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. 

Ouch! Admiral's Candid Quote & Critique Decries Faults in India's Military Culture

"Consequently, the MoD faces huge, accumulated, problems and challenges which could take decades to resolve." -Adm. Arun Prakash (Ret'd)

Background   
A year since the tragic loss of 18 lives with India's Russian-made Kilo-class submarine INS Sindhurakshak, one of India's most decorated naval officers identifies contributing failures and surprising lessons learned.   Admiral Arun Prakash (Retd), former Chief of Naval staff (31 Jul 2004 - 31 Oct 2006) is an aviation combat veteran. Although he began his naval service in naval aviation and qualified as a pilot, he later commanded ships and was Commandant, National Defence Academy (1997-99) and Chief of Personnel at Naval Headquarters (1999-2001).  The admiral's full commentary makes worthwile and recommended reading  "A year after submarine disaster: Have any lessons been learnt?"

Revealing Excerpts

Admiral Prakask draws striking contrasts between U.S. and Singaporean military cultures and India's...

"...I feel personally responsible for each and every one of you, as if you were my own sons and daughters. And so my only prayer is that you serve with honour and return home safely" - Former US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates addressing West Point's class of 2008.

versus this...
 "...it is notable that no functionary in our politico-bureaucratic establishment has ever felt or conveyed the kind of angst and concern for servicemen, expressed so publicly by Robert Gates. India's 100 percent civilian MoD has acquired a reputation for its lethargic and inept management of national security, but let me dwell on the Sindhurakshak tragedy to highlight a few examples of the indifference, bordering on callousness, it displays towards India's fighting men and women." - Adm Arun Prakash (Ret'd)

and this...
"Forty-seven years after acquiring its first submarine in 1967, the IN still lacks a submarine rescue vessel (SRV) which can enable the crew to escape from an incapacitated submarine without suffering the severe effects of decompression.  ...During the 2006 Fleet Review in Visakhapatnam, when president A.P.J. Abdul Kalam spent six hours underwater (coincidentally, on the Sindhurakshak), we had to ask the US Navy to provide rescue cover in case of an accident. In stark contrast, tiny Singapore, built its own SRV within a few years of acquiring its first submarine. Our MoD is either ignorant of the gravity of this lacuna or simply does not care."  - Adm Arun Prakash (Ret'd)
  
Admiral Prakash berates India's MoD as follows...

"In a Kafkaesque demonstration of languid functioning, the MoD took a full six months to float international tenders and to select a company to salvage the submarine. It was another four months before the hulk of the submarine could be raised. During this ten-month interregnum, no signs of concern, anguish or urgency were visible in South Block."    - Adm Arun Prakash (Ret'd)


Admiral Prakash questions continues reliance on equiment of Russian origin...

The service will thereafter implement remedial measures to eliminate the possibility of recurrence. 

"However, an aspect that bears the closest scrutiny and review is the continued reliance of all three services on equipment of Soviet/Russian origin. In an August 2000 mishap, which bore uncanny resemblance to the Sindhurakshak accident, the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk suffered an explosion and sank with the loss of all hands. The final report on the disaster concluded that the explosion was due to the failure of one of Kursk's hydrogen peroxide-fuelled torpedoes. The collapse of the Soviet Union dealt a severe blow to its military-industrial complex from which it has not yet recovered. The steep decline in quality control as well as poor product-support of Russian systems is being acutely felt by India's armed forces - on land, at sea and in the air." - Adm Arun Prakash (Ret'd)

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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.