New Delhi : Navy Chief Admiral D K Joshi on Wednesday resign-ed taking “moral responsibility” for a spate of operational mishaps involving naval warships in the last seven months. Joshi, who had about 15 months left in service, submitted his resignation hours after submarine INS Sindhuratna met with a mishap in which seven sailors were seriously injured and two naval officers were unaccounted for. This is the first time in 15 years that a naval chief has resigned under controversial circumstances. He is also the first military chief to resign before the end of his term.
Among the recent accidents, the biggest involved a fire on the torpedo laden INS Sindhurakshak in the Mumbai harbour on August 14 2014, killing all 18 personnel on board. Defence Minister AK Antony had earlier this month expressed concern over the accidents and said that even one accident was “serious” for him and there was need to strictly follow standard operating procedures and draw proper lessons. He had also said he cannot give the navy “100 percent satisfaction certificate”. The Defence Ministry lost no time in accepting Joshi’s resignation and ordered that Vice Chief of Naval Staff Vice Admiral R K Dhowan should take over as the Acting Chief. Fire and smoke enveloped the Russian-origin Kilo Class submarine INS Sindhuratna on Wednesday morning during trials, 50 km off the Mumbai coast. The smoke triggered the automatic closure of hatches.
The mishap occurred while the Commodore Commanding Submarine, Western Command, was on board carrying out an inspection. As many as 90 officers and men were on board at that time. The seven sailors who had inhaled smoke were unconscious when they were airlifted to the naval hospital INS Ashwini; two officers on board were unaccounted for: they were possibly in the cabin which was isolated as part of the emergency fire-fighting measures. The submarine was underwater when the incident occurred and was later brought to the surface. The vessel is now on its way to Mumbai. One of India’s 14 conventional submarines, it was thankfully carrying no weapons or ammunition when the mishap occurred. It had sailed out only on Tuesday night and was still being tested.
