When Indian missile boats struck Karachi in 1971 Indo-Pak war
KOCHI: The Arabian Sea was silent, still as death, as three missile boats moved stealthily under the cover of darkness from Okha in Gujarat towards Karachi in Pakistan. It was a suicidal mission, almost! The sailors, however, had only one thought on their minds — strike the targets successfully.
These events of the night of December 4, 1971, replayed in retired Indian Navy officer Commodore A D Rao's mind as reports poured in of the escalation of the confrontation between India and Pakistan after the Pahalgam attack. The mission carried out as part of Operation Trident proved a resounding success, that too at a time when technology was not as advanced as today.
'Everything was top secret,' Commodore Rao, who was 27 at the time and belonged to the 25th Missile Squadron, tells TNIE.
'Even the transportation of the boats, made by the Russians, was done in a very clandestine manner. India had bought eight boats of the OSA class fitted with the Styx missiles. Operation Trident was also the first time that India used the Indian Navy's missile boats and anti-ship missiles in war.'
Living in Kochi for more than 30 years, Rao recalls how he found himself in the middle of a fierce war four years after getting commissioned into the Navy as an officer.
'It seemed as if the four years of training and related activities were a sort of preparation for the war,' he says.
Elaborating on the mission and the strategies adopted, Rao says, 'The plan was to launch a quick attack on Karachi and then run. We were told to write letters to our families before leaving for the mission in the dead of the night from Mumbai on December 3.
Of the eight missile boats, the three that were sent for the mission were INS Nipat, INS Nirghat and INS Veer. I was on INS Veer, which was commanded by Lieutenant Commander Om Prakash Mehta, as the third officer.'
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