Operation Dwarka

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
This article is about the Pakistan Navy's 1965 Operation Somnath. For
Ghaznavid attack on Somnath in 1026, see Sack of Somnath
.

Operation Dwarka
Part of the
Indo-Pakistani War of 1965
Date7–8 September 1965
Location
Dwarka, Jamnagar district, Gujarat, India
22°14′N 68°58′E / 22.23°N 68.97°E / 22.23; 68.97
Result

See Aftermath

  • Damage to Dwarka Town
  • Indian Air Force was distracted
Belligerents
 Pakistan  India
Commanders and leaders
Commodore S. M. Anwar
B. A. Samson
Units involved

Pakistan Navy

 Indian Navy
Strength
1 light cruiser
(
PNS Tippu Sultan)
1 submarine
(PNS Ghazi
)		 unknown
(Ships did not leave port)
Casualties and losses
None None
class=notpageimage|
Location within India

Operation Dwarka, codenamed as Operation Somnath, was a naval operation by the

Indo-Pakistan Wars.[a]

As the

Huff-Duff beacon to guide Indian bombers.[2] Pakistani high command also hoped to divert the operations of the Indian Air Force
away from the north.

Objectives

The mission objectives of the Pakistan Navy were:[3]

Many Pakistani sources describe the operation as at least partially successful, while many Indian ones dispute this.[4]

Operation

On the night of 7 September, the

PNS Tippu Sultan set sail for Dwarka and bombarded the town. The bombardment continued past midnight.[5]

The Indian warships harbored in Bombay were under refit and were unable to sortie, nor did Ghazi encounter active combatants on the West coast.[6] According to Pakistani sources, the objective of diverting the Indian Air Force from attacking Pakistan's southern front worked as air raids on the city of Karachi ceased. This was presumed to be due also to the lack of availability of the radar guidance, which Pakistan claimed was damaged in the attack.[5]

The

PNS Babur. The report adds that most shells fell between the temple and the railway station, which lay 3 km (1.9 mi) from the lighthouse. Some buildings were hit, with the Railway Guest House suffering significant damage along with a cement factory. Smoke from the damage was visible to the Pakistani warships, approximately 20 km (12 mi) away.[7]

The radar installation was shelled during the bombardment but neither was the radar damaged nor were there any casualties according to Indian sources.

INS Talwar was in nearby Okha Port undergoing repairs and did not intervene.[4] Hiranandani's history of the Indian Navy states that:[4]

Next morning she (INS Talwar) was directed to send a team to Dwarka to assess the damage. The team found that most of the shells had fallen on the soft soil between the temple and the radio station and failed to explode. The air attack damaged a railway engine and destroyed a portion of a railway guesthouse.

A total of 40 unexploded shells were also recovered intact.[7] The shells bore the mark "INDIAN ORDNANCE"; these were dated from the 1940s before the Partition of India into India and Pakistan.[7]

Radio Pakistan, however, transmitted that Dwarka was badly damaged.[7]

Naval command

The following is the list of commanding officers of the operation:[citation needed]

  • Officer Commanding
    of Operation Dwarka and the Commander of the Pakistan Fleet (COMPAK)
  • Captain MAK Lodhi – Commanding Officer of PNS Babur, the light cruiser.
  • Captain A Hanif – Commanding Officer of PNS Khaibar, the destroyer.
  • Commander IH Malik – Commanding Officer of PNS Badr, the frigate.
  • Commander KM Hussain – Commanding Officer of PNS Jahangir, the destroyer.
  • Commander Iqbal F. Quadir – Commanding Officer of PNS Alamgir, the destroyer.
  • Commander SZ Shamsie – Commanding Officer of PNS Shah Jahan, the destroyer.
  • Commander Amir Aslam – Commanding Officer of PNS Tippu Sultan, the destroyer.
  • Commander Karamat Rahman Niazi – Commanding Officer of PNS Ghazi, the submarine.
  • Commander Muhammad Ismail – Commander Signals, PNS Tippu Sultan, the destroyer.

Aftermath

For some, Operation Dwarka was a significant naval operation of the 1965 war,

Kachchh and Bombay coasts spotting aircraft positions when snorkeling.[20]

The Dwarka raid is considered by Pakistani sources as being a prime reason for the Indian Navy's subsequent post-war modernization and expansion, with an increase in budget from

Operation Trident in the 1971 war.[21] However, he attributes the expansion of the Indian Navy in the period 1965 to 1975 to the post-1962 planned expansion of the Indian Navy with many ships being negotiated and purchased from the Soviet Union prior to the war.[22]

Popular culture

In 1998,

Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) financed and produced the historical dramatization film of the operation named, Operation Dwarka, 1965, which was based on this incident. The film was directed by Pakistani film director Qasim Jalali and it was written by Hameed Kashmiri.[23]

See also

Notes

  1. the first Indo-Pakistani war was restricted to land and aerial combat missions.[1]

References

  1. ISBN 9780393318982
    .
  2. ISBN 978-81-7304-641-4
    .
  3. ^ a b Unspecified. "History". Pakistan Navy. Retrieved 10 November 2011.
  4. ^ a b c d e Hiranandani (2000), pp 34–35.
  5. ^ a b "Operation Dwarka 1965: A golden chapter in naval history". The News International. 6 September 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2024.
  6. ^ Hiranandani (2000), pp 34–35. "FOCIF sailed with his flagship, INS Mysore, and three escorts out of Bombay Harbour and remained on station without encountering any Pakistani naval vessels till 8 September when the Talwar, returning from Okha, joined her."
  7. ^ a b c d Madan, Ramesh (Ex-Sgt, IAF). "The Shelling of Dwarka". Bharat Rakshak. Bharat-Rakshak.com. Retrieved 6 September 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. ^ Kavic, Lorne J. (1967). India's quest for security: defence policies, 1947–1965. University of California Press. p. 190. Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  9. ISSN 0158-3751
    .
  10. ISBN 978-81-317-1025-8
    . Retrieved 8 November 2011.
  11. ISBN 978-0-7656-1419-3
    .
  12. ^
    ISBN 978-81-269-0762-5
    . The authors were the Defence Minister of India and his Private Secretary from 1962-65 (see pg xiii).
  13. ^ Hiranandani (2000), pg 52.
  14. ^ a b c Sardar FS Lodi, An Agosta Submarine for Pakistan
  15. ISBN 978-1-897829-11-0
    . 'But the Bombayites failed to understand the lack of success by the Indian fleet, especially with sirens wailing, Jamnagar attacked and Dwarka shelled. But nonetheless, the naval bombardment of Dwarka with the Indian fleet still preparing to sail was an affront to the sailors in white, who could not understand what was holding the fleet back.'
  16. ^ Qadir, Iqbal, Vice Admiral (retd) (1998). "Pakistan and its three wars". defencejournal.com. Retrieved 10 November 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Hiranandani, Vice Adm Gulab, IN (Retd) (Spring 2002). "The Indian End of the Telescope – India and Its Navy". Naval War College Review. LV (2). Archived from the original on 16 September 2006. Retrieved 8 November 2011.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  18. ^ Hiranandani (2000), pg 34. "Talwar encountering contamination of her boilers due to leakage of her condensors put in at Okha for temporary repairs."
  19. ^ Roy (1995), pp 84–85. 'As Vice Admiral N. Krishnan is supposed to have said. "One of our frigates Talwar was at Okha. It is unfortunate that she could not sail forth and seek battle. Even if there was a mandate against the Navy participating in the war, no Government could blame a warship going into action, if attacked. An affront to our national honour is no joke and we cannot laugh it away by saying 'All the Pakistani's did was to kill a cow'. Let us at least create a memorial to the 'unknown cow' who died with her boots on in a battle against the Pakistan Navy."'
  20. ^ Roy (1995), pp 83–85.
  21. ^ Hiranandani (2000), pg 326.
  22. ^ Hiranandani (2000), pp 8–11.
  23. ^ "Operation Dwarka 1965". Pakistan Television Corporation (PTV). Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2020 – via YouTube.

Bibliography

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Operation_Dwarka&oldid=1218407637"