Submarine Questions of the Week: Dec 27, 2015

Background

Today's submarine questions relate to India's submarine force.  After years of backwater stagnation and tragic accidents, the submarine arm of India Navy's (IN) finally appears to be on track for unprecedented growth.  Unfortunately, the rapid pace of force development assures growing pains are in store and pitfalls still remain.  

 
Molten Eagle certainly wishes all of India's brave submariners the safest environment possible in their hazardous undertakings.

Questions of the Week

1 -  What is the current average age of India's sub fleet?

2 -  Recent accidents - the explosion and sinking of INS Sindhurakshak in 2013, killed 18, and fire on INS Sindhuratna last year killed two officers. Unusually thorough accident reviews resulted in implementation of corrective procedures.  Is India's submarine force made up of volunteers?

3 -  India's navy has a submarine school comprised of three schools, the first is a year-long basics school for officers and enlisted.  What are the other two schools?

4 - According to one officer, what was the minimum passing grade (percentage correct answers) he needed to pass his first test (structure) in the basics school?

5 -  Do India's submarine enlisted and officers attend submarine school together?

6 - India's current fleet of operational submarines includes how many and of what classes?

7 - In addition to its operational fleet, how many subs does India have in sea trials and awaiting procurement?

8 - Besides earning an eventual dolphin badge, what unusual distinction separates India's submariners from every other branch of its military service?

9 - What is the stated purpose of the policy referred to in question 8?

ANSWERS:  Saturday, 2 JAN 2016.

Submarines are always silent and strange. 

Ominous Portents for "Infant" India with Nuclear Subs

Choose any learned profession and among its top tier of admired practitioners will be some from the subcontinent we know as India (population ~ 1.2 billion est. 2011).  This is quite a stellar achievement for a country whose male literacy rate is less than The Republic of Congo's (89.6%), Zambia's (86.8%), Botswana's (84.6%), Cambodia's (82.8%), and Swaziland's (82.6%), although India's male literacy is  barely above Egypt's (81.7%) and well above neighboring Pakistan's 70%.

When it comes to managing nuclear submarines could the educated admirals and elites be overreaching?  How well does India's Navy manage its non-nuclear or decommissioned naval assets? Read on...

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January 10, 2008  ME:  Indian Submarine Collision opens Pandora's Box of Intrigue One of India's Kilo-based diesel submarines, INS Sindhughosh scraped under a large merchant ship in the Arabian Sea about 114 nautical miles from Mumbai on Monday. Fortunately, no casualties were reported...

August 15, 2013   Indian navy reels after submarine disaster in Mumbai
New Delhi (CNN) -- The Indian navy suffered its worst peacetime disaster this week when an explosion and fire sank a submarine with 18 sailors on board in a Mumbai dockyard. ...Navy officials, meanwhile, are trying to figure out what went wrong on the INS Sindhurakshak, a submarine that had only recently returned from an extensive refitting in Russia.  ..."The accident is all the more painful because the navy had recently achieved two major successes in the form of its first nuclear submarine, INS Arihant, and the aircraft carrier, INS Vikrant," he said.

August 22, 2013 - Inside China: China ridicules Indian navy
“Paper tiger” was the term used by the Communist Party-run newspaper, the Global Times, to describe the Indian navy, which has been locked in a fierce buildup race with the Chinese navy. The newspaper challenged India’s claim that the INS Vikrant is “indigenous,” calling it a “brand of 10,000 nations” because the ship is said to have used French blueprints, Russian air wings and U.S.-made engines. “[The submarine’s explosion] seems to have provided a footnote to India’s real naval prowess,” the Global Times reported Monday in language that clearly gloated about the mishap.

Jan 26, 2014 - New Delhi: Indian Navy removes captains of two frontline ships INS Talwar, INS Betwa  The Indian Navy has removed the captains of two frontline warships INS Talwar and INS Betwa, Captain Gopal Suri and Captain Deepak Bisht respectively from their positions.  A newspaper report said, both the captains have been stripped of their positions for serious lapses that led to accidents under their command.

Jan 28, 2014  - THE HINDU   Chennai - Toll in Chennai submarine mishap climbs to two

The toll in the mishap at the decommissioned submarine INS Vagli docked at the port here rose to two on Tuesday as another person succumbed to anoxia, police said.  Bhavani Shankar (47), owner of the contracting firm who tried to rescue his employee, Mahendran (36) from a manhole-like structure inside INS Vagli succumbed to the adverse impact in absence of oxygen, police said. Mahendran (36), who had gone inside the submarine on Monday, fainted in absence of oxygen and later died.

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Submarines are always silent and strange.

India's Unexplained Deaths: Terrorism Suspected

Background
Visakhapatnam is the headquarters of India's Eastern Naval Command, the Naval Science and Technological Laboratory (a DRDO Lab).  India's first nuclear submarine INS Arihant was launched in the Naval Dockyard, and Bharat Dynamics has begun manufacturing torpedoes there.  Kerala is located on India's south western coast, about a 25-hour drive from Visakhapatnam.

 

Recently:  Nuclear submarine engineer found dead on railway tracks in Visakhapatnam - VISAKHAPATNAM: Bodies of two defence personnel were found under suspicious circumstances on the railway tracks falling under Pendurty railway station (PRS) limits of East Coast Railways (ECoR) here on Sunday morning. ... Relatives and locals, however, raised suspicion over the incident, pointing out that there were no visible injuries on the bodies to show that they had come under a passing train. Suspicion was also raised that the two had been attacked elsewhere and their bodies thrown near the tracks.

Following enquiries, one of the deceased was identified as KK Josh, 34, chief engine room artificer (CERA) at Shipbuilding Centre, a unit of ministry of defence at the Eastern Naval Command (ENC) premises here. The other was identified as Abhish Shivam, 33, a chief engineer working at INS Arihant, India's first nuclear-powered submarine. ... Shivam belonged to Ernakulam district in Kerala and was living at the Navy quarters at Dolphins Hills.

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and part of a discussion thread from Bharat Rakshak (Consortium of Indian Defence Websites):

Intelligence & National Security Discussion

I can't recall when I last heard people holding significantly responsible positions in high value projects dying unnatural deaths under suspicious circumstances.  

Arjun project Senior scientist Swargiya Shri G.K Kumaravel in 2012 -

Quote:

A senior scientist involved in the development of Arjun main battle tank died when a lorry smashed into a car in which he was travelling at Dechhu near Jodhpur in Rajasthan around 3.30pm on Monday. G K Kumaravel of the Combat Vehicles Research Development Establishment (CVRDE), Avadi, was head of the Arjun Main Battle Tank (MBT) Mark 1 and 2 programmes. Police said he was on his way to Pokhran to participate in user trials of Arjun MBT Mark-2 when the accident occurred. Kumaravel died on the spot while senior CVRDE scientists P V Murali and Daniel Sunder Singh were ...

HAL senior test pilot Sawrgiya Shri Baldev Singh commits suicide by hanging from a tree in the hills where he went for a walk in 2011-
Quote:
HAL's chief test pilot (fixed wing) and recently made Director (Corporate Planning & Marketing) Squadron Leader (Retd) Baldev Singh was found dead this morning. Possible suicide. He was apparently on holiday in Karnataka's Nandi Hills, where his body was found. More details shortly. R.I.P.

An official profile released recently: Sqn Ldr Singh took over as Director (Corporate Planning & Marketing) at HAL in August. Before that, he was Executive Director Flight Operations and the Chief Test Pilot (Fixed Wing) at HAL's Bangalore Complex.

Singh was involved with the LCA Programme from 1990 onwards and was deputed to the Aeronautical Development Agency for this purpose. On the LCA programme he worked extensively on the development and flight testing of the flight control laws of the Light Combat aircraft. He carried out the flight evaluation of these flight control laws at the Real Time simulator at BAE Wharton in UK followed by the flight evaluation of these control laws on the F-16, Lear Jet and NT-33 aircraft in the US.

Singh had extensive test flying experience on five prototype programmes and carried out the first flights of the HANSA aircraft and the Intermediate Jet Trainer.

Finally, this bit:  Kerala, terror's own country, says NIA  
Quote:
Kerala has been declared a Red Zone by the National Investigation Agency, which firmly believes that the state has become a hotbed for terror activities. Last week’s verdict where 13 accused, including suspected Lashkar-e-Tayiba operative T Naseer, were sentenced to life imprisonment for recruiting persons to fight the battle in Kashmir is a testimony that terror activities in Kerala have flourished.

An officer with the NIA told rediff.com that investigating terror in Kerala is a different ball game. “There is a massive presence of the Indian Mujahideen and the Students Islamic Movement of India here. The problem, however, is that they operate under micro modules and this makes tracking them even more difficult.”

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 R.I.P. indeed.

Submarines are always silent and strange.