Indian Navy Day- celebrating manifold victories

 

Navy day celebrations at the gateway of India in Mumbai 

Actions speak louder than words and when the action is done underwater it speaks the language of lethal missiles! And who better than the Indian Navy to attest to this fact!

In fact Water and missiles summarize the day of 4^th December 1971 and since then this date i.e. today, is celebrated as the Indian navy day. You would be surprised to know that the reason for celebration is not because it was formed today, but because it successfully carried out its first anti-ship missile operation against the Pakistani naval force during the  Indo-Pak 1971  war. It’s the day to commemorate the victory of operation Trident- a daring mission that even had the US president Richard Nixon taking notice of it and addressing the feat in his morning briefing.

The planning and genesis of this operation took place immediately after the war commenced on 3^rd December 1971 and so the attack was planned for the night of 4^th.

An Osa-I missile boat

This operation immediately had the missile boats set sail from the Mumbai harbor to the Karachi harbor to execute the sole objective of eliminating all the sources suppling the Pak army and knocking down their morale. The first bell of major victory rang with the destruction of a big target —  PNS Khaiber, a destroyer of Pak Navy that later broke into two and sank! This was soon followed by the detection of two more targets, PNS Shah Jehan and merchant vessel Venus Challenger that was carrying the ammunition for the Pakistani Army. 

Believe it or not! the entire harbor complex was set on fire by the styx missiles launched by the Indian squadron to attack the oil storage facilities of the Pak navy. In fact, the fatal blow that the operation had on the Pakistan’s oil and ammunition supply drastically reduced Pakistan’s engagement in the war. A fun fact to note here though, all the Indian officers communicated in Russian throughout the operation to avoid any interception of transmission by the enemy ears!

The Karachi harbour on fire

Well, if you are an ardent follower of movies inspired from the armed forces as we are 😉 then you must have stumbled upon the name ‘The Ghazi Attack’- the movie brilliantly showcases the dauntless attacks executed by the Indian navy against the mighty PNS Ghazi submarine. But did you know that even before the hostilities broke out between India and Pakistan on December 3 1971, anticipating a near certain war, Pakistan Navy had already deployed its PNS Ghazi in the bay of Bengal with the mission to sink INS Vikrant, the flagship of the Indian Navy, but as the history speaks, the American Made Tech Class submarine sank to its fate on the night of 4–5 December 1971. Another addition to the multiple triumphs that were being achieved on 4th December and a major blow to Pakistan even before the war started!. This feat was again the courtesy of the fearless officers of INS Rajput. Do watch that movie! to know more and appreciate this near-suicidal mission that destroyed the most modern submarine of that time.

To conclude, todays date couldn’t have been more apt to cherish the Indian navy’s illustrious times and honour the legacy of the Maratha emperor Chatrapati Shivaji maharaj who is in fact considered the father of Indian navy ! Salute to our navy's undying spirit of determination, valor and sacrifice! Happy Indian Navy Day !

JAI HIND

Hey there ! We hope you enjoyed reading and learning about something new. Here's a little insight into what the Indian navy has come up for today in spite of the pandemic. If you are interested to have a 360 degree virtual tour of INS Vikramaditya, one of the flagship of Indian navy after INS Vikrant then you can go ahead and watch it here -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msPnEnCqdH8&feature=youtu.be

  Do let us know in the comment section below if you found the article to reveal any new or surprising aspect about the Indian Navy day! 

Till then

adios !