All Nations with Naval armadas have dreamed of striking the enemy home port, bottling up the enemy fleet and destroying it there itself. The only Navy that was actually been able to pull off such a feat in recent times ,was the Indian Navy during the Bangladesh war. This Navy was then headed by Admiral SM Nanda. He spent his childhood in Manora island off the coast of Karachi in Pakistan. Subsequently, he rose to become the Chief of the Indian Navy. For Admiral. Nanda it had become something of a magnificent obsession to hit Karachi in the advent of a war and avenge the Pakistani sneak attack on Dwarka in the 1965 conflict. Senior Naval officers felt that such an operation could end in disaster. A Naval Task force venturing so close to the enemy shores would be wiped out by enemy aircraft, submarines and coastal guns besides the enemy warships. But the admiral doggedly stuck to his guns and he was determined that in the event of a war the Indian Navy could pull it off.
In 1968, the Indian Navy had decided to acquire the Osa Missile boats from the Soviet Union. These were equipped with deadly ship to ship missiles that had knocked out the Israeli destroyer Eliath in the recent Arab- Israeli war. Osa means wasp in Russian. The real sting of this missile boats were the four, ship to ship Styx missiles with a range 20 to 30nm and that could blow the biggest enemy cruisers out of the water, it used to carry 500 kilo war head and its homing radar head could zero in to its target with deadly accuracy. Other than the missiles there was another technological marvel on the ship. It was the Rangout radar. This had a range of 40 to 60nmand could outrange any radar that was in the cruisers and destroyers of that era. No other navy had anything to match the Rangout.The three engines were 4000HP each. These boats could reach speeds of 40Knots. Thus the missile boats could look deep and strike deep. There was just one primary constraint- the short range. The Russians have designed them primarily for coastal defense . In fact, Admiral. Gorshkov believed that the boats were expandable — they need not come back from every mission.
Commander. BB Yadav, a crusty old bachelor of the Indian Navy, had gotten his posting orders for the Top secret project AK-25, the raising of the Missile Boats Squadron. This was to have a total of eight missile boats in two divisions of four each. The crew members were required to go to Russia and train to handle these secret missile boats. In Early June 1968, they were mustered at INS Angre in Mumbai and flown to Russia where they trained for 8 long months on these Missile Boats in the freezing Siberian winter.
In 1968, the Indian Navy had decided to acquire the Osa Missile boats from the Soviet Union.
Eight of these missiles boats were loaded onto a huge Russian merchant vessel and shipped to India. Coincidently, there were no heavy cranes that could lift their boats in Mumbai. Hence, they were off loaded in Kolkata and had to be towed to Mumbai. The missile boats were then towed along the coast and reached Mumbai Jan 1971. As they were being towed, the seeds of a brilliant idea were formed in the minds of our Naval commanders. If these boats could be towed from Kolkata to Mumbai — why not from Mumbai to Karachi?
The war clouds were now gathering swiftly. Detailed plans were quickly finalized. Originally, three missile boat attacks had been planned. On 3rd Dec 1971, the Pakistan Air Force suddenly attacked six Indian Air Force bases. The Bangladesh war had begun. For the missile boats, it was time to join the action.On 2-3rd Dec night, missile boats Nipat and Veer (under the command of Lt. Cdrs. BN Kavina and OP Mehta) set sail from Mumbai harbour. The Squadron Commander, Cdr. BB Yadav (K-25) was onboard the Nipat. They were towed by INS Tir and INS Satluj to an anchorage South of Diu. The third missile boat, INS Nirghat (under the command of Lt. Cdr. IJ Sharma) joined them.
Op Trident
On fourth Dec 71, two Petya class Frigates — the INS Katchall (under Cdr. KN Zadu) and INS Kiltan (under Commander. G Rao) rondezvoued with the Missile Boats to form the Trident Force. They set sail for Karachi. The plan was to sail westward and then northwards to reach Karachi by midnight.
On fourth Dec 71 morning at around 0700 hrs, four Hunter aircrafts of the IAF led by Wing commander Das, swooped low over the Karachi Coast. They Flew along the coast and then suddenly gained height over the Kermari Oil tanks. They sprayed them with their rockets and canons.
Fourth Dec 1500 hrs, the Trident Task Force was steaming towards Karachi in an Arrowhead formation. They were anxiously scanning the Sonar for Pakistani submarines and keeping a sharp lookout. The missile boats switched on their Rangout Radars. They could now be picked up anytime. At 2243 hours on fourth Dec, the radar on the Nirghat picked up a big ship on Port bow. The target was PNS Khyber, a destroyer of Pak Navy. The first missile had homed in onto the target with precision and hit her on the starboard side — she lost propulsion. PNS Khyber transmitted a Mayday Signal saying it had been hit by enemy aircraft. The second missile had slammed into her boiler room. There was a sheet of flame and the ship broke into two and sank. The panic-stricken crew began to jump overboard. The Khyber now sank like a rock. In quick succession the missile boats picked up the Merchant ship Venus challenger ( carrying ammunition for the Pak Army) and the Pakistan Navy Minesweepr Muhafiz. Missiles were fired and both these ships were sunk. Cdr Yadav now sailed close to the Karachi Harbour- picked up the oil Tanks and Fired a missile. It hit the first oil Tank. Symapathetic explosions started and soon the whole oil complex was on fire. The Karachi oil farm in fact burnt for a week and blotted out the sun. The Task force now turned around and returned full speed to Mumbai. It had executed its daring mission without a scratch! This was unprecedented in the annals of Naval warfare. Not content to rest on its laurels the Indian Navy repeated this deadly feat just four days later .It attacked Karachi Harbour again, sank another three Ships (PNS Dacca and Merchant ships Harmattan and Gulf star) and for the second time set the Keamari oil tanks on fire. In close concert with this attack the Indian Air Force Canberra bombers attacked the Masroor air field and prevented the PAF from interfering with this naval operation. It was an astounding success. A warships Captain remarked — This is the best Divali we have ever seen! The Daring Naval strikes on the home base of the Pakistani navy epitomized the military adage — who dares — wins! Commader. (later Commodore. BB Yadav) was awarded the Mahavir Chakra and three of the Missile boat commanders won the Vir Chakra. Fourth Dec is celebrated as Navy Day — a fitting tribute to these brave men who pulled off mission impossible. The reach of the Indian Navy stretches to the full length of the Makran coastline — something the people of Baluchistan must know!