How Nylon Necklaces Were Developed For Conducting OP TRIDENT & OP PYTHON in December 1971

During summertime in 1970, a group of group of 40 Indian Navy (IN) officers and 18 non-commissioned men—after learning the Russian language over a four-month period, were sent to the headquarters of the Soviet Navy’s Pacific Fleet in Vladivostok for an eight-month technical training course for mastering the operational and serviceability aspects of the 249-tonne Project 205 ‘Moskit’ FAC-M. After the crews returned in April 1971, the IN secretly commissioned its eight newly-acquired FAC-Ms (costing Rs.40 crore in total) in the 25 Missile Boat ‘Killer Squadron whose deliveries had commenced in November 1970. These FAC-Ms were delivered from Vladivostok by merchant vessels to Kolkata’s Kidderpore docks since the Bombay Port Trust (BPT) at that time had no heavylift unloading capability and the BPT’s in-house crane ‘Shravan’ had a maximum lift capacity of 90 tonnes. The handling agents at Kolkata were Chinoy-Chablani who had experience of heavylifts, having done the unloading of all the USSR-supplied machinery of the Bhilai Steel Plant. The IN next intended to tow the eight FAC-Ms from Kolkata with the help of the training vessel INS Cauvery.

Each of the FAC-Ms, designed by Almaz Central Design Bureau for Marine Engineering and built by the Shipyard No.602 in Vladivostok, came fitted with three 4,000hp M-503G diesel engines that could attain over 35 Knots at full power in good sea state for short ranges. Vice Admiral Krishnan, who had steered the procurement of these FAC-Ms since 1969 1969 as Vice Chief of the Naval Staff in his book, ‘No Way But Surrender’, stated: “To me, the acquisition of these missile boats had become an obsession. The thyen Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), Admiral Adhar Kumar Chatterji, was a forward-looking man and it was easy to convince him that we must, under every circumstance, buy at least six boats”, and the project for the eight FAC-Ms and TP for storing and preparing their liquid-fuelled P-15 Termit missiles was codenamed ‘Alpha Kilo’ after Admiral Chatterji.

Back in Mumbai, Vice Admiral Surendra Nath Kohli, the Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the IN’s Western Naval Command, began constructing shore-based facilities at INS Angre next to the Naval Dockyard, where the FAC-Ms were berthed for commissioning. The Technical Position (TP) for the Raduga P-15 Termit anti-ship guided-missile’s testing and stowage was set up in advance under USSR-trained Cmde B G Madholar at Mankhurd in suburban Mumbai, from where the P-15s were transported to The Naval Dockyard at Lion’s Gate after preparation by young electrical officers trained in Vladivostok like Lt Pramod Bhasin and B V M Rao. Later the TP shifted to Karanjia and became known as INS Agnibahu. This in turn greatly facilitated the Western Command’s efforts to plan, simulate and exercise missile attacks on a harbour (like Karachi).

In November 1970 after a very successful training cruise to the Australian ports of Fremantle and Bunbury to take part in Capt Cook’s Centenary celebrations, INS Cauvery and its complement of trainee Sub Lieutenants under Cdr H M L Saxena as Commanding and Senior Officer, and INS Tir under Cdr Hiranandani with trainee cadets cleared Customs at Port Blair. INS Tir’s Executive Officer (XO) was Lt Cdr S K Chand and Lt Cdr Ranjit B Rai was INS Cauvery’s XO and both were ordered to proceed to Kolkata to tow two newly-arrived Project 205 FAC-Ms to Mumbai. Meanwhile, a change of command took place and Cdr Inder Kumar Erry took over command of INS Cauvery and it proceeded towards Diamond Harbour. In Kolkata the FAC-Ms were taken in stern wire-rope tow configuration and the two towing vessels (Cauvery and Tir) cleared Diamond Harbour, and proceeded to Vishakhapatnam for the three days-plus passage at a cruising speed of about 8 Knots. The wire-rope catenary (length when the wire-rope dips/sinks into the water) was increased as the weather and sea state had deteriorated and the Chief Bosun mate and duty crew kept wetting the nips through the aft towing-rings and also on the bow-rings of the FAC-Ms. To pass food, mainly Parathas and Sabzi, to the skeleton crew on the FAC-Ms, both the towing vessels had to stop cruising and pass food by sea-boats. The wire-ropes parted twice and another berthing hawser was used and some seamanship of splicing was re-studied and attempted from the Seamanship Volume-1 of the Royal Navy. All in all, it was a tortuous tow from Kolkata to Vizag.

The arrival and entry into Vizag in December 1970 was uneventful and the Supply Officer Lt Cdr A J B Singh put in a demand for the supply of extra wire-towing hawsers and Naval Dockyard at Vizag was approached to see the ship’s Chief Bosun Mate who supervised the splicing, while some seamen were taken to ND(V) for training. The COs of both the towing vessels went to call on the Chief of Staff of the IN’s Eastern Naval Command, Commodore M S Grewal, and related to him the ordeal of towing and stated that they were all skeptical of going round the Gulf of Mannaar south of Dondra Point (south of Sri Lanka) where the seas can be challenging. Commodore Grewal then recalled that some marketing officials from Garware Ropes Ltd had come to his office to introduce nylon berthing hawsers (which were then being used only by Chowgule Shipping), and he immediately rang up the Admiral Superintendent of Vizag Naval Dockyard (ASD-ND) to see if some towing-trials could be conducted on the Cauvery and Tir.

This is when young naval constructors came on board and noticed that the towing ring on the FAC-Ms was a tight fit for the nylon hawsers and noticed the lifting brackets welded to the FAC-Ms. They next conferred with Soviet Navy specialists (part of the warranty team then based in India) and decided to fit such brackets all around the FAC-Ms at regular intervals to make a nylon rope into a ‘necklace’ and spliced it to extend the hawser to become a tow-rope for the towing vessel to easily warp the ropes around the quarter-deck bollards. It was ingenious and easy to handle and it worked wonders at sea, and the drill for towing two FAC-Ms by one ship was what was perfected for the towing of the FAC-Ms all the way to Karachi during the 1971 war. It was the trials executed in December 1970 that was the harbinger. Later, all the remaining FAC-Ms were towed from Kolkata to Mumbai in early 1971 using nylon hawsers. Thus, it was luck and providence and ingenuity of the young naval architects of the IN that the ‘necklace’ was the starting point to plan the naval attacks on Karachi in December 1971. Since then, both IN naval architects/young officers as well as Garware-Wall Ropes Ltd have made several innovations befitting a rising Navy.

Planned under the leadership of CNS, Admiral Sardarilal Mathradas Nanda and masterminded by then Fleet Operations Officer of the Western Naval Command, Cdr Gulaab Mohanlal Hiranandi, OP TRIDENT and OP PYTHON involved the subcontinent’s anti-ship guided-missile warfare engagements. OP TRIDENT on the night of December 4 was conducted by the Project 205 ‘Moskit’ FAC-Ms INS Nipat, INS Nirghat and INS Veer. Out of 11 (seven P-15U and four P-15T) Termits fired, only one malfunctioned, giving a 91% success rate. This task group was led by the Commanding Officer of the 25th Squadron, Commander Babru Bhan Yadav who was embarked on INS Nipat. In OP PYTHON, conducted on the night of December 8, the Project 205 Moskit FAC-M INS Vinash, fired four Termits at Karachi in a six-minute action. One Termit hit an oil tank, destroying it. The British ship Harmattan was sunk, while the Panamanian ship Gulfstar was set on fire. In addition, the Pakistan Navy fleet tanker, PNS Dacca, was badly damaged and only survived because the commanding officer, Capt S Q Raza, ordered the release of steam in the pipes that prevented the fire reaching the tanks.

The 2.5-tonne Raduga P-15 cruised at an altitude of about 150 to 300 metres (500 to 1,000 feet) under the direction of a gyroscopic stabilisation system and a barometric altimeter. Speed was about Mach 0.95 and range was about 40km (25 miles). It performed its terminal attack with an active radar seeker, striking with a 4G15 513kg (1,000 lb) conventional shaped-charge warhead. The Termit was powered by an Isayev P-15 liquid rocket rated at 1.213-0.554 tonnes thrust, using toxic AK-20K/TG-02 propellant based on the Luftwaffe’s Wasserfall fuel. This highly toxic and corrosive fuel presented serious handling problems in fuelling up and defuelling the missile, the propellant mix comprising AK-20K/F oxidiser (80% nitric acid, 20% N2O4 with fluorine or iodine additives) and TG02 fuel (50% xylidine and 50% triethylamine). The pre-programmed midcourse cruise altitudes varied between 25, 50 and 250 metres. Mid-course guidance used an inertial autopilot, with two terminal seekers available.

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