Introduction:
Sea had been and are today one of the most prime movers of world economies. Seas have provided for transport, exploration and conquer of lands far beyond one’s own territories. The oceanic influences throughout history have proved beyond doubt the influence of sea power. Even the mighty Persian Empire could not stand against the Athenian fleet to conquer the Grecian city-states. The Phoenician, Egyptian, Carthegian and Roman power largely depended upon control of the seas. For three centuries, the Vikings used the Black sea and Strait of Gibraltar to raided and pillaged and went where they willed, far into central Russia and Ukraine and Constantinople.
The first recorded sea battle occurred about 1210 BC: Suppilulima ll, king of the Hittites, defeated a fleet from Cyprus and burned their ships at sea. On the walls of Ramesses ll is a depiction of the “Battle of the Delta” where the Ancient Egyptians defeated the sea invasion of the Sea People near the shores of Nile Delta circa 1175 BC, they used a naval ambush and archers firing from sea and shores. This was a classic example unconventional use of naval power.
Scene from an Egyptian temple wall shows Ramesses' combined land and sea victory in the Battle of Delta. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naval_warfare#/media/File:Seev%C3%B6lker.jpg
Navies continued to play a major role Romans, Arabs, Chinese, and Indians used their sea capabilities to dominate the world and world trade. The famous Chola expeditions to reduce the Sri Vijaya Empire speak naval capabilities of Indian rulers. The rise f Europeans trading powers and age of discovery added immensely to the development of ships and fighting techniques.
Post industrial revolution saw emergence of ironclad battle ships of various types and, the aircraft carriers with sizes, range speed, and greater firepower. The developments in weapon technology saw the end to frontal naval battles and the navies had more of power projection and constabulary roles.
Origins of Operation Trident and Python:
Post 1947 the military assets were divided between India and Pakistan, Indian Navy remained a small force, that needed to be augmented with new hardware and support systems, which for reasons better left undiscussed at this, remained a relatively a small fore as compared to the needs and size and changing geo-political situations in this part of the world
Since inception of India and Pakistan the relations between these two nations in remained strained. Pakistan has used every opportunity or created one and continues to do so to act against India. India did restrain itself by following “no first strike policy” to a fair extent, but was pushed into skirmishes and battles on multiple occasions. 1965, 1971, 1992 etc, not mentioning the continued proxy war based on the concept of “Bleed the enemy with a thousand wounds”.
One of the most important conflicts between India and Pakistan was the war of 1971, which eventually culminated in liberation of East Pakistan and restructuring of Asian map with Bangladesh emerging as a new nation.
It was during this conflict the Indian Navy executed two daring naval operations viz Operation Trident and Operation Python, on Karachi the port town of Pakistan which were supported by Indian Air Force. The strategic objective was to cripple the Pakistan war machine supply lines coming from its port of Karachi. These operations saw the use of naval assets an in an unimaginable and unprecedented way in the history of naval warfare. It is therefore pertinent to understand these operations and the lessons on how a small put well planned strategy and tactics can cripple the enemy to an extent that it forced to submerse into surrender. The date 4th December 1971 during the 1971 Indo-Pak conflict is deeply etched in the annals of Indian Military History, and particularly in its Naval History.
1965 Conflict:On 9th April 1965, Pakistan intruded in the Kutch sector and gained control of Sardar Chowki near Kanjarkot. In the same year Pakistan also initiated two operations to capture Jammu and Kashmir, Grand Slam and Gibraltar. Operation Grand Slam (Attack Akhnoor Bridge) which was life line of Indian Infantry but also an important logistical point for Indian forces. Operation Gibraltar aimed to infiltrate Kashmir Valley and start a rebellion to support Pakistan. To divert attention from the main objectives Pakistan Military Headquarters launched Operation Dwarka, on 7th September 1965. The primary objective of the operation was to destroy (Non-existent) ground radar station ( HuffDuff beacon to guide Indian bombers) in Dwarka on the Gujarat Coast. This attack involved 7 ships of Pakistan navy. The attack commenced at 23:55 hrs. The attack was a dud as most shells fell between the temple and the railway station, which lay 3 km from the Lighthouse.
Some buildings were hit, with only the Railway Guest House suffering some minor damages and a cement factory of Associated Cement Company was also hit.
Damage assessment search revealed that major part of the ordinance used in the attack belonged to the pre- 1947 era with mark of INDIAN ORDINANCE, remained unexploded as they landed in soft soil. Total Loss was of one steam engine, one guesthouse and a Cow
Though the attack was a miserable endeavour by Pakistan, Indian Navy failure to react was a thorn that the navy could never forget.
Indo-Pak Conflict 1971: By 1971 the situation in the East Pakistan had gotten worst with large scale genocide and atrocities. The net effect was large scale migration of people towards India, exerting excessive drain on Indian Economy and treasury. Relation between India and Pakistan once again were strained as Pakistan using the pretext that India is helping the Bangla speaking people of East Pakistan, this led to war-like situation.
The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) Sam Manek Shaw (Field Marshal Sam Hormusji Framji Jamshedji Manekshaw) and Admiral Nanda S. M Nanda (Sardarilal Mathradas) met to decide on policy. It was decided to be offensive than defensive. Preparations began as per the decision. Role of Indian Navy: Indian Navy was entrusted with two responsibilities;
1) Blockading East Pakistan harbours: Thus blocking reinforcements and escape.
2) Attack Karachi Harbour in West Pakistan: Three primary reasons for the decision a) Karachi was life line of Pakistan trade and economy. B) Oil and Ammunition Dumps 3) Headquarters of Pakistan Navy.
Preparations by Indian Navy: The Eastern Command based on the decision of Offensive Strategy the Navy began its preparations. Navy was divided into Eastern and Western Fleets.
INS Vikrant was dispatched in the Bay of Bengal for the Naval Blockade, which was done successfully by end of 1971. This completely isolated East-Pakistan's trapping the Eastern Pakistan Navy and eight foreign merchant ships in their ports.
4 th December 1971: Areal Attacks from aircraft launched from Vikrant on Chittagon or Chitgaon and, Cox Bazar in East Pakistan. Meanwhile Pakistan had dispatched its submarine PNS Gazi to seek and Destroy INS Vikrant.But could not locate Vikrant and hence reached Vishakhapatanam, the Headquarters of Eastern Naval Command to lay mines. INS Rajput was sent to hunt PNS Gazi. Rajput detected Gazi and commenced attack with Depth Charges and 3rd December 1971 was sunk with all its 92 sailors.
Payback Time: The Navy was looking for Payback for the 1965 attacks on Dwarka. The offensive role was a welcome gesture. As an offensive it was decided to attack the lifeline of Pakistan, the port of Karachi and the two operations, Trident and Python were conceived. The strategy was to use the newly acquired Russian built OSA Class Missile Boats to launch missile attack on Karachi.
Preparations: A strike group was formed and named as Karachi Strike Group. The boat belonged to the K25 Killer Squadron of the Navy. The strike group comprised of three Vidyut Class missileboats;
INS Nipat, INS Nirghat and INS Veer, Commanded by Commander Babru bhan Yadav embarked on INS Nipat. The 3 Boats were deployed at Okha in Gujarat.
The OSA class Missile Boats were small in size but had great speed which limited its range. It also had limitations with reference to it radar range and anti-aircraft capabilities. Every Missile boat carried 4 SS-N-2B Styx (surface-tosurface missiles) which had a range of 40 kms
To overcome the difficulties of range and radar, 3 anti-submarine, Arnala Class Corvettes, INS Kadmat, and Katchal were to be deployed provide air and Submarine protection cover to the Squadron. The Corvettes had better radar and anti aircraft defence systems, thus helping to trace the enemy. Special fuel depots were created at Okha and Diu and INS Poshak was to be stationed half way to Karachi for refuelling the boats before and after the attack.
AFB near Karachi.With the preparations in place, the day had arrived.
Operation Trident Begins:: The Distance between Okha and Karachi is about 500 Kms. To overcome the limitation of the range of missile boats it was decided that the corvettes will tow the missile boats. The squadron was to maintain complete radio silence till they reach close to Karachi. The Strike Group set sail. On 4th December, the strike group reached 250 nautical miles (460 km; 290 mi) (nmi) south off the coast of Karachi, and maintained its position during the day, outside the surveillance range of the Pakistan Air Force (PAF).
The Pakistan Air Force had two airbases, Masroor (Karachi) and Badin, from where they could have launched air attacks against the missile boats. The two bases were attacked on 4th December destroying the Badin radar station. The attack was planned for the night to take full advantage of lack of night bombing capabilities of PAF.
Indian task group moved in a arrow head formation with INS Nipat leading the way and INS Nirghat five miles to its port (left) and INS Veer on starboard (right) and reached 180 nmi (330 km; 210 mi) from its position towards the south of Karachi. Another advantage for the Indian squadron was the fluency of its crew in Russian. This would prove to be very useful while communicating
By 20.00 hrs the squadron inched up to Karachi at a speed of 24 knots (approximately 44.5 kmph). Dusk had fallen. The squadron had a stroke of misfortune as well as good luck. The misfortune had to do with the fact that it was a full moon night, making it frighteningly easy for the squadron to be spotted as six white stripes on the pristine blue Arabian sea by a Pakistani aircraft (as a matter of fact a Pakistani patrol aircraft did indeed notice ‘unidentified ships traveling north-west’)
Source: https://www.scoopwhoop.com/In-1971-The-Indian-Navy-Attemped-One-Of-The-Worlds-Most-Daring-WarStrategies-On-Karachi/#.de7383cba
Now it was 21.45 hrs the distance to Karachi was now 80 km. The squadron had a stroke of good luck. Being wartime the Pakistan Navy had ordered that all non-navy ships to stay out of the Karachi harbour at a range of minimum 112 km between dusk and dawn. This was advantage as any beacon identified on the radars of the killer squadron could be safely predicted to be a Pakistani warship.
Final checks on equipment in all vessels were performed. The radars were constantly being monitored on all ships (INS Poshak stayed behind in Mangrol and INS Vidyut stayed outside Karachi harbour to act as a mobile refueling depot and armed backup respectively).
Operation Trident Commenced: At 22. 00 hrs, the radar in INS Nipat started beeping, showing two enemy targets. The first was 45 miles northwest, and the second 42 miles north-east. Operation Trident had reached its most crucial leg. First target on the radar, now around 27 km away, had started moving towards the missile boat. It was the Pakistani destroyer PNS Khaibar, weighing 3,290 tonnes when fully loaded. INS Nirghat and INS Kiltan were instructed to deal with the oncoming threat. INS Nirghat locked on to the target and launching its first Styx missile. The missile took off towards PNS Khaibar, which mistook the missile for an aircraft and started firing its Bofors anti-aircraft guns. The missile struck Khaibar on the starboard side below water level. The ship instantly lost propulsion, plunged into darkness and huge flames shot up due to an explosion in the boiler room. Khaibar started slumping towards the side of the explosion and sent an SOS to naval headquarters: ‘Enemy aircraft attacked in position 020 FF 20. No 1 Boiler hit. Ship stopped.” Now it was INS Nipat, which launched its first missile again to strike the Khaiber on its starboard side and gave the deathblow. The ship exploded, sending shockwaves across Karachi city. The sky was lit up in flames as ammunition on the ship exploded.
The SOS from Khaiber was responded by PNS Muhafiz, a mine sweeper. This ships was immediately fired upon by INS Veer with a deadly blow, the minesweeper exploded and sank. INS Nipat now engaged two contacts, MV (Merchant Vessel) Venus Challenger and Destroyer PNS Shah Jahan. MV Venus Challenger was completely dark, as it was a a supply ship present inside the harbour. The ship was carrying US-supplied ammunition from Saigon for the Pakistani army and air force. PNS Shah Jahan was a warship almost the same size as PNS Khaibar, weighing 2,520 tonnes fully loaded. The second missile from INS Nipat struck MV Venus Challenger, blew up the ammunition and the ship sank in less than eight minutes.
INS Nipat launched its third missile which struck PNS Shah Jahan, crippling it beyond repairs to be folled by a strike from the missile from after INS Nirghat. The ship was rendered useless for the rest of the battle. The two missiles fired by INS Veer found their targets, PNS Tipu Sultan and PNS Tughril, sinking both of them.
INS Nipat continued towards Karachi harbour and from a distance of 15 kms launched its two remaining missiles to strike the oil depot and refinery in the harbour. The fire had raged for next three days. The repeated request for air support from PAF did not receive response as the Masroor Base (Karachi) itself was under attack by IAF.
This attack made the Port of Karachi almost defunct and a blow to the Pakistan war-machine and economy. The damages, estimated, were to tune of $3 billion, destruction of most of oil reserves, air bases hit.
The strike force by now was on its way back to rendezvous with INS Poshak for refueling for their onward journey home.
Operation Python: Immediately after the ‘Operation Trident’ Indian naval activity increased as a decoy for yet another eminent attack. Pakistan had increased its aerial surveillance. Pakistani warships attempted to outsmart the Indian Navy by mingling with merchant shipping. To counter these moves, Operation Python was launched on the night on 8/9 December 1971. A strike group consisting of one missile boat, INS Vinash, and two frigates INS Talwar and INS Trishul attacked the group of ships off the coast of Karachi.
About 22 kms from Karachi the group detected a batch of ships. INS Vinash immediately went into action and fired four of its missiles, the first of which struck the fuel tanks at the Kemari Oil Farm causing a heavy explosion. Another missile hit and sank the Panamanian fuel tanker SS Gulf Star. The third and fourth missiles hit the Pakistani Navy fleet tanker PNS Dacca and the British merchant vessel SS Harmattan. Dacca was damaged beyond repair, while Harmattan sank.
The two operations Trident and Python, and the Indian Air Force attacks on Karachi's fuel and ammunition depots, destroyed more than 50% of the total fuel requirement of the Karachi zone.
The after effect of these attacks, Pakistani High Command ordered ships to reduce their ammunition dumps so as to reduce the explosion damage, if hit. The ships were also ordered not to manoeuvre out at sea, especially during the night, unless ordered to do so. These two measures severely demoralized Pakistani naval crews. The attacks made the neutral merchant vessels seek safe passage from Indian authorities before heading to Karachi. Gradually, neutral ships ceased sailing for Karachi. In effect, a de facto naval blockade was created by the Indian Navy.
Conclusion: A decisive and imaginative military leadership and taking a call on offensive than defensive had paid off. Coordinated efforts by the Indian Navy and Indian Air Force made a rather decisive attack which crippled the Pakistan war-machine. With a well laid strategy with unconventional naval battle tactics, a small determined force with genius to overcome the limitations had etched a history in the annals of naval warfare never imagined and executed before.
Awards and Decorations: Operation Trident and Operation Python
References
1) Commander Neil Gadihoke. "40 Years Since Operation Trident". Indian Defence Review. Retrieved 20 November2016.
2) Hiranandani G.M Transition to Triumph: History of the Indian Navy, 1965–1975, Lancer Publishers LLC, ISBN 978-1-897829-72-1
3) http://www.indiandefencereview.com/interviews/1971-war-the-first-missile-attack-on-karachi/
4) http://www.sundayguardianlive.com/culture/7497-mission-impossible-revisiting-glorious-victoryoperation-trident
5) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Python
6) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Trident_(1971)
7) https://swarajyamag.com/politics/operation-trident-a-historic-naval-victory
8) https://www.scoopwhoop.com/In-1971-The-Indian-Navy-Attemped-One-Of-The-Worlds-MostDaring-War-Strategies-On-Karachi/#.663s96rz7
