How PNS Ghazi was Sunk by Indian Navy in 1971

PNS Ghazi (previously USS Diablo (SS-479); was a Tench-class diesel-electric and the first fast-attack submarine of the Pakistan Navy, leased from the United States in 1963. Since it was the only submarine of the Pakistan Navy and had the range and capability to undertake operations in the distant waters controlled by the enemy, Ghazi was pressed into operation to destroy or damage INS Vikrant, India's flagship aircraft carrier during the 1971 Indo-Pak war.

PNS Ghazi - USS Diablo

Sinking of PNS Ghazi is one of the most mysterious things about 1971 war. The Indian and and Pakistan quote different reasons for sinking of PNS Ghazi. India says that INS Rajput was the one responsible for hitting PNS Ghazi on that fateful day and Ghazi was sunk by a clever plan by Indian Navy. The Pakistani Navy thought the INS Vikrant is near Visakhapatnam but it was out near Andaman when INS Rajput was at Visakhapatnam. PNS Ghazi came in search of INS Vikrant but was baffled by INS Rajput and torpedoes hit the Ghazi and it sunk.

Secret Mission

On 14 November 1971, PNS Ghazi quietly sailed 3,000 miles around the Indian peninsula from the Arabian Sea to the Bay of Bengal under the command of Zafar Muhammad who was commanding a submarine for the first time, with 10 officers and 82 sailors. Ghazi was on a two-fold mission: the primary goal was to locate and sink Vikrant and secondary was to mine India's eastern seaboard which was to be fulfilled irrespective of the accomplishment of the first.

INS Vikrant - Aircraft Carrier

On 16 November, she was in contact with Pakistan Navy HQ and she was 250 miles off Bombay. On 19 November, she was off to Sri Lanka and entered in Bay of Bengal on 20 November 1971 to hunt for INS Vikrant.

Intelligence Intercepted

According to Rear-Admiral Mihir K. Roy, of Indian Navy Intelligence, Ghazi's existence was revealed when a signal addressed to naval authorities in Chittagong (East Pakistan) was intercepted by Indian Navy, requesting information on a lubrication oil only used by submarines and minesweepers.

Indian Navy intelligence tracked Ghazi with submarine INS Kali Devi in the Bay of Bengal. Indian Navy's  Eastern Naval Command was confident that Pakistan had deployed Ghazi in the Bay of Bengal and a part of its plan was an attempt to sink the flagship Indian aircraft carrier INS Vikrant.

The Crew - INS Rajput

Decoy Mission

Vice Admiral Krishnan directed INS Vikrant to leave Visakhpattanam harbour with all navigational aids switched off.The destroyer INS Rajput, commanded by Captain Inder Singh, was selected as the decoy ship. INS Rajput, an ageing WWII destroyer had actually been recently sent to Vishakapatnam for decommissioning. As a part of the mission, the ship was to pretend to be INS Vikrant, sail out of the Vizag harbour and generate heavy wireless traffic – leading the PNS Ghazi to believe that it had received the right intel from INS Vikrant.

INS Rajput

As planned, the bait was snapped up the PNS Ghazi. In a signal, later recovered from the sunken Ghazi, Pakistan Navy HQ in Karachi had sent a signal to the Ghazi that “intelligence indicates carrier in port. Occupy Victor Zone (a code name for Vizag) with all dispatch”.

Failed Mission

Reaching Vizag on November 27, 1971, PNS Ghazi prowled perilously close to the Indian coast, searching for its elusive target - INS Vikrant. Unknown to the Ghazi, INS Vikrant and her escorts had already sailed into ‘Port X-Ray’, a secret anchorage in the Andaman Island, nearly a 1000 miles away!

Crew of Ill-fated PNS Ghazi

On 26 November 1971, Ghazi was failed to communicate with its base. Pakistan Navy HQ repeatedly made frantic efforts to establish the communication and anxiety grew as days passed for her return to the base. Unable to find its target, the commanding officer on PNS Ghazi instructed its crew to set uo elabborate minefield on the outer perephery of Vishakhapattnam port.

Explosion at Seabed

On the night of December 3-4, 1971, an explosion tore through the PNS Ghazi, blowing open its bow, crumpling the hull and cracking open the water-tight compartments. Seawater rushed in, drowning the crew as the submarine crashed to the seabed.

On the same day, the Indian navy’s Soviet-built submarine rescue ship INS Nistar arrived at site of Ghazi’s sinking with a specialist underwater salvage team. On exploring the sunken submarine, the team reported that the entire forward part of the submarine had been destroyed and blown outwards on the starboard side.

Wreckage of PNS Ghazi

Four bodies had to be removed to access the submarine’s interior, and as per the worldwide naval custom, they were reburied at sea with military honors. Among the objects recovered from the interiors were a chart detailing the voyage from Karachi, the captain’s stationary pad, the ship’s log, radio messages, a Pakistani flag, and the characteristic American “flying bridge” curved windshield.

Indian Navy Version of Events

At 00:14 on 4 December 1971, INS Rajput’s sonar room reported what sounded like a submarine changing depth, about half mile ahead. Captain Inder Singh ordered a sharp turn and immediately fired two depth charges from the the ship’s Mk.IV DCTs. Less than a minute later, at 00:15, a massive underwater explosion shook the destroyer. The crewmen of INS Rajput were unsure what had happened; some sailors briefly thought their destroyer had been torpedoed due to the force of the explosion. Lookouts on INS Rajput saw what was possibly an oil slick in the area. Singh felt certain he had sunk a Pakistani submarine and relayed this to Vice Admiral Krishnan at Vizag. Several minutes later, Vice Admiral Krishnan was informed that a beach patrolman in Vizag had also heard a huge explosion at 00:15.

Indian Navy Officers

INS Rajput then departed the area and proceed to join up with the INS Vikrant battle group. After sunrise, local fishermen saw an oil slick and some floating debris in the area. Included in the debris was an unused submariner life vest labelled “USS DIABLO”.

Vice Admiral Nilkanta Krishnan

In his book, Vice Admiral Krishnan wrote, 'The Rajput sailed before midnight of 3/4 December and, on clearing harbour, proceeded along the narrow channel.'

Vice Admiral Krishnan at Pakistan Surrender Ceremony

'Having got clear, the commanding officer saw what he thought was a severe disturbance in the water, about half a mile ahead. He rightly assumed that this might be a submarine diving. He closed the spot at speed and dropped at the position two charges.

It has been subsequently established that the position where the charges were dropped was so close to the position of the wreck of the Ghazi that some damage to the latter is a very high probability. The Rajput, on completion of her mission, proceeded on her course in order to carry out her main mission.

A little later, a very loud explosion was heard by the coast battery who reported the same to the maritime operations room. The time of this explosion was 0015 hours. The clock recovered from the Ghazi showed that it had stopped functioning at the same time. 'Several thousand people waiting to hear the prime minister's broadcast to the nation also heard the explosion and many came out thinking that it was an earthquake.'

As per our arrangement with them, some fishermen reported oil patches and some flotsam. The command diving team were rushed to the spot and commenced detailed investigations. The divers established that there was a definite submerged object some distance out seawards, at a depth of 150 feet of water and that it was a probable submarine.

Even though there were a number of floating objects picked up, there was nothing to indicate the identity of the submarine. Everything had American markings. I told the Chief of the Naval Staff that personally I was convinced that we had bagged the Ghazi. By Sunday, December 5, we were able to establish from the silhouette and other characteristics that the submarine was in fact the Ghazi.'

But there was no means of ingress into the submarine as all entry hatches from the conning tower aft were tightly screwed down from the inside.

The Indian Navy released an official confirmation on December 9 that the Ghazi had been destroyed  on the night of 3 December.

Pakistan Navy Version

The Pakistanis intercepted Captain Singh's relay message on December 4 to Vice Admiral Krishnan stating that he had sunk a Pakistani submarine. It, however, refused to believe that the pride of its navy had been sunk.

To this day, Pakistan believes the Ghazi strayed into a minefield it had itself laid two days ago. According to the Pakistani sequence of events, the Ghazi commenced laying a small minefield east of Vizag harbour on December 2-3, 1971.

Then at daybreak on December 3, it headed out to deeper water to search for the Vikrant. Not finding it, the Ghazi returned to the Visakhapatnam harbour mouth area at sunset to resume laying the minefield.

As the lights ashore were blacked out, the Ghazi may have misjudged her position and doubled back into her own minefield around midnight; about 10 to 15 minutes before the INS Rajput's depth charging.To date, what really happened to the Ghazi remains a mystery.

The Great Mystery

Today, the submarine lies embedded in the Vizag seabed about 1.5 nautical miles from the breakwaters.

Vice Admiral G M Hiranandani (retd), in his book Transition to Triumph, summarises:

'The truth about the Ghazi, which remains on what the submarine community calls the 'eternal parole', lies somewhere between the Indian and Pakistani versions of the sinking but no one knows exactly where."

Bollywood movie Ghazi Attack protrays the indain Navy version of the events and I would highly recommend watching it.

References

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PNS_Ghazi
2. http://www.rediff.com/news/special/how-the-indian-navy-destroyed-the-ghazi/20170216.htm
3. https://www.thebetterindia.com/77138/pns-ghazi-mystery-vizag-india-pakistan-war/
4. https://tribune.com.pk/story/383024/warriors-of-the-waves/
5.