EXACTLY 53 years ago, on 9th December 1971, Pakistan Navy (PN)’s Daphné-class Submarine Hangor created history, when it sank Indian Navy (IN)’s Type 14 (Blackwood-class) frigate Khukri off the coast of Diu, Gujarat, India. 18 officers including Khukri’s captain, Mahendra Nath Mulla and 176 sailors were lost in the sinking. The episode of Hangor, which was commanded by the indefatigable Commander Ahmad Tasnim, who was awarded a Bar to his earlier Sitara-e-Jurat in 1965 for his valour, reads like a fictional thriller against all oddities in a war—where the odds were heavily tilted against Pakistan—where its Eastern wing was severed; IN blockaded East Pakistan and carried out deadly missile boat attacks on Karachi harbour, inflicting heavy damage. Ghazi, PN’s sole submarine, which had operated boldly during the 1965 Pak-India war, became a casualty of the subsurface mines it had laid during the 1971 War.
This epic saga of valour commenced on the midnight of 26 November 1971, when Hangor sailed from its base with a load of torpedoes to patrol the Bombay Harbour. Soon after its wartime deployment, the submarine developed defects in its computers which were swiftly repaired as the patrol continued. Hangor called contact with the warships of IN’s Western Naval Command, which were on their way to launch the first missile attack on Karachi. Commander Tasnim was in a position to sink the marauders but he had strict orders not to take aggressive action unless attacked, since the war had not formally commenced in the western sector. Nevertheless, ruing the missed opportunity, once the Indian fleet had passed overhead, Commander Tasnim could not resist the chance and took the risk of breaking radio silence to warn PN Headquarters of the impending attack and the peril Pakistan faced.
The transmission was detected by IN, which dispatched two antisubmarine warfare frigates INS Khukri and Kirpan to intercept and destroy Hangor. More suspense was in store. One of the cooling pumps on board Hangor broke down. Without repairs to this pump, it would not be possible to continue its war patrol and it would be constrained to return since repairs to this pump involved shutting down the main air conditioning plant of the submarine and lifting and removing its compressor motor to gain access to the defective pump. Commander Tasnim, who was the second in command of PNS/M Ghazi during the 1965 war, ruled out returning home, since the war would have been over for Hangor. He took the ultimate risk of repairing the sub in enemy waters while partially surfaced. To disguise its identity, lights were installed to give Hangor the semblance of a fishing boat. A snooping Indian warcraft did detect the sub but fell for the ruse and dismissed it as a fishing vessel. Racing against time—under normal circumstances, the repair which would have taken a week in the dockyard, was accomplished within a matter of hours—Hangor was ready to bare its fangs once again. On 4 December 1971, Pakistan Naval Headquarter communicated with Hangor, giving her war codes to attack the Indian Navy’s armada.
While the Indian hunters were still searching for the intruding Pakistani sub, Commander Tasnim ambushed the duo, firing a homing torpedo at Kirpan only to see it fail to explode but the action exposed his presence. Khukri moved to attack but showing presence of mind, the gallant PN Commander fired his second torpedo, which exploded under the hull of the enemy assailant, hitting its magazine of explosives, sinking it within minutes. Kirpan turned back to attack, dropping depth charges but the valiant Hangor fired his third torpedo which forced the attacker to turn tail. It did not even return to pick up survivors till the next day for which surviving sailor Chanchal Singh Gill later sued Kirpan’s captain for cowardice. Coming back to Hangor’s saga of valour, Vice Admiral Mihir K. Roy in his book “War in the Indian Ocean” and Admiral Sourendra Nath Kohli, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief (FOC-IN-C) of India’s Western Naval Command in 1971 and Indian Naval Chief (1973-76), in his book Transition to Triumph provide graphic details of Hangor’s daring attack and the massive hunt to trap it after the encounter of 9th December, which shocked the entire Indian Navy.
IN cancelled “Operation Triumph”, the third missile attack, scheduled for 10 December and for four days, the IN utilized all available anti-submarine ships, Alize (Specialized anti-submarine naval aircraft), shore-based surveillance aircraft and Sea King anti-submarine helicopters in HUK (Hunter-Killer) Groups and combed an area extending from the point southwest of Diu Head, where Khukri was sunk, right up to a point just short of PAF’s air-strike range from Karachi. Admiral Roy admits, IN also lost an Alize anti-submarine aircraft at sea with all three of its crew. Hangor had the last laugh in the cat-and-mouse game. Despite a depleting battery, evading the pursuers, it laid false trails for the Hunter Killer groups to follow but returned home triumphantly albeit with depleted lead batteries on 13 December.
Over the successive years, Hangor served PN with distinction until decommissioning in 2006. In a ceremony on 2 January 2006, Hangor was decommissioned from the Pakistan Navy; it was soon converted to serve as a museum ship at Pakistan Maritime Museum, Karachi.
In its memory, Pakistan celebrates 9 December as Hangor Day. In recognition of her service, Hangor was decorated with multiple gallantry and wartime awards and honours. She is regarded in the Navy as having the highest number of operational gallantry awards given to a single warship of the Pakistan Navy. The recipients include: Commander Ahmed Tasnim, the commanding officer; Lieutenant Commander Abaidullah Khan, second-in-command and the navigation officer; Lieutenant-Commander R.A.Kadri, the electrical officer; and Lieutenant Fasih Bokhari, torpedo officer. Ahmad Tasnim retired in the rank of Vice Admiral while Fasih Bukhari served as Naval Chief. India may spin webs of lies and boast of its victory in 1971, but the lone sub Hangor frustrated the entire might of IN pitched against it and gives us a moment of cheer.
—The writer, Retired Group Captain of PAF, is author of several books on China.
