A Commodore rank officer associated with the trials of submarine INS Sindhuratna, which met with an accident killing two officers on board on February 26 off Mumbai, may face a court martial as recommended by an internal Navy enquiry. Navy Chief Admiral DK Joshi had resigned owning moral responsibility for the mishap.
Following the accident, the Western Command had ordered a board of inquiry headed by Rear Admiral Sunil Bokhare, Flag Officer(submarines) and it reportedly recommended court martial against the Commodore and “severe displeasure” as punishment to two mid-level officers, sources said here on Wednesday. Commodore in Navy is equivalent to a Brigadier.
The Western Command has submitted the inquiry report to the Naval Headquarters and it will now scrutinize the findings before taking any action, officials said. The Commodore-rank officer was closely associated with the trials of the Russian-origin Kilo Class submarine Sindhuratna after going minor refits in Mumbai.
The probe report, according to sources, is also understood to have found out that the cable above the submarine’s battery compartment which caught fire was not supposed to be checked by the Navy as per the instructions of the Russian vendors. Two officers tried to put out the fire and resultant smoke in mid-section of the submarine while it was underwater and died during the process.
Sindhuratna is part navy’s fleet of nine Kilo class submarines. A tenth submarine--INS Sindhurakshak--exploded and sank in the Mumbai naval dockyard on August 14 last year, killing all 18 crewmen on board. The Navy recently awarded the contract to salvage the ill-fated submarine to a US company and it will start work shortly. Once the submarine is brought out of water, Navy experts will be able to ascertain the cause of explosion.
Meanwhile, Eastern Navy Command has ordered a Board of Inquiry into the loss of a torpedo during trials off the Vishakhapatnam coast recently. The inquiry is being done to put on record the loss of the trial torpedo being developed by Kazakhstan, officials said.