Indian Ocean region has become a contested zone between the great powers in the era of great power competition. Military patrols and the construction of deep-water ports in littoral states are a few instances of the Chinese and Indian efforts to influence the ocean. The Naval Power theory proposed by Alfred Thayer Mahan linked the power of the state with its ability to control sea. The contested zone of Asia Pacific has a great reliance on the Naval Power. India boast to have one of the most active Navy in the Indian Ocean region with a continuous presence throughout the key maritime terrain via 7 ongoing deployments, 16 submarines, and 29 major surface combatants. It also maintains various important naval stations on its island and coast holdings. Indian eyeing to maximize its strategic footprint across the region, realizing the strategic significance of the oceans it has control over almost 40% of the strategic waters of Indian Ocean.
Despite having an active navy, would India be able to maintain its self-proclaimed title as a net security provider in Indian Ocean Region with growing peacetime naval losses. Its vessels are facing series of such accidents over the years resulting in a huge loss. The recent collision between one of the Scorpene-class submarines, INS Vagir with the fishing vessel is another pearl in string of naval accidents faced by Indian navy. Despite being one of the most highly developed frigates in the Indian Navy, the submarine’s sensors were unable to identify any adjacent vessels or objects, and it did not take any evasive action. Tragically, the fishing vessel capsized instantly upon contact, resulting in death of two crewmembers. Even in 2006, INS Prahar, guided missile vessel collided with merchant vessel in its way to Mumbai and sank. As per Shipping Corporation of India’s official INS Prahar as a governing ship has to give way to the merchant vessel, its failure to do so led to massive accident. All ships required by Rule 7 of the International Regulations for Avoiding Collisions at Sea to use radar and long range scanning in order to get early warnings of the risk of collision. It is still unclear why, despite having at least two radars apiece, neither ship alerted the other of its impending approach. This incident again highlights the negligence by the naval officials exposing the fault lines in Indian navy.
According to 2017 report by Comptroller and Audit General, the Indian Navy reported 38 incidents involving ships and submarines between 2007 and 2016. According to the survey, which examined a number of naval mishaps over a nine-year span, fire, explosions, or water caused 39% of them. Thirty-three soldiers, including six officers, lost their lives because of these incidents. Moreover, sixteen percent of the mishaps involved ships making contact with the seabed, sixteen percent involved collisions, and the remaining twenty-nine percent involved a variety of mishaps such unintentional stranding, gas leaks, and equipment damage. The report criticized the safety procedures of the navy, blaming material failure and personnel mistake for numerous incidents.
As per IISS Military Balance report 2024, India has sixteen operational submarines comprising four German Shishumar-class, five Indo-French Kalvari-class, and seven Russian Sindhughosh-class vessels. Out of these submarines, Russian Sindhughosh and German Shishumar class submarines are vintage of early 80s and late 90s while two have suffered peacetime military losses. These aging fleets contribute to more accidents. The incidents so far faced by Indian navy raised question on its naval preparedness. Some of the incidents discussed below where the reason was either negligence by crewmembers or not following the standard operating procedures;
On July 21, 2024, a huge loss faced by Indian Navy when INS Brahmaputra, guided-missile frigate, caught a huge fire while it was docked for refitting purpose at Mumbai dockyard. In an attempt to control fire, the ship capsized under mysterious circumstances led to a significant damage. Many officials and analysts believe that the huge quantity of water pumped by firefighting units to extinguish fire lead to an imbalance that resulted in the ship tilt to one side. All the sailors investigated except the one who is missing. There are claims that it would take three months to upright the frigate but some are also speculating, the vessel might not be salvaged given the extent of damage. The capsizing of ship while extinguishing fire is not the one of its kind, even before many of its vessels were sank due to the excessive water thrust in to pull out the fire.
Indian Navy did not learn from experiences as it faced another same incident in 2011 when its Nilgiri-class frigate, INS Vindhyaghari hit by merchant vessel while entering harbor. A fire broke out that same evening, and it took more than 15 hours to put out. Water began to fill its compartments the next day, and it finally sank. The vessel was salvaged, but it was determined that the damage caused by the fire and flooding was too great to restore, economically it was decommissioned.
In 2016, INS Betwa another Brahmaputra-class missile-guided frigate that suffered accident while undocking. The vessel slipped from her dock blocks, resulting in the death of two sailors and 14 injured. The investigations revealed the negligence of three naval officers behind the incident who were court martialed. The global firm, Marine Resolve group was given contract to upright the vessel and it cost about 20 crore rupee to salvage the ship. This frigate had also met an accident in 2014, when it collided with an unidentified object and ran aground touching the seabed.
During a naval drill in 2015, a fishing boat struck the periscope of the Kilo-class Indian Navy submarine INS Sindhughosh. The submarine was performing an operation where divers must swim out of its torpedo tubes while participating in a navy drill in the Arabian Sea. It was at periscope depth. This incident of colliding while surfacing in waters in not the only of its kind. The same submarine collided with foreign merchant vessel MV Leeds Castle in January 2008, while attempting to surface in waters north of Mumbai.
INS Sindhuratna diesel-electric Russain made Kilo Class submarine was underwater on routine mission when the fire broke out on board on February 26, 2014. The smoke filled the accommodation chamber resulting in death of two naval officers. The investigations found out seven navy officers responsible behind the incident. Their negligence while not abiding by the Standard Operating Procedures and the captain is facing court martial for this incident.
INS Sindhurakshak is Russian based diesel-electric submarine that underwent a huge accident in 2013 while berthed at Mumbai dockyard. It exploded and sank resulting in the death of 18 sailors. The explosion took place in the forward compartment where the weapon bay was located where out of 16 warheads two were exploded. The internal inquiry of the incident revealed the Standard Operating Procedures not followed. This incident highlights negligence by Indian Navy that resulted in loss of 400 crore-rupee submarine that had recently gone through 450 crore-rupee extensive upgrade in Russia. Its wreck is now resting 3000ft under the sea.
The naval mishaps faced by Indian navy questioned its professionalism, as most of these peacetime military losses reveal sheer negligence. Despite expert recommendations and corrective steps being offered by many audit findings and recommendations, Indian navy failed to avoid such incidents from happening. The peacetime military losses raise questions on the capacity of Indian navy to stand in a battlefield and their ability to manage sophisticated technologies, such as nuclear submarines, without jeopardizing regional security
Author: Syeda Tahreem Bukhari is an Associate Director at the Centre for International Strategic Studies-AJK. A NESA Alumni and an MPhil Scholar in Peace and Conflict Studies from National Defence University, Islamabad.
Co-author: Abdul Basit is an Associate Research Officer at Strategic Stability Desk, Center for International Strategic Studies, AJK. A NESA Alumnus and a graduate student of International Relations from National Defence University, Islamabad.
