Revealed: Delay in changing submarine batteries could have caused INS Sindhuratna tragedy

Red tape has crippled the blue water capabilities of the Indian Navyand the nation is now paying in blood for it.
 

A shortage of submarine batteries after the Ministry of Defence (MoD) objected to the acquisition process may well be the starting point of the series of unfortunate events that resulted in the INS Sindhuratna mishap early on Wednesday.
 

Sources say that the batteries on the INS Sindhuratna were not changed during its refit that ended in December 2013.

 

The facts that are now surfacing from the depths of the Arabian Sea point to running the ill-fated submarine on ageing batteries as the likeliest reason for the explosion that claimed the lives of two officers and injured seven sailors earlier this week.
 

The INS Sindhuratna is a diesel-electric vessel, and runs on battery power while submerged. That power is provided by 240 lead acid batteries that weigh about 800kg each.
 

These batteries tend to release flammable hydrogen gas, especially when they are being charged, and submarines have safety systems to address emergencies arising out of this. Old batteries are even worse.
 

The high level probe ordered by the Navy under Flag Officer (Submarines) Rear Admiral S.V. Bokhare will go into various aspects of the accident. It will be centered on finding the cause of explosion in the battery compartment that triggered the release of toxic gases.

The INS Sindhuratna was powered by Russian batteries during the early years of its life in the Indian Navy. Later, the Navy began procuring batteries from an established Indian vendor, Mumbai-based Standard Batteries Limited, later bought out by Exide.

 

 The Navy has bought batteries from Standard for a long time, and the two have had a smooth working relationship. Somewhere down the line, however, the battery purchase process was hit by objections raised by HILIFE Batteries, a Hyderabad-based competitor.

 

HILIFE took the Indian Navy to court, saying its products were superior and cheaper, and that it had been considered good enough to supply batteries for a DRDO submarine project. The MoD also intervened to end the "single vendor situation", a situation that is avoided in acquisition.

 

As the web of litigation grew, battery purchases were hit, sources say, adding that the INS Sindhuratna mishap was waiting to happen.

 

The Iranian Navy operates Kilo-class submarines of the same manufacturing batch as India's (see box) and uses Indian batteries that it replaces regularly. There has been no major mishap reported from Iran's Kilos, and that only points another finger at the old batteries on the INS Sindhuratna.
 

The fact that the Navy is operating Kilo-class submarines for close to 30 years now, much beyond their lifespan, is also a reflection of the breakdown of perspective planning in the MoD.

As per the 30-year perspective plan for submarines, the Navy should have 24 new submarines by 2022. In fact, 12 submarines should have been inducted by 2012 if the plan had remained on track. It is tragic, say old submariners, that the MoD was well aware of the problem and did nothing.
 

 The submarine fleet is centered on 10 Russian Kilo class and four German HDW type 209 submarines. Nuclear-powered INS Chakra was acquired two years ago, the only addition in the last three decades.
 

 The government has been told several times about the teething problems in the construction of six French Scorpene submarines which has delayed the entire acquisition programme. All the six Scorpenes are now expected to be inducted only by 2021.

 

Kilo-class submarines of Soviet design are among the most silent-and proportionately deadly-vessels of their kind. The Sindhuratna, commissioned into the Indian Navy in 1988, had undergone an extensive refit from May through December last year, and was being put through the second, submerged phase of trials that would certify it as operationally fit when disaster struck.
 

The accidents involving two Kilo-class submarines within a span of six months are now likely to speed up the plan for construction of a new line of underwater vessels.

 Iranian Kilo subs running perfectly on Indian batteries
 

The Iranian Navy operates three Kilo class submarines - Tareq, Noor and Yunesh - which are of the same vintage and type as the ones in the Indian Navy.

 

However, Iran is yet to face any serious accident. In fact, the Iranian Navy even routes its batteries from the same Indian vendor, Standard Batteries Limited.

 The sinking of INS Sindhurakshak in August last year and the accident on board the INS Sindhuratna on Wednesday has brought focus on the Russian-made submarines.

 A probe will indicate whether the fire in INS Sindhuratna was caused because of poor maintenance and inferior quality of spares, or because of some other fault.

 

Crossed the Bar and Resting on Their Oars - Two sailors found dead in Indian submarine accident

Two Indian naval officers were found dead Thursday after they went missing in a submarine fire off Mumbai’s coast, the latest in a string of accidents that have forced the navy’s chief to quit.

Seven other crew members were airlifted to hospital with breathing problems after smoke began to fill the vessel’s living quarters on Wednesday, an accident that comes only six months after another deadly submarine disaster in Mumbai.

“The two officers who were earlier declared missing have been located in the (submarine) compartment and after examination by Medical Officers both the officers were declared dead,” said an emailed statement from the defence ministry.

Admiral DK Joshi, the chief of naval staff, announced Wednesday night he was standing down to take “moral responsibility” for the accident on board the Russian-built INS Sindhuratna during exercises. 

Last August, 18 sailors were killed when the fully-armed submarine INS Sindhurakshak exploded in flames and sank in a military shipyard in Mumbai.

That disaster was thought to be the Indian Navy’s worst since the sinking of a frigate by a Pakistani submarine during a war with its neighbour in 1971. Various other naval accidents reported in recent months included a submarine running aground in Mumbai’s harbour, fires on a minesweeping vessel and an aircraft carrier, and a collision between a frigate and a fishing boat. The Indian navy has 14 submarines, but only between seven and nine are operational at any one time because of regular repair and refitting. Defence experts say the navy has an ageing fleet and has struggled with delays in the acquisition of new submarines and poor servicing.

Defence Minister AK Antony told reporters on Thursday that outgoing chief Joshi was “pretty much disturbed about the whole development”.

“He requested me to take his resignation with immediate effects,” Antony said.

While a full inquiry is expected to determine the exact cause of the latest accident, the navy said it appeared to have been due to sparks in a sleeping cabin.

According to the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency, smoke filled a compartment and triggered emergency measures, such as the closure of hatches which isolate sections of the submarine. The missing pair “might have been left in the cabin or at some other place as various cabins and compartments are isolated as part of the emergency measures”, PTI quoted an unnamed navy officer as saying on Wednesday.
The stricken submarine docked in Mumbai on Thursday morning, allowing the navy to ventilate the vessel and step up their search for the missing pair.

INS Sindhuratna is a kilo-class submarine which normally operates with a crew of 53 and can sail on its own for 45 days, the navy’s website says.

The submarine had only been handed back to the navy in December after undergoing a major refit, according to local reports.

It had been undergoing trials off the Mumbai coast as part of a clearance process for full operations when the incident occurred. 

Russia is still the biggest military supplier to India, but relations have been strained by major delays and cost overruns with a refurbished aircraft carrier, the INS Vikramaditya.

India - Navy Chief quits over spate of submarine mishaps

India’s navy chief, Admiral D.K. Joshi resigned as chief of the Indian navy, owning “moral responsibility for the accidents and incidents during the past few months”, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday. Admiral Joshi is the first Indian military commander to have resigned since General Kodandera Subayya Thimmaiah in 1959 -- and the only to have his resignation accepted by the government.

 

The naval chief's resignation came hours after a fire on board the newly-refitted Sindhuratna claimed the lives of two naval officers and injured seven -- the third in a series of submarine accidents, including an explosion on the Sindhurakshak which exploded and sank in Mumbai’s naval dockyard in August, 2013, killing 18 crew. Last month, the Sindhughosh ran ground on its way to Mumbai harbour, though without loss of life.

 

Experts that the resignation also came against concerns within the navy on the capabilities of its fleet, and “It is highly principled of the Admiral to offer his resignation”, said Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar, a prominent naval analyst and former officer “but I suspect the real reasons have to do with frustration over successive governments failing to modernise the submarine fleet”.

 

Dangerous fleet

 

Five of, of India’s thirteen conventionally-powered submarines, naval sources have told The Hindu, have exceeded their design life. The INS Sindhughosh, Sindhudhaj, the Sindhuraj, Sindhuvir and ill-fated Sindhuratna, all Russian-manufactured Kilo-class submarines, were all inducted between 1986 and 1988. The most recent of the Kilo-class fleet, the Sindhushastra, was puchased in 2000, preceded by the Sindhurakshak in 1997, and the Sindhuvijay was inducted in 1991.

 

The Sindhurakshak had suffered an earlier fire accident in 2010, which claimed the life of a sailor.

 

“In an ideal world”, a senior submarine commander said, “you’d want to keep a submarine in active service for no more than two decades or so. The navy has refitted its submarines to keep them running, but age obviously increases the risks of material failures significantly”.

 

The Navy has long complained of delays in submarine fleet modernisation, at a time when regional navies, notably China, are dramatically expanding their fleets. India also does not have a full-fledged submarine rescue vessel.

 

Vice Admiral Robin Dhowan will take over as Acting Naval Chief till a regular Chief is appointed.

India receives retrofited sub INS Sindhurakshak

India's Russian-built submarine the INS Sindhurakshak arrived at its home port Mumbai after an overhaul including structural hull upgrades at the Zvezdochka shipyard.

The Sindhurakshak -- a Russian Type 877EKM submarine, Sindhughosh class for the Indian navy -- was constructed in Admiralteiskie Verfi shipyard in St. Petersburg in 1997.

It's one of 10 Kilo class submarines constructed in Russia's shipyards for the Indian navy from 1985-2000, a report by TV-Novosti said in January.

Zvezdochka shipyard, in Severodvinsk, near Archangel on Russia's western Arctic Ocean coast, signed the retrofit deal in June 2010 and the submarine arrived the following August.

The overhaul and retrofit for the 2,300-ton vessel reportedly cost around $80 million, TV-Novosti said.

Work included overhaul of hull structures, installation of upgraded electronic warfare and weapons control systems, the mounting of Indian-made sonar USHUS and installation of CCS-MK radio communication systems.

 

The submarine was handed over to the Indian navy in Severodvinsk Jan. 26 -- India's Republic Day -- and immediately left for Mumbai, a report by Russia and Indian Report said.

The Sindhurakshak is armed with the latest export variant of the Russian-made submarine-specific Club-S multi-role cruise missile system capable of hitting targets more than 150 miles away, the RIR report said.

The Club-S, which has an 880-pound warhead, has improved effectiveness because of its active radar seeker system, the Args 14e designed by Radar MMS of St. Petersburg, a technical report by Defense Update said in 2006.

The Args system radar system kicks in around 12 miles from the missile's target to improve accuracy.

A Club-S can be launched from standard torpedo tubes at a depth of up to 130 feet, Defense Update said. It cruises towards the target initially at 70 feet above seal level and drops down to around 25 feet on final approach.

The Kilo class vessels can travel at around a maximum 20 mph at a depth of around 900 feet.

Zvezdochka also has modernized India's Kilo class submarines Sinduvir, Sindhuratna, Sindugosh and Sinduvijay submarines since 1997.

The shipyard expects to receive its next retrofit contract from India in 2014 or 2015, RIR said. It also will repair and upgrade the Sindukirti Kilo class submarine at the vessel's base in Visakhapatnam in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, India's Scorpene submarine project could face an 18-month delivery delay after the pullout of consultants from Spanish shipbuilding partner Navantia.

Mazagon Dock Ltd., the government shipbuilder in Mumbai where the vessels are being made, informed the navy that the project would be delayed by another 18 months to the end of 2016, a report by India's Times News Network said last month.

Delivery was expected sometime in 2015.

The Scorpene is a diesel-electric attack submarine with additional air-independent propulsion jointly developed by the French shipbuilder DCN -- now DCNS -- and Spain's Navantia.

The submarines were ordered in 2005 under a technology transfer agreement.

INS Sindhurakshak Set

The modernised INS Sindhurakshak is expected to be launched in the near future and to start dock trials. The vessel was taken out of Zvyozdochka’s ship-house, where the submarine has been “revived”.

The ceremony was attended by Roman Trotsenko, president of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, which runs Zvyozdochka, Deputy Navy Attaché of the Indian Embassy in Russia Rupak Kumar Pandey, members of the crew and Indian Navy observation group and their families.

The contract for intermediate overhaul and modernisation of the large diesel-electric submarine INS Sindhurakshak (project Type 877EKM Kilo) was signed between Zvyozdochka ship repair centre and the Indian Defence Ministry in June 2010, and the submarine arrived in Severodvinsk and was accepted for repairs in August of that year.

 

Putin boost to Indo-Russian defence ties

The submarine has been thoroughly inspected and all necessary systems and units have undergone repairs. Under the contract, the submarine was modernized simultaneous with the repair work, Zvyozdochka spokesman Evgeny Gladyshev said. The INS Sindhurakshak has been armed with Club S anti-ship missiles; more than ten Indian and imported systems have been mounted on the submarine, including the USHUS hydro-acoustic unit, the CCS-MK-2 communications system and the Porpoise radar installation. The INS Sindhurakshak has also had its cooling systems updated and undergone other operations to improve the submarine’s combat characteristics and safety.

About:

INS Sindhurakshak, the 877EKM project, is India’s ninth Kilo class submarine. Built in 1995 by Admiralteiskie verfi shipyard in St Petersburg for the Indian Navy, the submarine was accepted in June 1997 and, in December 2010, the INS Sindhurakshak officially passed into service under the command of T.S. Ramanujan. The submarine was part of the Eastern and Western Commands of the Indian Navy and was actively engaged in Operation Vijay in 1999 and Operation Parakram in 2002. In 2006, the submarine had the honour of taking on board then-President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, who spent the entire day at sea. This was the first time in history that an Indian President sailed aboard a submarine.

According to Gladyshev, the dock trials of the submarine at the berth of the Zvyozdochka centre will start in the next few days. By autumn, the submarine will take to the sea for factory performance trials and missile complex flight tests. Once the trials have been completed and INS Sindhurakshak has been fully painted, the submarine will be handed over to the Indian Navy and sail to its permanent base. Under the contract, the submarine is to be handed over to India in late-2012. The INS Sindhurakshak is currently captained by Commander Rajesh Ramkumar, who will sail the submarine to its base across three oceans. This will be his second such voyage for the submariner, whose first transoceanic passage was back in 1997, as part of the crew that transferred the INS Sindhurakshak from St Petersburg to India after accepting it into service.

The INS Sindhurakshak is the fifth Indian submarine to be repaired and modernised at Zvyozdochka. The first vessel, INS Sindhuvir, was handed over to the Indian Navy after repairs and modernisation in 1999.

Zvyozdochka has become a leading partner of the Indian Navy in maintaining the combat readiness of the Kilo class submarines, experts in Moscow and Delhi say. Zvyozdochka provides its services not only at its Severodvinsk shipyard, but also at the home station of the Indian submarines.

Russia completes India’s submarine modernisation programme

The INS Sindhurakshak submarine came off the slips at the Zvezdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk on Saturday, marking the completion of a mid-life refit programme for the Indian Navy’s Kilo-class diesel-electric submarines in Russia.

During a two-year in-depth modernisation the torpedo-firing INS Sindhurakshak, built in 1997, has been equipped with the tube-launched Club-S cruise missiles effective against surface vessels and submarines at a range of about 200 km. It has also been provided with some Indian-made systems, including a hydro-acoustic "USHUS" complex, a CCS-MK radio-communication system and Porpoise Electronic Support Measures. After going through sea trials and firing tests the submarine will be handed over to the Indian Navy later this year.

The INS Sindhurakshak is the seventh and the last of the 10 Kilo-class submarines that India bought from Russia between 1986 and 2000 to have undergone mid-term repairs and modernisation in Russia. Of the remaining three submarines one was repaired in India and the two others are currently under repair in India.

Even as Russia prepares to deliver the last retrofitted submarine to India, Russia’s top shipbuilding official has come up with the idea of a second mid-life repair of the Indian Navy’s Kilo-class submarines.

“A second repair will add another 5 to 7 or even 10 years to the submarines’ scheduled 20-year service life,” said Andrei Dyachkov, Director General of Sevmash shipyard, who is expected to take over as the head of the United Shipbuilding Corporation, which controls 70 per cent of Russia’s s shipbuilding assets, next month. “This will help the Indian Navy maintain its submarine strength in view of delays in the induction of French-built Scorpene subs and in floating a tender for six more diesel-electric submarines,” he said.

The Indian Navy issued Request For Information (RFIs) under the P-75 (I) project way back in 2008. However, it is yet to open a global tender for the submarines. Russia is expected to take part in the tender with its new Amur-1650 submarines, along with France’s Scorpio, Germany’s Type-214 and Spain’s S-80 submarines.

Mr. Dyachkov, who also heads the Rubin Naval Design Bureau, which designed the Amur-1650, thinks the Russian submarine stands a good chance of winning the Indian tender.

“We hope for success and are confident of fulfilling all terms of the tender in the required timeframe,” he told The Hindu.

The Amur-1650 makes far less noise than the Kilo-class submarines, which the NATO nicknamed “Black Holes” for their stealth qualities.

The shipbuilder denied media reports that said Russia was trying to have the demand for the submarines to have onboard Air Independent Propulsion (AIP) system removed from the tender requirements.

“We have designed and built an advanced and safe AIP that generates hydrogen onboard and enables the submarine to stay underwater for much longer time,” Mr. Dyachkov said.

INS Sindhurakshak, submarines, Indo-Russia defence ties

Indian Navy diesel-electric submarine puts to sea in June

INS Sindhurakshak, an Indian Navy submarine that has been modernised in Russia, is scheduled to take to sea from the Zvyozdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk on 23 June.

In June 2010, a Zvyozdochka delegation and representatives of the Indian Ministry of Defence signed a contract for repair and modernisation of INS Sindhurakshak for a planned 27 months. Zvyozdochka, which specialises in repairing and scrapping nuclear submarines, has modernised four Indian diesel-electric submarines since 1997 – INS Sindhuvir, INS Sindhuratna, INS Sindhughosh and INS Sindhuvijay. The company also provides repair and modernisation services for another submarine of this class, INS Sindhukirti, at its base in Visakhapatnam.

All these are Indian variants of the Russian 887 EKM Kilo class diesel-electric submarine designed by the St Petersburg-based Rubin Design Bureau for Marine Engineering. They are designed for engagement of enemy submarines and surface vessels and defend naval bases, coast and sea communications, as well as for reconnaissance and patrolling.

A typical Kilo-class submarine has a displacement of 2,300 tonnes, length of 72.6 metres, a submerged speed of 19 knots (about 35 kilometres an hour), a test depth of 300 metres, a crew of 52 and endurance of 45 days. These submarines are armed with six 533 mm torpedo tubes.

The modernisation arms the submarines with additional state-of-the-art Russian Club S anti-ship missiles (designed by the Novator bureau) with a range of about 200 kilometres. Supplementary Indian-made equipment includes a USHUS hydro-acoustic unit and CCS-MK communications system.

INS Sindhurakshak was built in 1997 by the Admiralteiskie verfi shipyard in St Petersburg for the Indian Navy. The submarine will first undergo dock trials near the berth and then embark on full-scale sea trials.

“The submarine will be handed over to the customer by the end of the year”, ITAR-TASS cites shipyard spokeswoman Nadezhda Scherbinina as saying.

Zvyozdochka is a versatile shipbuilding company. The shipyard has two covered ship-houses with seven building berths designed for repairing and building vessels weighing up to 18,000 tonnes. United Shipbuilding Corporation controls 100% minus one share in the shipyard through its subsidiary OAO Northern Centre for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair.

Indian Navy diesel-electric submarine puts to sea in June

INS Sindhurakshak, an Indian Navy submarine that has been modernised in Russia, is scheduled to take to sea from the Zvyozdochka shipyard in Severodvinsk on 23 June.

In June 2010, a Zvyozdochka delegation and representatives of the Indian Ministry of Defence signed a contract for repair and modernisation of INS Sindhurakshak for a planned 27 months. Zvyozdochka, which specialises in repairing and scrapping nuclear submarines, has modernised four Indian diesel-electric submarines since 1997 – INS Sindhuvir, INS Sindhuratna, INS Sindhughosh and INS Sindhuvijay. The company also provides repair and modernisation services for another submarine of this class, INS Sindhukirti, at its base in Visakhapatnam.

All these are Indian variants of the Russian 887 EKM Kilo class diesel-electric submarine designed by the St Petersburg-based Rubin Design Bureau for Marine Engineering. They are designed for engagement of enemy submarines and surface vessels and defend naval bases, coast and sea communications, as well as for reconnaissance and patrolling.

A typical Kilo-class submarine has a displacement of 2,300 tonnes, length of 72.6 metres, a submerged speed of 19 knots (about 35 kilometres an hour), a test depth of 300 metres, a crew of 52 and endurance of 45 days. These submarines are armed with six 533 mm torpedo tubes.

The modernisation arms the submarines with additional state-of-the-art Russian Club S anti-ship missiles (designed by the Novator bureau) with a range of about 200 kilometres. Supplementary Indian-made equipment includes a USHUS hydro-acoustic unit and CCS-MK communications system.

INS Sindhurakshak was built in 1997 by the Admiralteiskie verfi shipyard in St Petersburg for the Indian Navy. The submarine will first undergo dock trials near the berth and then embark on full-scale sea trials.

 “The submarine will be handed over to the customer by the end of the year”, ITAR-TASS cites shipyard spokeswoman Nadezhda Scherbinina as saying.

Zvyozdochka is a versatile shipbuilding company. The shipyard has two covered ship-houses with seven building berths designed for repairing and building vessels weighing up to 18,000 tonnes. United Shipbuilding Corporation controls 100% minus one share in the shipyard through its subsidiary OAO Northern Centre for Shipbuilding and Ship Repair.