the Nineteen Eighties.

2. Technical Specifications of the INS Khukri

INS Khukri was constructed by J. Samuel White, a British shipbuilding agency in Cowes that got here into prominence within the Victorian period. The agency constructed destroyers and different naval craft for the Royal Navy. It additionally constructed industrial vessels and lifeboats.

INS Khukri was laid down on 29 December 1955, launched on 20 November 1956 and commissioned on 16 July 1958. It has a displacement of 1180 lengthy tons at full load.

The vessel was 91 m lengthy and 10 m large with a 4.7 m draught. It had a most pace of 27.8 knots and 24.5 knots when sustained. It had a variety of 5200 nautical miles and a complement of 150.

3. INS Khukri was part of the 1971 Indo-Pakistan War

This was a army confrontation between India and Pakistan that unfolded in the course of the Bangladesh Liberation War in East Pakistan. It began with Pakistan’s Operation Chengiz Khan, which consisted of aerial strikes on 8 Indian air stations. After this, India declared struggle on Pakistan, getting into the struggle involving the independence of East Pakistan.

India gained the higher hand simply 13 days into the struggle, forcing the Eastern Command of Pakistan Military to signal the instrument of give up on 16 December 1971 in Dhaka, which marked the formation of East Pakistan as the brand new nation of Bangladesh.

As a results of this battle, about 8 to 10 million individuals took refuge in India and round 93,000 Pakistani servicemen had been taken as prisoners by the Indian Army.

4. INS Khukri within the 1971 Indo-Pakistani War

After hostilities started on 3 December 1971, a submarine was recognized by Indian Naval radio detection tools. It was round 35 miles southwest of the Dui harbour.

The 14th Frigate Squadron of the Western Fleet was despatched to focus on the enemy sub. The squadron had 5 ships, Khukri, Kalveti, Kirpan, Kuthar and Krishna; nonetheless, right now, Kuthar’s boiler room was present process repairs in Mumbai.

Hence, two Blackwood-class submarines had been deployed to deal with the trendy Daphne-class submarine Hangor of the Pakistan Navy, because the Indian Navy didn’t have ample anti-submarine craft.

The submarine noticed the squadron; nonetheless, Khukri was unaware of its presence and continued on its course slowly as she examined a brand new sonar model that wanted low pace to extend detection, although shifting slowly was in opposition to Indian anti-submarine ways.

Hangor launched a homing torpedo at Kirpan, which didn’t explode. Kirpan turned and fired anti-submarine mortars. Meanwhile, Khukri elevated its pace and turned in the direction of Hangor, firing a second torpedo geared toward Khukri. This torpedo hit Khukri and exploded underneath its oil tanks.

Per Pakistan’s submarine captain, the Indian Sub sank inside 2 minutes. Other sources counsel that 3 torpedoes hit Khukri earlier than it sank.

Kirpan then attacked Hangor with depth fees after her anti-submarine mortars couldn’t perform. Hangor fired one other torpedo at Kirpan and left. She patrolled the world for 4 days earlier than making her return.

5. INS Khukri sunk by Hangor, a Daphne-class sub of the Pakistan Navy

PNS/M Hangor was a Daphne-class diesel-electric submarine that was a part of the Pakistan Navy from 1969 till it was decommissioned in 2006. It was the primary submarine to sink a vessel after the Second World War.

It was the lead ship of her class, designed and constructed by France after a negotiation that started in 1966. Hangor was commissioned in 1969 and reported to her dwelling base in Karachi, Pakistan, from Paris, France. Ahmed Tasnim commanded her and sank the INS Khukri, an anti-submarine frigate of the Indian Navy, with one homing torpedo.

INR Khurki

This was the one submarine kill after the Second World War till the Falklands War when the Royal Navy’s nuclear sub-HMS Conqueror attacked and sank the Argentine Navy cruiser, General Belgrano.

The Daphne-class of subs had been diesel-electric powered, designed and constructed by French defence contractor DCNS within the Nineteen Sixties for the Navy of France. The authorities marketed them for export, and so they went on to serve in South Africa whereas subclasses primarily based on the unique design had been commissioned into Pakistani, Porteufue, and Spanish Navies.

6. The solely ship misplaced in fight within the historical past of the Indian Navy

Khukri grew to become the one Indian naval vessel to have been misplaced in fight. With it, 18 officers and 176 sailors additionally misplaced their lives, together with its captain, Mahendra Nath Mulla, the one Indian Naval Captain to go down together with his vessel. He was posthumously awarded the Maha Vir Chakra, India’s second-highest army honour.

A memorial was in-built Diu, Gujarat, India, to honour the courageous crew of INS Khukri. It has a scale mannequin of Khukri in a glass home on high of a hillock going through the ocean.

7. INS Khukri’s crest represents two curved swords

The crest of INS Khukri represents 2 curved swords referred to as Khurkis with the handles going through downwards and blades pointing outwards. This image represents braveness, and its motto can be Bal, Sahas, Josh aur Dum, Kuhkuri Nahi Kisi Se Kam, which in English means Power, Courage, Passion and Strength, Khukri is a minimum of anybody.

Like its ensign on the crest, the crew onboard Khukri confirmed large braveness when it sank in 1971, particularly the Commanding Officer, Captain Mahendra Nath Mulla. Six officers and 61 sailors survived and recounted how the captain helped the crew to flee from the incident however selected to go down with the ship.

8. A missile corvette was named Khukri to honour the INS Khukri misplaced within the 1971 struggle

INS Khukri was the primary of the indigenously constructed Missile Corvettes. It was constructed by Mazagaon Dock Ship Builders and commissioned into the Indian Navy on 23 August 1989.

INS Khukri was the lead ship of her class of corvettes. It was named after INS Khukri, the one Indian Naval Ship ever misplaced in battle. It was laid down in 1985 and launched the next 12 months in 1986.

It carries the identical crest and motto because the INS Khukri and was a part of the Western and Eastern Fleets.

She was decommissioned after 32 years of service on 23 December 2021. During her service, she was commanded by 28 officers and sailed greater than 6,44,897 nautical miles, virtually equal to navigating the world 30 occasions or 3 times the space between the Earth and the moon.

After it was decommissioned, it was given to the Diu administration to be turned into a museum inaugurated by Union Minister Amit Shah on 11 June 2022.

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About Author

Zahra is an alumna of Miranda House, University of Delhi. She is an avid author, possessing immaculate analysis and modifying abilities. Author of a number of tutorial papers, she has additionally labored as a contract author, producing many technical, artistic and advertising items. A real aesthete at coronary heart, she loves books a little bit greater than the rest.

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