Bengaluru buddies were part of naval operation in 1971

BENGALURUBengaluru: Operation Trident, launched during the Indo-Pak war of 1971, saw the Indian Navy bombard the Karachi harbour on the night of December 4, incurring huge losses to the Pakistani Navy. To commemorate the historic operation, the day is observed as Indian Navy Day annually.
Two friends from Bengaluru who joined the Navy together in 1966 were part of the operation 45 years ago, which sank four Pakistani vessels and ravaged the Karachi harbour fuel fields, killing over 500 Pakistani Navy personnel.Three missile boats of the Indian Navy, INS Nipat, INS Nirghat and INS Veer, played a pivotal role in the attack.
S Sundar Raj, 72, was then a 26-year-old lieutenant who was second in command of INS Nipat. “Around 2pm on December 4, 1971, our fleet sailed from Okha Port in Gujarat towards Pakistani waters following orders to attack the Karachi port, the stronghold of the Pakistani Navy,” reminisced the veteran at his Byappanahalli home.
The fleet reached 70 miles south of Karachi around 10.30pm and was ready for combat. Raj remembers seeing a blip on the radar, which indicated an enemy vessel which was closing in. “The orders to engage were given and we fired the first missile. We saw it hit the vessel but it was still floating. Then we fired the second one and sunk the ship, which we later came to know was Pakistani destroyer PNS Khaibar,” added the National College alumnus.
As the naval combat unfolded, INS Veer fired its first missile onto Pakistani vessel Muhafiz, a minesweeper, sinking it with the entire crew. “We had rehearsed the attack numerous times as war situation was rife. We were thrilled to attack the enemy at its den,” recalled 70-year-old Suresh Bangara, a Benson Town resident and a St Joseph’s College passout, who was then a 25-year-old lieutenant at Veer.
In 90 minutes, the fleet fired six missiles, sunk four enemy vessels, including a cargo ship carrying ammunition and destroyed the fuel storage facility at the Karachi harbour, before successfully returning to Mumbai without a single Indian casualty. “As we were returning to Mumbai, one sailor climbed up the missile hanger on Nipat and wrote ‘killers’ on it in red paint, which was emphatically received by the successful crew,” added Bangara. The squadron was thereafter christened ‘The Killers’ and a Killer Day has been celebrated by the Indian Navy on December 3 ever since.
Sundar and Suresh were decorated with Nao Sena Medal and Mention in Dispatches certificate respectively for gallantry. The two friends retired from service in 2006 (Sundar as rear admiral and Suresh as vice admiral).
Sundar’s war story has got avid listeners in the form of his six grandchildren. Suresh, who lives in Pune, is a naval expert and his war heroics are often part of his lectures in defence academies across the country.