In an unprecedented step, Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi resigned on Wednesday taking “moral responsibility” over the spate of mishaps involving warship in the last few months. A major accident on board submarine INS Sindhuratna off the Mumbai coast on Wednesday turned out to be the proverbial last straw for the naval chief. Two officers are still missing while seven sailors who had taken ill were rescued after smoke was detected in one of the compartments of the submarine.
Defence Ministry AK Antony accepted Joshi’s resignation and Vice-Admiral RK Dhowan was appointed as acting chief. Joshi had 15 more months left in service. He was appointed Navy chief on August 31, 2012 and was a specialist in anti- submarine warfare.
Incidentally, Dhowan is due to retire in two more months and as per the chain of succession, Southern Command chief Vice-Admiral Satish Soni was tipped to be the new chief after Joshi’s retirement. Joshi’s resignation has now upset the succession ladder. If Dhowan is made the permanent chief, he will get two more years to serve as all Services chiefs have to serve till the age of 62.
Announcing Joshi’s resignation hours after Sindhuratna’s accident, the Defence Ministry said in a statement “taking moral responsibility for the accidents and incidents which have taken place during the past few months, Chief of Naval Staff (CNS) Admiral DK Joshi today(Wednesday) resigned from the post of CNS”. “The Government has accepted the resignation of Admiral Joshi with immediate effect. Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral RK Dhowan will be discharging the duties of officiating CNS, pending appointment of regular CNS,” the brief statement said.
Given the seriousness of the mishap and Joshi’s action, Defence Minister AK Antony briefed President Pranab Mukherjee, who is also the Supreme Commander of Armed Forces, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. Incidentally, this is the second time in the last 15 years that a Navy chief did not complete his term. The then Navy Chief Admiral Vishnu Bhagwat was removed by the NDA Government in 1998.
The trigger for Joshi to demit office came after Sindhuratna, while on a sea trial sortie about 40 nautical miles (80 km) off Mumbai, reported fire and heavy smoke. The incident took place in the early hours while it was under water and surfaced as per standard operating procedure in case of such emergency. The smoke was detected in the third compartment of the submarine, which has six compartments. The affected compartment about 7-metre high housed sailors, battery monitoring point and galley, officials said. As soon heavy smoke was detected, the fire extinguishers were pressed into service and the third compartment was isolated manually by closing its doors.
During the intervening period, seven sailors inhaled smoke and fell ill. When the boat surfaced, Navy helicopters airlifted them to the Navy hospital in Mumbai. However, the fate of two officers was not known, they said adding nearly 75 personnel were on board when the incident took place Officials clarified that there was no apparent damage to the submarine and expected to reach Mumbai soon as it was operating on its own power. Meanwhile, the process of ventilation to clear the submarine of smoke was under way besides scanning every compartment for the missing officers.
Sindhuratna had undergone refit for about six months at Naval Dockyard, Mumbai last year. The submarine had successfully cleared harbour trials and was undergoing sea trials before declared operationally fit when the incident took place, they said adding there were no weapons on the submarine as per procedure. It entails that once the boat is declared fit, the weapons including torpedoes and missiles are then mounted on it.
The submarine had left Mumbai on Tuesday night for the sortie with the inspection team known as Commodore Commanding Submarine (west) with its chief Commodore SR Kapoor and a team of 14 officers besides 60 strong crew of the submarine. A Kilo class Russian made submarine, the 3,700 tonne and 75-metre long Sindhuratna was inducted into the Navy in 1990 and had undergone a major refit in Russia for a year in 2001. At present, the Navy has 14 conventional and one nuclear powered submarine INS Chakra.
The Navy was under fire for the last six months as it saw more than ten mishaps involving its warships starting with the explosion and sinking of INS Sindhurakshak submarine in Mumbai harbour in August last. The mishap claimed 18 lives and the process of salvage of the submarine to ascertain the cause of explosions is expected to begin in the next few weeks after the Defence Ministry shortlisted a US-based company to bring out the boat now resting on the seabed.
Earlier this month, INS Airavat, an amphibious warfare vessel, ran aground after which the commanding officer was removed from his command duties. Another ship INS Betwa was damaged after probably hitting some underwater object while a Talwar-class warship collided with a fishing vessel off Ratnagiri injuring some fishermen. The commanding officer of this ship was also removed.