Indo-Pakistani Naval War of 1971
Indo-Pakistani Naval War of 1971 | |||||||||
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Part of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 | |||||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
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Units involved | |||||||||
Strength | |||||||||
1 US 7th Fleet |
1 light aircraft carrier 2 light cruisers 3 destroyers 14 frigates 5 ASW frigates 6 missile boats 2 tankers 1 repair ship 2 landing ships 2 groups of Soviet cruisers and destroyers 1 Soviet submarine[4] 1 Soviet nuclear submarine[5][6] | ||||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||||
1,900 killed in action †
18 small vessels captured[10]
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194 killed in action |
The Indo-Pakistani Naval War of 1971 refers to the maritime military engagements between the
With the success of Indian naval operations in East Pakistan, the Indian Navy subsequently commenced two large-scale operations:
Background
The Indian Navy did not play a major role during the
The
The Pakistan Naval Forces had inadequate ships to challenge the Indian Navy on both fronts, and the
During the conflict, East Pakistan's naval ports were left defenceless as the Eastern Command of Pakistan had decided to fight the war without the navy. Faced with overwhelming opposition, the navy planned to remain in the ports when war broke out.[17]
In the eastern wing, the Pakistan Navy heavily depended on her gun boat squadron.[18] The Pakistan's Eastern Naval Command was in direct command of Flag Officer Commanding (FOC) Rear-Admiral Mohammad Shariff who also served as the right-hand of Lieutenant-General Niazi. The Pakistan Navy had 4 gun boats (PNS Jessore, Rajshahi, Comilla, and Sylhet). The boats were capable of attaining maximum speed of 20 knots (37 km/h), were crewed by 29 sailors. Known as Pakistan Navy's brown water navy, the gun boats were equipped with various weapons, including heavy machine guns. The boats were adequate for patrolling and anti-insurgency operations but they were hopelessly out of place in conventional warfare.[19]
In the early part of April, the Pakistan Navy began naval operations around East Pakistan to support the Army's execution of Operation Searchlight. Rear-Admiral Mohammad Shariff had coordinated all of these missions. On 26 April, the Pakistan Navy successfully completed Operation Barisal, but it resulted in the temporary occupation of city of Barisal.[citation needed]
Bloody urban guerrilla warfare ensued and Operation Jackpot severely damaged the operational capability of Pakistan Navy. Before the start of the hostilities, all naval gun boats were stationed at the Chittagong.[20] As the air operations began, the IAF aircraft damaged the Rajshahi, while the Comilla was sunk on 4 December. On 5 December, the IAF sank two patrol boats in Khulna. The PNS Sylhet was destroyed on 6 December and the Balaghat on 9 December by Indian aircraft. On 11 December, the PNS Jessore was destroyed, while Rajshahi was repaired. The Rajashahi under the command of Lieutenant-Commander Sikandar Hayat managed to evade the Indian blockade and reach Malaysia before the surrender on 16 December.
The Indian Navy started covert naval operations, which were part of a larger operation named Operation Sea Sight which were executed successfully. In the end months of 1971, the Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command had effectively applied a
In the Eastern wing of Pakistan, the Pakistan Navy had never maintained a squadron of warships, despite the calls made by Rear-Admiral Mohammad Shariff.[citation needed] Instead, a brown water navy was formed consisting a gun boats riverine craft on a permanent basis. Consequently, in eastern wing, repair and logistic facilities were not developed at Chittagong. The Indian Navy's Eastern Naval Command virtually faced no opposition from Eastern theatre. The aircraft carrier INS Vikrant, along with her escort LST ships INS Guldar, INS Gharial, INS Magar, and the submarine INS Khanderi, executed their operations independently.
On 4 December 1971, the aircraft carrier
The INS Rajput's sonar radar reported the disturbance underwater and two depth charges were released.[23] The deadly game ended when the submarine sank mysteriously while laying a mine with all 92 hands on board around midnight on 3 December 1971 off the Visakhapatnam coast.[24][25]
The
On 5/6 December 1971, naval air operations were carried out Chittagong, Khulna, and Mangla harbours, and at ships in the Pussur river. The oil installations were destroyed at Chittagong, and the Greek merchant ship Thetic Charlie was sunk at the outer anchorage.[citation needed] On 7/8 December, the airfields of PAF were destroyed, and the campaign continued until 9 December. On 12 December, Pakistan Navy laid mines on amphibious landing approaches to Chittagong. This proved a useful trap for some time, and it had denied any direct access to Chittagong port for a long time, even after the instrument of surrender had been signed. The Indian Navy therefore decided to carry out an amphibious landing at Cox's Bazar with the aim cutting off the line of retreat for Pakistan Army troops. On 12 December, additional amphibious battalion was aboard on INS Vishwa Vijaya was sailed from Calcutta port. On the night of 15/16 December, the amphibious landing was carried out, immediately after IAF bombardment of the beach a day earlier. After fighting for days, the human cost was very high for Pakistani forces, and no opposition or resistance was offered by Pakistani forces to Indian forces. During this episode Eastern theatre Indian forces suffered only 2 deaths in the operation. Meanwhile, Pakistani forces were reported to have suffered hundreds of deaths. By the dawn of 17 December, the Indian Navy was free to operate at will in the Bay of Bengal.[citation needed]
Furthermore, the successful Indian Air Operations and Operation Jackpot, led by the Bengali units with the support of Indian Army, undermined the operational capability of Pakistan Navy. Many naval officers (mostly Bengalis) had defected from the Navy and fought against the Pakistan Navy.[27] By the time Pakistan Defence Forces surrendered, the Navy had suffered heavy damage as almost all of the gun boats, destroyer (PNS Sylhet), and the long-range submarine, PNS Ghazi, were lost in the conflict, including their officers.
On 16 December, at 16:13hrs, Rear-Admiral
At the end of conflict.... We [Navy] had no intelligence and hence, were both deaf and blind with the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force pounding us day and night....
Sinking of INS Khukri
As the Indian military offensive in East Pakistan increased, the Pakistan Navy had dispatched her entire submarine squadron on both fronts. Codename Operation Falcon, the Pakistan Navy began their reconnaissance submarine operations by deploying
According to the Lieutenant R. Qadri, an electrical engineer officer at Hangor during the time, the assigned mission was considered quite difficult and highly dangerous, with the submarine squadron sailing under the assumption that the dangerous nature of this mission meant a great mortal risk to the submarine and her crew.[citation needed]
On the midnight of 21 November 1971, PNS Hangor, under the command of Commander
On 2 and 3 December, Hangor had detected a large formation of ships from Indian Navy's Western fleet which included cruiser
On 9 December 1971, at 1957 hours, Hangor sunk Khukri with two homing torpedoes. According to her commander, the frigate sank within the matter of two minutes.[30] The frigate sank with 192 hands on board. Hangor also attacked the INS Kirpan on two separate occasions, but the torpedoes had missed their target. Kirpan quickly disengaged and successfully evaded the fired torpedoes.
Attack on Karachi
On 4 December, the Indian Navy, equipped with
The Indian Navy's
Pakistan's Airforce retaliated by bombing
On 6 December, a false alarm by a Pakistani Fokker aircraft carrying naval observers caused a friendly fire confrontation between Pakistan's Navy and Air Force. A PAF jet mistakenly strafed the frigate PNS Zulfikar, breaking off shortly after the ship got itself recognised by frantic efforts. The crew suffered some casualties besides the damage to ship. The ship was taken back to port for repair.[42]
The Indian Navy launched a second large-scale operation on the midnight of 8 and 9 December 1971. The operation, codenamed
Ending
After the successful operations by Indian Navy, India controlled the Persian Gulf and Pakistani oil route.[47] The Pakistani Navy's main ships were either destroyed or forced to remain in port. A partial naval blockade was imposed by the Indian Navy on the port of Karachi and no merchant ship could approach Karachi.[45][48][49] Shipping traffic to and from Karachi, Pakistan's only major port at that time, ceased. Within a few days after the attacks on Karachi, the Eastern fleet of Indian Navy had success over the Pakistani forces in East Pakistan. By the end of the war, the Indian Navy controlled the seas around both the wings of Pakistan.[46]
The War ended for both the fronts after the
The Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Navy's
The damage inflicted on the Pakistani Navy stood at 7
Admiral Shariff wrote in a 2010 thesis that "the generals in Air Force and Army, were blaming each other for their failure whilst each of them projected them as hero of the war who fought well and inflicted heavy casualties on the advancing Indians".[54] At the end, each general officers in the Air Force and Army placed General Niazi's incompetency and failure as responsible for causing the war, Sharif concluded.[54] Sharif also noted that:
The initial military success (Searchlight and Barisal) in regaining the law and order situation in East-Pakistan in March of 1971 was misunderstood as a complete success.... In actuality, the law and order situation deteriorated with time, particularly after September of the same year when the population turned increasingly against the [Pakistan] Armed Forces as well as the [Yahya's military] government. The rapid increase in the number of troops though bloated the overall strength, however, [it] did not add to our fighting strength to the extent that was required. A sizeable proportion of the new additions were too old, inexperienced or unwilling....
— Rear Admiral Mohammad Sharif, Flag Officer Commanding, Eastern Naval Command (Pakistan), [54]
See also
- PNS Muhafiz
- INS Khukri
- Indo-Pakistani War of 1971
- Timeline of the Bangladesh Liberation War
- Military plans of the Bangladesh Liberation War
- Mitro Bahini order of battle
- Pakistan Army order of battle, December 1971
- Evolution of Pakistan Eastern Command plan
- 1971 Bangladesh genocide
- Operation Searchlight
- Indo-Pakistani wars and conflicts
- Military history of India
- List of military disasters
- List of wars involving India
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