The newly-acquired Deep Submergence Recovery Vehicle (DSRV) of Bharatiya Navy, has found the wreckage of the Pakistani submarine PNS Ghazi, which sank on December 4, 1971, during the Bharat-Pakistan war.
The Tench-class submarine, previously known as USS Diablo, was found at a depth of roughly 100 metres, about 2 to 2.5 kilometres off the shore. However, in true Navy tradition, the Bharatiya Navy refused to touch it to honour those who perished in action.
During the 1971 war, Pakistan had sent PNS Ghazi to lay mines on the eastern coast of Bharat and attack INS Vikrant, the aircraft carrier of the Bharatiya Navy. The sub was sent from Karachi on 14 November 1971, and had reached the coast near Vizag.
Bharat, later dispatched the destroyer INS Rajput, which located and followed the Pakistani submarine and dropped depth charges, causing it to sink. PNS Ghazi was sunk on the night of December 4-5, 1971.
The sinking of the PNS Ghazi, which had 93 men on board, was a watershed moment in the war that ended with the creation of Bangladesh in 1972.
However, Pakistan denies that the submarine was hit by the Bharatiya Navy, claiming that it sank due to an accidental explosion.
A Japanese submarine of World War II, 12 February 1944, the Imperial Japanese Navy’s RO-110, was also sunk off the coast of Rambilli in Vizag, and this submarine also has been located.
The Japanese submarine was sunk by HMAS Launceston and HMIS Jumna using depth charges. Before it was destroyed, RO-110 had sunk the British merchant ship Daisy Moller, and had attacked a convoy of the allied forces.
Vizag is one of the few coastal cities with deep inlets that provide anchorage for seafaring ships, with an average depth of approximately 16 metres. While over 40 countries have submarines, only a few have achieved the ability to deploy a DSRV.
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