Indian Navy chief resigns :

[Sea Eagle]

Indian navy Chief DK Joshi resigns After Sindhuratna accident ...

 

[Abhijeet Dey]

Indian Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi resigns over warship accidents

LINK: timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Indian-Navy-chief-Admiral-DK-Joshi-resigns-over-warship-accidents/articleshow/31052114.cms

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi on Wednesday resigned after two officers were feared killed and seven sailors injured when a fire erupted on board a submarine, INS Sindhuratna, around 40 nautical miles off Mumbai. "Taking moral responsibility for the accidents and incidents which have taken place during the past few months, the Navy chief has resigned. The government has accepted the resignation of Admiral Joshi with immediate effect.

Navy vice-chief Vice Admiral RK Dhowan will be discharging the duties of officiating Navy chief, pending the appointment of a regular chief," said a defence ministry statement. In the mishap, the Navy said the two officers, a lieutenant Commander and a lieutenant, both from the electrical branch, were "still to be accounted for", while the seven sailors were airlifted by Sea King helicopters to INS Ashwini hospital at Colaba.

"The sailors fell unconscious on inhaling the heavy smoke engulfing the submarine's third compartment. They are now stable," said an officer. An upset defence ministry sought a detailed report from the Navy since this is the second major accident in the country's ageing submarine fleet in the last six months, which has further dented India's underwater combat arm.

INS Sindhurakshak, a Russian Kilo-class submarine like INS Sindhuratna, had sunk at the Mumbai naval dockyard, killing three officers and 15 sailors, after a series of internal explosions in its fully-loaded weapons compartment on August 14. INS Sindhuratna, incidentally, was berthed next to INS Sindhurakshak at that time and sustained minor damage to its hull.

The accident on Wednesday took place when INS Sindhuratna had just begun its "sea workup phase" after undergoing a refit at the Mumbai dockyard from May to December last year. As part of the procedures, the Western Naval Command's commodore commanding submarines SR Kapoor and his inspection team were on board to test both the crew and the submarine before clearing it for operational deployment.

 

[Sea Eagle]

Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi has resigned after Sindhuratna accident on the shore of Mumbai this morning.

The official statement said, He stepped down taking moral responsibilty for the "accidents and incidents which have taken place during past months."

DK Joshi took charge in 2012 and had one more year in office, Is the first navy chief to resign. The Defense Minister has already accepted his resignation.

Vice Admiral RK Dhowan will efficiate till a new chief is appointed.

 

[happy]

What is happening guys ?? @Decklander where are you ?? Maybe sufficient training is lacking for our sailors

 

[Neil]

so he was asked to resign - moral responsibility.

really sorry state of affairs with regards to IN.

 

[arnabmit]

It pains me to ask such questions, but have some basic IN culture been compromised? Have IN personnel become indisciplined?

12 incidents in 12 months, sex scandals, are we recruiting the wrong people?

Kudos to CONS Joshi for taking full responsibility and not passing the buck, like his civilian counterpart in MoD would definitely do.

 

[Kyubi]

What is happening guys ?? @Decklander where are you ?? Maybe sufficient training is lacking for our sailors

No sir according to reports there was a fire in the crew compartment which is to be automatically doused by freon gas, the inhalation of freon gas for a larger period of time can be fatal, the sailors during such a situation were required to wear mask's which probably they didnot according to laid down rules.. the larger question is why are we still using age old russian sub's and why is the government is taking years to finalize procurement of technology etc.. why do we have to constantly look towards russia who are happy to lease sub's of substandard build..????

 

[rajsking]

Major mishaps happened in kilo class subs - and it was related to battery. I see a trend here.

wonder, if, in the name of indigenous efforts - sub-standard batteries were used - whenever these subs were last overhauled.

 

[jmj_overlord]

No sir according to reports there was a fire in the crew compartment which is to be automatically doused by freon gas, the inhalation of freon gas for a larger period of time can be fatal, the sailors during such a situation were required to wear mask's which probably they didnot according to laid down rules.. the larger question is why are we still using age old russian sub's and why is the government is taking years to finalize procurement of technology etc.. why do we have to constantly look towards russia who are happy to lease sub's of substandard build..????

you are right......it is high time the obsolete equipments are to be replaced. As far as leasing and acquisition is concerned, we approach russians as they are willing to help us. Other countries may not be so ready to help us as the russians do or else manufacturing our own subs and equipment is the way, but that will take time........

 

[tramp]

so does this mean lack of proper training and knowledge of emergency protocols?
i think for Indian navy the peacetime loss is more than war time losses!

No sir according to reports there was a fire in the crew compartment which is to be automatically doused by freon gas, the inhalation of freon gas for a larger period of time can be fatal, the sailors during such a situation were required to wear mask's which probably they didnot according to laid down rules.. the larger question is why are we still using age old russian sub's and why is the government is taking years to finalize procurement of technology etc.. why do we have to constantly look towards russia who are happy to lease sub's of substandard build..????

 

[sayareakd]

Ok he is man of moral, but he should have put all the guys under him on danda, look what happen when people screw up, others have to pay high price, even with their lives.

Any way hope others head will also role.

 

[sayareakd]

 

[Kyubi]

so does this mean lack of proper training and knowledge of emergency protocols?
i think for Indian navy the peacetime loss is more than war time losses!

Sir the way i have written in my comments may have suggested a possible lack of knowledge on emergency protocols etc. The situation in which the sailors couldn't access the gas masks can be discussed at length, we can argue that the fire and smoke might have led to possible panic induced confusion on part of the sailors, which could have compromised their judgement or it may be due to the design of crew compartment not having redundancies for the emergency situation built in them or the gasses released to fight the fire might have exceeded their limit giving very less time for the sailors to follow protocols etc etc,, we can have several theories to debate upon.. But the fundamental question is why we are still relying on decades old Russian sub tech when the rest of the navy's vessels are fast moving towards more indigenous content in them ??.

And for the record sir it is very detrimental to the nation's image when the integrity and competence of Indian Navy is being widely debated to be questionable. We are deriding ourselves by continuously pointing fingers at our armed forces when the truth is our Government's vision on a robust, indigenous, accountable military industrial complex is non-existent. Our Government's policies look good on paper i.e. buy Indian make Indian but the implementation is plagued by rampant corruption, non-performers, favoritism etc.. When the governments attitude towards pushing reforms in all sectors of the defense industry is lacking in conviction then such situations cannot be avoided in future, we may still have to rely on rusty old machinery to minimize the losses in fleet and keep up the fleet strength..

 

[happy]

But the fundamental question is why we are still relying on decades old Russian sub tech when the rest of the navy's vessels are fast moving towards more indigenous content in them ??.

I think we are relying more on the Russians for the only reason that they were the only ones who stood by our side and for us in times of dire need. I agree with the rest of your post.

I think heads should roll in the training dept as well as procurement dept if there are insufficient masks or lack of proper training. The truth is that inspite of training, very few people can keep their cool and think level headedly in emergency situations.

 

[sayareakd]

Retired officers express surprise

Retired senior officers expressed surprise over the sudden decision of the Navy chief to resign taking "moral responsibility" over the spate of accidents involving naval warships in the last seven months.

"I do not think it was quite necessary. There are many other things that lead to this kind of situation. It is a difficult service," former Navy chief Admiral Sureesh Mehta said. "This is a personal conduct, being an upright officer, he sent his resignation. Once he has taken a decision, there is no point of buckling down or withdrawing it," he added.

The former Navy chief said accidents are a part of life in these services and "especially when it comes to submarine and aircraft. The chief is not responsible for it."

Senior retired officer Rear Admiral Raja Menon said he did not expect the Navy chief to resign on this ground after various accidents for which responsibility is fixed at various levels after a proper board of inquiry.

"What the Navy chief has done is contrary to the present standards of public life. I remember when Lal Bahadur Shastri resigned as Railway Minister after an accident but this standard of public life is long gone. There is no such standard now," he said.

Menon said there is no accident in the Navy for which blame is not fixed but the Navy chief has "symbolically taken responsibility for all the actions and handed over his resignation."

Former Western Commander Vice Admiral Madanjeet Singh said the accidents happening frequently in the Navy were "not professionally complementary" for the force and "the Navy chief has taken his decision which in my opinion is very honourable thing to do as a professional Navy chief ..."

Navy chief Admiral DK Joshi quits, retired officers express surprise - The Times of India

 

[Illusive]

This means another submarine wont be patrolling the seas.

 

[W.G.Ewald]

No sir according to reports there was a fire in the crew compartment which is to be automatically doused by freon gas, the inhalation of freon gas for a larger period of time can be fatal, the sailors during such a situation were required to wear mask's which probably they didnot according to laid down rules.. the larger question is why are we still using age old russian sub's and why is the government is taking years to finalize procurement of technology etc.. why do we have to constantly look towards russia who are happy to lease sub's of substandard build..????

Freon would suffocate the victims, not poison them, and masks would be useless.

 

[rock127]

The Lungi master Antony SHOULD be FIRED.

Govt is directly responsible for all this.

Below is our "Defense Minister" who cant stand on his feet.

 

[archie]

UPA should be fired.. What the heck is MOD doing?? why should a honorable chief take the fall for the unscrupulous Defence minister and cabinet??

 

[sayareakd]

This means another submarine wont be patrolling the seas.

for sometime, but good thing which might come out of it is that, Govt will super speed up process of pending plans, may be some immediate purchases in the pipeline so that this sub fleet problem can be address.